Brown, Jeffrey
1975—
Place of Birth: Grand Rapids, MI
Principal Place of Residence: Chicago, IL
Biography
Jeffrey Brown grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he spent his time reading a great deal of comic books, specifically the X-Men. Brown attended college in Holland before pursuing the “finer arts” at the Art Institute of Chicago where he focused in painting and graduated with an MFA. He abandoned this when he rediscovered comics to work solely on his graphic novels. Early on in his life Brown painted small wooden shoes and salad bowls to make money. This changed when he self-published his first graphic novel Clumsy. After this met with surprising success, he abandoned painting altogether to focus solely on his comics. He self-published a second well-received graphic novel Unlikely or How I Lost My Virginity, before joining with an established company to release his first book Bighead. Published by Top Shelf Comics, this book marked Brown’s first departure from autobiography, focusing instead on his own superhero whose only power appears to be an enormous head.
Since then he has been steadily producing comics and graphic novels, most recently Cat Getting Out of a Bag and Other Observations, which is exactly what it sounds like, and The Amazing Change-Bots, a satire of Transformers. He has also drawn and directed a music video for “Death Cab for Cutie” and collaborated with fellow graphic novelist James Kochalka. He regularly posts drawings, previews, and one-off comics on The Holy Consumption, a website he runs with fellow Chicago artists John Hankiewicz, Paul Hornschemeier, and Anders Nilsen. He has appeared on This American Life, contributed to McSweeney’s Quarterly Concern, and appeared in the Drawn and Quarterly Showcase.
Selected Works
- Clumsy (2002)
- Unlikely or How I Lost My Virginity (2003)
- I Am Going to Be Small (2003)
- Bighead (2004)
Awards
- Ignatz Award for Outstanding Mini-Comic for I Am Going to Be Small
Critical Reception
Critics initially responded well to his raw, autobiographical comics and praised his use of simple drawings to accent his characters’ insecurity. As his books have continued to focus on similar subjects, namely girls and relationships, some critics—while continuing to praise his talents—have expressed the opinion that he needs to expand his scope a bit. In his defense, Brown has said that he has closed the final chapter of his “Girlfriend Trilogy” with AEIOU or Any Easy Intimacy.
Perhaps his most glowing review came from fellow Chicagoan Chris Ware (Jimmy Corrigan, The Acme Novelty Library) who said, “...I think Jeff Brown’s cartoons are really great. He gets closer to the feeling of real experience better than most cartoonists, yet he works in a very unaffected, diary-like style… In fact, his work is at its best when it’s not drawn at all, when you can actually feel him trying to just find the figures on the page; he’s not trying to be fancy or anything.”
Time.com also praised him for Unlikely, calling his book “Funny, sad, and a little embarrassing, Jeff Brown’s “Unlikely,” delivers the look at real life that other forms of ‘reality’ entertainment falsely promise.”
Relevance of Place to Author’s Work
Place plays a fairly large role in the author’s first two autobiographical books, Clumsy and Unlikely, which set the story firmly in Grand Rapids, Michigan, naming places such as the Intersection and Kava House, which are important to the author’s story and his art, respectively.