Chris Ware’s Building Stories jigsaw puzzle (2021)

Abstract

As the Journal of Urban Cultural Studies enters its tenth year of publication, this first instalment of a two-part editorial turns towards questions of memory and urban life. The vehicle for thinking through these questions is the actual, tactile puzzle that comics artist Chris Ware released as an extension to his Building Stories box set. In the guise of a review-style piece, that is, a close reading of the puzzle as an urban comics text in its own right, this instalment indirectly introduces themes to be continued in the second editorial, due out later this year.