Chester Brown

Reviews / Votes

"Frederik Byrn Kohlert fills a significant gap in comics scholarship with his Chester Brown, the first monograph to offer a career-spanning study of Brown's work. Combining a biographical look at Brown with close readings of his work, Kohlert persuasively traces Brown's changes of thought over time, as reflected not only in each subsequent work but also in Brown's ongoing project of revision of earlier works. Kohlert's chapter on Brown's self-revision is especially insightful as a guide to the changes Brown has made to his work and what impact they have on its meaning. Kohlert also gives welcome attention to less-frequently analyzed aspects of Brown's career, such as his incomplete and unfinished works, notably his Gospel adaptations. Kohlert expertly tracks Brown's growth and changes as an artist, providing Brown scholars with an invaluable resource while also producing a work so admirably clearly written that the casual fan or undergraduate student will find the book easily digestible." - Dominick Grace, coeditor of The Canadian Alternative: Cartoonists, Comics, and Graphic Novels and Chester Brown: Conversations

"A comprehensive companion to the work of a major cartoonist, whose decades-long career stretches from surreal self-published minicomics to bold autobiography and beyond. Kohlert expertly combines attention to idiosyncratic detail with a broader historical perspective, showing how Chester Brown's unique trajectory mirrors shifting trends in alternative comics." - Daniel Marrone, author Forging the Past: Seth and the Art of Memory