Funny Misshapen Body

by Jeffrey Brown

Funny Misshapen Body is the story of Jeffrey Brown's evolution as a cartoonist, from his youthful obsession with superhero comics to his disillusionment with fine art at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Drawn with Brown's scratchy, spare, trademark style, Funny Misshapen Body resonates with true-to-life observations on love, fear, and ambition. Through his bare bones graphic style, he reveals his most embarrassing personal moments in raw, intimate detail -- including how he survived high school, binge drinking, mild drug experimentation, doomed friendships, and being diagnosed with Crohn's disease.

Ultimately coming to terms with his art and identity, Brown describes the ups and downs of his adolescence with understated simplicity, dark humor, and charm.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Nonfiction, Memoir, Graphic Novels Comics, Art, Biography

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jeffrey Brown was born in 1975 in Grand Rapids, Michigan and grew up reading comic books with dreams of someday drawing them, only to abandon them and focus on becoming a 'fine artist.' While earning his MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Brown abandoned painting and began drawing comics with his first autobiographical book 'Clumsy' in 2001. Since then he's drawn a dozen books for publishers including TopShelf, Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, McSweeney's and Chronicle Books. Simon & Schuster published his latest graphic memoir 'Funny Misshapen Body.' In addition to directing an animated video for the band Death Cab For Cutie, Brown has had his work featured on NPR's 'This American Life' His art has been shown at galleries in New York, San Francisco, San Diego, Los Angeles and Paris. Jeffrey's work has also appeared in the Best American Comics series and received the Ignatz Award in 2003 for 'Outstanding Minicomic.'
He currently lives in Chicago with his wife Jennifer and their son Oscar.

Reviews

[karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

well well well...jeffrey brown is all growed up now! this book is all glossy and fancy... and very little about saddish relationships! this one is more about art and "finding oneself" as an artist , but in a way that isnt melodramatic and self-aggrandizing, which is refreshing. (from an artist, not from jeffrey brown - i dont think he has ever been self-aggrandizing in his life)so a big thumbs-up, especially to the little wooden shoe store, and the artist with the pinata. and paul hornschemeier!!

[Sam Quixote · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've known about Jeffrey Brown's comics for a while now and while I've read his more recent stuff like the Cat books and the excellent Star Wars stuff, I stayed away from his autobio comics for some reason - I suppose reading about failed relationships isn't really my thing. But I decided to pick up Funny, Misshapen Body as it was about other things in Brown's life. It's a memoir about his childhood, Crohn's disease, about his job working in a crafts store, about university life and the associated drink and drugs, going to art school, and getting into comics.

Each of these aspects are done episodically with some being more interesting than others but all of them being very solid, entertaining stories. Reading about his difficult childhood after being diagnosed with Crohn's - an incurable, inflammatory bowel disease - was pretty funny at first as he was unable to control his farting at inappropriate times, but it got so bad he need hospitalisation and an operation. It's a quietly moving episode made all the more poignant in the way the very young Brown tries to be upbeat and jokey despite obviously being in a lot of pain.

I really enjoyed reading about his experiences at art school as his interests moved away from painting and poetry and slowly shifted to comics. Brown tells us his comics history, going to the comics shop as a kid with his brother and receiving indie titles from the store owner as presents once a year in lieu of the Marvel superheroes he constantly read. One of these authors - Yoshihiro Tatsumi - would influence Brown in this book as each story begins with a page-length illustrated title page in the style of Tatsumi.

(And as a side note, if you've never heard of Yoshihiro Tatsumi, the man is an extraordinary artist every comics fan should read. I mean it, if you've never read anything by him, seek him out immediately - his books are AMAZING. I'll recommend his incredible autobiography A Drifting Life as the best but Tatsumi has never drawn/written a bad book so anything by him is worth reading)

Funny Misshapen Body is a consistently amusing, wry, and delightful selection of comics that's a highly enjoyable reading experience.

[Malbadeen · Rating 4 out of 5]

My brother gave this to me for Christmas. Yeah my brother.

One of the many things I like about Jeffrey Brown's biographical stuff is that it is not chronologically re-called. He divides it into categories like, "my job at the shoe factory" or "girlfriends" or "college". It matches my brain.

Yeah Jeffrey Brown.

Also he doesn't over play things that could easily be over played. He doesn't play the ironic nerd or dwell on things that could be elaborated to pathetic. He just recalls them.

