Watch: Chris Ware's Animated "Quimby the Mouse"

Quimby The Mouse from This American Life on Vimeo.

I may be a year late getting this newsflash, but my jaw dropped with delight when I watched this yesterday, via a friend in Pittsburgh. A more perfect marriage I never did see: Chris Ware and animation! Quimby the Mouse is particularly suited to movement and slapstick humor, and Chris Ware's flat visual style works perfectly with Flash animation (reminds me of Felix the Cat cartoons from the 1930s and 1940s). From the This American Life - LIVE! 2009 special, Ware did the drawings, animated by John Kuramoto (who also worked with the New York-based animation studio, Twinkle, on the animations for American Splendor).

Two other more traditional, personal narrative-based This American Life collaborations between Ware and Kuramoto can be seen here (Kids building video cameras, 2007) and here (False memories of Jackie Kennedy, 2008).

More info about Chris Ware at Chicago's Carl Hammer Gallery, and Bad At Sports interviews Ware in a podcast from March 2009.

The song is Eugene by Andrew Bird.