Jar of Fools was originally published as a weekly comic strip in Seattle's The Stranger newspaper. This is the series collected as a graphic novel published by Black Eye Productions in 1996. The work has been highly praised by The <i>New York Times Book Review</i>, <i>Spin</i>, <i>Wired</i>, and creator Chris Ware.
Jar of Fools is the story of a tormented magician named Ernie Weiss (likely based on Harry Houdini, whose name was originally Ehrich Weiss[2]). His brother, Howard, has died and he has become estranged from his girlfriend, Esther O'Dea. The story of the comic retells Ernie's struggles to get himself back on track and find himself, in part through the guidance of Al Flosso (likely also based on a real magician of the same name[3]).