Yeah for being real in your perception of yourself.

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overall boring.
The author's life aspects aren't that interesting.

[Isabell · Rating 3 out of 5]

"After moving to Chicago, the first thing to do was find a coffeehouse to draw at ..." (p. 249) Haha. (;

Usually I rate graphic novels with three stars, simply as a matter of principle but in regard to the last third especially I felt a connection to what he must have been feeling at that stage in his life, or at least that is what I understood he did. That is why here would be four stars ... if I could get over myself.

I think it is admirable that his Crohn's disease did not affect him much. Yes, sure, after being treated he did not suffer another episode but uh, you get my drift.

The characters he draws do not have a lot of recognition value. On the other hand, it is easy to understand what he wants to convey and that's what counts.

There were things I couldn't relate to, for example I never smoked much and never had entertained any debauched life style during my years in uni. So far.

What spoke to me is that he took some time (?) to figure out his life and that he succeeded to become a successful artist! It makes me want to create more art as well.

[Billie Tyrell · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really nice that the book explains it's own process by the end of it, and lovely how humble the entire thing is, not self depricating but just really not showy either. The whole thing strikes a relatable midground, and it all flows reasonably well. I don't want to overanaylse it too much because I'd be worried about sounding like one of Jeffrey Brown's art lecturers and I hate the idea of this guy reading his own reviews on Goodreads and getting annoyed, the three star rating is mainly because I don't like it as much as Chester Brown.... but on the scale of independent, crudely drawn comics this is alright.

[Idleprimate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Funny Misshapen Body delivered not just the Brown I love, but a more mature and reflective Brown. A balance of stories, in his usual anti-chronological way that swirl together to create a full novelistic image of people, places and developments, working with new themes, and yet tied to the old and magnifying the scope of his storytelling.

There’s also a greater range in the artwork, combining the early simple scrawl with the burdened later ink. We see the rest of Brown’s protagonist’s life (I realize that is cumbersome, but I differentiate between an author and his alter ego): his childhood experiences, his life with art, his schooling, a troubled medical history, his jobs, his solo adventures. We see the Brown who isn’t simply hung up on a girl. And it is captivating.

All of brown’s stories always have to do with a shortlist of topics—loneliness, connection, love affairs, struggle and confusion, strife and understanding. His recent stories paint a vivid portrait of the young man as an artist rather than the artist as a young man and that has added a dimension to the tale.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is certainly to Jeffrey Brown's credit that he can critically examine the most embarrassing details of his life and share them on paper in what appears to be a refreshingly honest way. And the fact that those details are about his anxieties creating art and finding his artistic path seem to speak almost to an older and wiser Brown than his stories about early relationships.

I really enjoyed seeing Brown's evolution as an artist, his challenges with binge drinking and Crohn's Disease, and his acceptance with the kind of art he does best, which is honest, crude, and autobiographical. I think one can't helped but get sucked into his story, it's just so genuine. As an added bonus, I shared something in common with Brown in that Chris Ware and Daniel Clowes really changed the way I saw real life reflected in comics, and I loved the story of his ongoing mentorship with Chris Ware. I'm glad Brown is doing this type of work now.

[Pfanner · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Piltrafilla", una traducción penosa del título original "Funny Misshapen Body", recopila distintas historias cortas que abundan en la vertiente autobiográfica de Jeffrey Brown. En este caso, además de exponer distintos momentos de su vida relacionados con la salud, la escuela, las drogas, etc., el valor del volumen radica, bajo mi punto de vista, en la narración de las diversas etapas de su evolución como artista, o, mejor dicho, la larga marcha para, por fin, alcanzar esa denominación. Sus dudas, sus errores, la incertidumbre o el fracaso son los temas que enmarcan "Funny...". Y sirve como colofón imprescindible para rematar por todo lo alto toda su obra anterior.

No puede faltar en nuestra biblioteca para complementar la fundamental Trilogía de las novias.

[Dov Zeller · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm a big fan of Jeffrey Brown's conversational comic style. He addresses his relationship with art, love, friendship, body, in a way that is meandering and yet circles back again and again to the things that are most important to him: authentic self-expression, authentic connection, self-understanding with a great helping of compassionate humor. I especially enjoyed the stories in here about art school, comics, and his work giving shoes crafty tattoos. But as per usual, I appreciated all of them.

[Denisse · Rating 5 out of 5]

No puedo creer que fueran 320 páginas. Muy corto, encuentro.

