Renowned cartoonist Chris Ware is making a vibrant addition to the world of postage with his latest creation—a new collection of 20 postage stamps that will roll out on July 23, marking the 250th anniversary of the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Established in July 1775 by the Second Continental Congress and led by the first postmaster general, Benjamin Franklin, the USPS has a rich history that Ware now pays homage to through his artistic lens.
The colorful Forever stamps offer a bird’s-eye view of a postal carrier navigating her daily route across various neighborhoods.
Costing $15.60 per sheet, the collection intricately illustrates elements of both individual and communal stories, progressing through the four seasons of the year.
Ware, a Riverside resident at 57 years old, likens his stamps to miniature New Yorker covers, capturing the essence of humor and meaning that define his work.
“I tried to organize them like little tiny New Yorker covers that have their gags,” Ware explained, emphasizing the layered meanings embedded in the designs.
Each stamp reveals moments of life along the postal route—one depicts the carrier exchanging mail with a construction worker, while another shows her waving to children enjoying a rooftop barbecue.
As viewers explore the collection, they encounter dog walkers, letter writers, and even a stamp collector inspecting his acquisition, all creating a vibrant tapestry representative of community interactions.
While the imagery is not tied to a specific location, Chicago’s suburban landscape heavily influenced Ware’s designs.
“I spent a lot of time just walking around, taking my own pictures in Riverside and Berwyn and Oak Park,” he said, revealing that the collection contains architectural elements from these areas, including Riverside’s iconic gas street lights.
The project’s “I spy” aspect was integral from the outset.
USPS art director Antonio Alcalá initially envisioned a cartoon that featured key pieces of USPS history.
This idea transitioned into Ware’s final version, allowing viewers to discover various USPS-themed visuals, including Post Offices and vintage mail delivery vehicles.
Ware aimed to create a narrative of the postal carrier’s daily experiences, blending the routine with the passing of time.
“I wanted to try to empathize with what it was like to be a postal carrier,” he shared.
He noted the cycles of repetition that postal workers experience, seeing the same places and people while time moves ever forward.
This perspective is reminiscent of Ware’s own experiences as a stay-at-home cartoonist long before the COVID-19 pandemic made remote work commonplace.
“Being a stay-at-home, shut-in cartoonist—the delivery of the mail is sort of an exciting time of day for us,” he quipped, pointing to the daily anticipation of human contact brought by the mail.
When approached by Alcalá with the idea of designing a stamp, Ware initially thought it might bring joy to his mother.
“This will make my mom happy. This is the sort of thing that moms really really like, I think, if you get to do a stamp,” he recalled with a smile.
His deep-rooted enthusiasm and connection to the project have indeed made his mother proud.
Ware disclosed that the local mail carrier even left a note for his mother last week, congratulating her on her son’s achievement in creating a stamp.
The unique collection represents not just a personal victory for Chris Ware, but also a heartfelt tribute to the legacy of the USPS as it celebrates its 250th anniversary.
image source from：chicago
