I emailed Jeffrey Brown a few weeks ago asking to interview him. My email probably made it seem like I was a psycho fan, but nonetheless he agreed to it! I first discovered his books while trolled the Top Shelf at Wizard World a few years back, I bought Funny Misshaped Body. That book seriously blew my mind! I've been wanting to interview Jeff since last c2e2 but I didn't have the guts to ask him, here I am a year older and ballsier and ready to interview the man.
I walked over to the Top Shelf booth at about 2pm on Sunday which was the last day of c2e2. I stood around and was happy to see that Jeffrey Brown had remembered me and once his fellow booth mate would return he'd have a sit down with me. I didn't want a recorded "formal" interview with Jeff, I wanted to write a story about meeting him. Jeffrey is a pretty laid back and humble guy from Michigan. Jeff's a Midwest guy who happens to be the son of a minister, he's quiet but loves to chat with those who have something to say to him. While we were talking he never stopped greeting his fans, signing their books and drawing a little reminder in them. Jeff went to the Art Institute here in Chicago, we talked about his novels being his art. The books are an emotion captured in graphic novel form. He explained that while school did somewhat get him ready for the comic book world he started the books as a way to get through the feelings of lost love. To let those chapters of his life go as he begins new ones.
In Jeffrey's books we see his love for music and he stills listens to Andrew Bird and started listening to a band called The Dodo's. Music is a catalyst for him that gets the emotions going. I asked him about a lot of the embarrassing moments he references in his books, he explained to me that it was a way of taking ownership of those moments. Where as many of us cling on to those memories and dwell on them, Jeffrey has found a way to work past them and use them so others can laugh, reminisce their own and feel like they can take ownership of their own embarrassments.
Jeffrey Brown has a 4 year old son, Since many parts of his books refer to his youth I asked what it was like to watch his own son grow and witness his embarrassments. Jeff enjoys every minute of watching his son grow, often finding himself reverting a bit of what his parents taught him growing up. But then he sees a different way of reacting to certain situations than his parents did. "I see myself starting to get frustrated when he makes a mistake but then I catch myself and realize that it isn't a big deal and teach him how to fix the problem". I brought up spilling milk for example and he agreed as well that as a kid our parents would get so mad and now we both see how small of a deal that really is.
Jeff's next book deals with fatherhood and religion. Jeff's dad being a minister and his relationship with him, reflects on his own budding relationship with his son. Jeffrey is an atheist and is still trying to figure out what kind of parent he wants to be. With Christianity and parenthood having such a partnership with each other it's easy to see why this is such a mental hurdle for Jeffrey, his family being so religious and all adds unnecessary pressure.
Aside from autobiographical books Jeffrey has also authored two volumes of The Amazing Change-bots. Jeffrey's writing, art and humor really shine through in all his books. I find myself extremely lucky to have discovered his novels and I wish him the best of luck in the future. I will continue to read and recommend his books as long as he continues to leave a piece of himself in every story. If you read this Jeff thanks for giving me a chance and I hope you didn't think I was a tool for being so damn nervous. Who am I kidding... I am a tool.
No comments:
Post a Comment