[Kricket · Rating 3 out of 5]

(useless thought): maybe i saw jeffrey brown at the wooden shoe factory when i was growing up/ klompen dancing and DIDN'T EVEN KNOW IT.

[Ian Taylor · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’ve been on a kick of rereading a lot of the graphic novels I read in my teenage years when I was first getting into the mumblecore-esque side of comics, which includes the works of Jeffrey Brown. I’ve got a lot of mixed feelings after this particular reread… my 16 (or so) year old self genuinely loved this book for the extent that it touches on the insecurities of a male character - but rereading at 26 I am struggling to decide wether or not that was actually the messaging of the book. I’m on the fence bordering between the book being a reliving of an emotional time of life, or if it’s just creepily misogynistic and arrogant. I don’t mean this review to sound harsh, because i can’t lie: I did enjoy the book to a degree. I’ve always had a fondness for quiet stories that study a snapshot of someone’s life without feeling the need to necessarily expound upon a big-picture sort of story. Which I do feel this book falls into the category of, and that aspect I enjoyed as much today as I did a decade ago. But at the end of the day, I can’t shake the feeling that there is an underlying air of blame being placed upon every critic in the author’s life (which further extends to all of the women in his life who didn’t become his Manic Pixie Dream Girl). Maybe I’m entirely misinterpreted, but something about this one left me feeling… not great.

[Patrick McG · Rating 4 out of 5]

At one point he mentions working at a wooden shoe factory in passing and I was ready to be mad about that, but later he does a whole chapter on the wooden shoe factory so that's good.

I kept thinking that this comic took place in Canada. Because my friend with Crohn's disease is from Canada, and a lot of good autobiographical comics about normal white guys doing normal white guy stuff come out of the Montreal scene, and because it takes place in Michigan mostly which is a lot like Canada when you think about it.

But I never once thought that it takes place in Holland, even though there's a wooden shoe factory.

Really makes you think.

[S.Matt Read · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's an uneven collection of stories. I've read a lot of Jeffrey Brown's work, and this collection will appeal to the hardcore fan. He provides a lot of glimpses into his life that might not work in other stories, so the book provides some context to the persona he's created.

I'm still a big fan, in spite of my rating. I give him a lot of credit for just telling it like he sees it. The last 50-75 pages turn into a continuous story and work really well for me. The first half, while interesting, don't really take you anywhere. I guess I'm acting like Jeffrey's art school profs now, but that's how I see it!

[Greg · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought this was okay. It was most successful in the beginning, detailing the author's childhood bought with Crohn's. The story of how he became a comic was interesting but not nearly as emotionally compelling as some of his other work. Understanding a bit about his technique and where it comes from does but is work in perspective for me, though.

[Michael Anderson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is now my favorite JB autobio book. It focuses on his development and evolution as an artist and comic strip writer and describes his experiences with drugs, drinking, and relationships during college and art school. And I found out what pen he uses to draw with. Very nice book. I never misplaced my attention.

[Kimber BoBimber · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ll give it to the guy. I’m sure some people enjoyed this. It wasn’t the worst thing ever, I was just bored. The artistry didn’t intrigue me and the plot was all over the place. He explains this in the end and in his Q & A section (I skipped ahead, I didn’t read past chapter one). I don’t want to rate it lower than this because it’s probably a decent book, but it just didn’t hold up for me.

[Brian Rosser · Rating 4 out of 5]

The pages of this book are filled with honest sounding observations from Jeffrey Brown's life as a budding cartoonist, from his youthful obsession with superheros through High School, Community College and Graduate School. All illustrated in his scratchy direct style. His willingness to share his personal struggles both personal and physical make this worth reading.

[Vivian Lu · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was a slough to get through. I don’t see its purpose. Frankly, it’s boring. Plus. I prefer linear story telling. Not yet halfway through, I was ready to quit because of my strong disinterest but figured it should be short. I did flip over some parts. Kindly, 2/5 since I do like this cartoonist’s other works.

[alifstyle · Rating 5 out of 5]

Funny Misshapen Body: A Memoir oleh Jeffrey Brown.

Mengisahkan perjalanan beliau dalam mencari identiti sebagai pelukis kartun. Sebagai sebuah memoir, jalan ceritanya seperti menaiki roller coaster. Ada kelakar, menyedihkan, memberi inspirasi, dan kadangkala mengerikan.

