Jeffrey Brown (born July 1975) is a cartoonist born in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Biography
After growing up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Brown moved to Chicago in 2000 to pursue an MFA at the School of the Art Institute. By the time he finished his studies, Brown had abandoned painting and started drawing comics seriously. His first self-published book, Clumsy, appeared seemingly out of nowhere to grab attention from both cartoonists and comics fans. Brown specializes in personal and intimate works detailing moments in relationships. He writes and draws his comics in sketchbooks, and his drawing style mirrors the strain and awkwardness of the situations he depicts. Brown lives in Chicago with his wife Jennifer and their two sons.
Established as a sensitive chronicler of bittersweet adolescent romance and nonsense superhero parody, Brown's current direction remains split between autobiographical material, examining the minutae of everyday life, whatever humorous fiction he feels in the mood for, and a wide range of fiction subjects in his series Sulk. Brown has created two series of books set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (Under the "Legends" & "Infinities" brands).
Comic works
Brown's most popular works include Clumsy (the story of a long-distance relationship), Unlikely (the story of how Brown lost his virginity), and AEIOU (Any Easy Intimacy (Over Us)), comprising the so-called "Girlfriend Trilogy", and its epilogue, Every Girl is the End of the World For Me. More recently his autobiographical work has included Little Things and the memoirs Funny Misshapen Body and A Matter Of Life. His humorous works include Bighead (a super-hero parody), I Am Going To Be Small, Cat Getting Out Of A Bag, Incredible Change-Bots, and Kids Are Weird.
His work has been featured in MOME Summer 2005 Vol. 1, as well as Drawn and Quarterly Showcase, McSweeney's #13, and The Best American Comics 2007. He was also featured in local newspapers such as the Chicago Reader and NewCity.
Brown's "To Phoenix I'm Sorry I Missed You" was published in the Spring 2008 issue of The Florida Review.
Brown has written and drawn six books set in the Star Wars Expanded Universe. Brown has produced four humorous takes on Darth Vader as a hapless father to young Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia: Darth Vader and Son, Vader's Little Princess, Goodnight, Darth Vader, and Darth Vader and Friends. Brown has also created two volumes in his Jedi Academy series, which are young-adult novels done in the mixed cartooning and diary style of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series, set in the Star Wars Universe.
Critical and commercial reception
He won an Ignatz Award in 2003 in the category of Outstanding Mini-Comic, for I Am Going To Be Small.
James Kochalka has called Brown's Clumsy his "favorite graphic novel ever."
Clumsy was originally self-published and was later published by Top Shelf Productions and as of 2007 an estimated 20,000 copies have been printed, according to an interview with Brown in The Comics Journal.
Brown won back-to-back Eisner Awards for Best Humor Publication, for Darth Vader And Son (2013) and Vader's Little Princess (2014).
Other work
Brown directed the animated music video for Death Cab for Cutie's "Your Heart is an Empty Room".
He has contributed to NPR's This American Life.
He was featured in the 2009 documentary Drawing Between The Lines by Bruce Parsons.
He illustrated the movie poster for the 2010 feature-length documentary Rabbit Fever.
He co-wrote the 2012 feature film, Save the Date, with Egan Reich and Michael Mohan. The film stars Lizzy Caplan, Alison Brie, Martin Starr, Geoffrey Arend, and Mark Webber, directed by Mohan.
Bibliography
Books
Standalone Books
- Clumsy (2002)
- Unlikely (2003)
- Bighead (2004)
- Miniature Sulk (2005)
- AEIOU or Any Easy Intimacy (2005)
- Every Girl Is The End Of The World For Me (2006) (included in Undeleted Scenes)
- I Am Going To Be Small (2006)
- Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations. Chronicle Books. 2007. ISBNÂ 978-1-4521-2621-0.Â
- Incredible Change-Bots (2007)
- Little Things (2008)
- Sulk Vol. 1 - Bighead and Friends (2008)
- Sulk Vol. 2 - Deadly Awesome (2008)
- Funny Misshapen Body (2009)
- Sulk Vol. 3 - The Kind Of Strength That Comes From Madness (2009)
- Undeleted Scenes. Top Shelf Productions. 2010. ISBNÂ 978-1-60309-227-2.Â
- Cats Are Weird: And More Observations. Chronicle Books. 2010. ISBNÂ 978-0-8118-7997-2.Â
- Incredible Change-Bots Two (2011)
- A Matter Of Life (2012)
- Kids Are Weird (2014)
- Incredible Change-Bots Two-Point-Something-Something (2014)
Star Wars: Darth Vader and Son (series)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader and Son (2012) ISBN 9781452106557
- Star Wars: Vader's Little Princess (2013)
- Star Wars: Goodnight, Darth Vader (2014)
- Star Wars: Darth Vader and Friends (2015)
Star Wars: Jedi Academy (series)
- Star Wars: Jedi Academy (2013)
- Star Wars Jedi Academy: Return of the Padawan (2014)
- Star Wars Jedi Academy: The Phantom Bully (2015, upcoming)
Comics
- Be A Man (included in Undeleted Scenes)
- Conversations #2 (with James Kochalka)
- Feeble Attempts
Significant anthology contributions
- MOME Vol. 1-6
- Drawn and Quarterly Showcase Vol. 2
- Kramers Ergot Vol. 4
- The Escapist Vol. 3
- McSweeney's #13
- Best American Comics 2007
- Yale Anthology of Graphic Fiction Vol. 1-2
- POPGUN volume 4
- Bart Simpson's Treehouse of Horror #15
- Strange Tales #3
- Side B from Poseur Ink
References
External links
- Official website
- Top Shelf Comix - Jeffrey Brown's publisher.
- The Holy Consumption of Chicago - Regularly updated with work by Jeffrey as well as John Hankiewicz, Paul Hornschemeier and Anders Nilsen.
- Crudely Drawn Naked People - A blog attempting to review all of Jeffrey Brown's published work. (On hiatus since September, 2008)
- Hand-written interview with Jeffrey Brown' - A 2-page interview from ifpthendirt.
- Audio Interview at Crown Commission April 2006 interview.
- Radio Interview with The Panel July 2006 interview.
- Drawing Between the Lines A short documentary created in 2006 about Jeffrey Brown and his work.
- Audio Interview February 2007 interview on the Around Comics Podcast
- Comic book artist Jeffrey Brown: More than meets the eye November 2007 interview with the New York Daily News.
- Comic artist Jeffrey Brown is back with Little Things April 2008 interview with the New York Daily News.
- Jeffrey Brown at the Internet Movie Database
- Rumpus interview with Jeffrey Brown
- http://www.topshelfcomix.com/creators.php?artist=14