Komik jibunsyi yang mungkin pelukis2 kartun suka.

[Liz Decker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love Jeffrey's style. Easy to read short bits of stories that don't need to say a whole lot.

[Kira · Rating 2 out of 5]

This was way too meta for me...

[Mauro German · Rating 4 out of 5]

Maravillosamente frontal y real es este cómic.

[wildct2003 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good memoir, I got a bit funny during the medical episodes. A bit too graphic for me at times.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting way to write an autobiography. Brown is talented.

[Sam · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a cute book. I think my favorite part about it was how relatable it was since I'm an artist myself. I could feel a lot of the frustrations and challenges that the author was going through, along with the upsides.

For the most part, things were well done, understandable, and entertaining (aaand a little gross, haha). Parts of the artwork I feel could have been better, but I'd feel that that's nitpicking, it didn't really take away from the story. The handwriting, at times, was a little tricky to read as it wasn't always crystal clear, so that was a bit of a bother.

My only other gripes were the beginning and the end. The opening felt rather abrupt, I personally prefer something more gradual to lead me in, but it wasn't too long before I became more immersed. As for the ending, a similar issue, it ends suddenly. (He does address that in the epilogue, which I found amusing. His reasoning was all right, but I still would've liked a bit more.)

Nevertheless though, I enjoyed it. I actually wasn't too bothered that it was told out of order, I feel like that added something to it and made it more unique. The humor was certainly there, the author did a good job making it feel like you were there along with him. (Man, those critiques at the university, I would've smacked those people, haha.) He made himself human and approachable, which I liked. I'm happy he was able to make a living doing what he loves.

I'd probably find myself recommending this, most likely to other artists, for obvious reasons. It was good, I'm glad I read it :)

[Jake Kilroy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't know if I've ever read a thoughtful book that was this "easy." This graphic novel memoir reads like you're catching up with an old friend. The story isn't linear. It's broken up by themes of disease, apartment, pot and varying levels and tales about art. It's very honest without being revealing. It's the memoir of a nice guy who wanted to be a cartoonist. He has supportive parents, he has nice friends, and he never battles any demons. It was just a swell story about a swell dude. There weren't harsh arcs. It was as humdrum as it could be, but it was well-crafted and interesting. I wanted to know what happened next, because Jeffrey Brown really made me like Jeffrey Brown without selling it or driving it home. You don't always get the history of the average guy trying to make it, because it's really easy to not be engaging, but that Jeffrey Brown seems like a nice boy. Also, his comic pacing and simple drawing style keeps you involved without hesitation. It was just "I did this, and then this happened, so I did this, but I wasn't always like this, one time I did this," and it's really fun to read. Nothing crazy, nothing tragic. Just a guy who wanted to be an artist, so he worked at it, little by little, and finally became one. Thumbs up, Mr. Brown.

[Ian Hrabe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't even know this existed until I stumbled upon a copy of it at Half Price Books. Like Little Things, Jeffrey Brown has realized that he can't write relationship books for the rest of his life and he's better for it. Well, I'm not sure about that, but it's a refreshing read and a great portrait of Jeffrey Brown as artist, his beginnings, and everything that led him to publishing excellent graphic novels (with just a couple exceptions). His art has improved a bunch, drawing influence from Yoshihiro Tatsumi (who is referenced in the book, artistically Tatsumi's influence is in the eyes) and David Heatley (in the profiles). Basically, Brown knows exactly how to cherry pick the most interesting parts of his pretty much totally normal existence. Which is an awesome quality, because this almost borders on being boring but at the rate he injects humor, it's pretty entertaining. And informative! Who knew a store specializing in all things Dutch existed???

[Bob · Rating 4 out of 5]

15 or more years younger than many of the people from the tradition in which he works (Dan Clowes et al), Brown is not quite a whole new generation but brings a bit of a millenial stance. This collection of autobiographical segments, in his characteristic "disarmingly honest" style, is probably at its most illuminating as he describes his undergraduate and graduate art education (the latter at the School of The Art Institute of Chicago). His account of his shift from being focused on more conventional art world styles and people to embracing the graphic novel as his preferred form is an excellent portrait of the artist as a young man.
In one memorable conversation with a faculty advisor, asked how long he expects the story he is working on to be, he explains that since the sketchbook has 224 pages, it will be over when he fills it up. You can imagine she expresses some uncertainty about this as an organizing principle.