On the Coffee Table: The Playboy

Title: The Playboy: A Comic-Strip Memoir
Writer and Artist: Chester Brown

Image via Drawn and Quarterly

The Playboy collects issues #21-23 of Yummy Fur, a comic book series I first discovered as part of this year's A-Z Challenge.  The story, originally entitled Disgust, chronicles Chester's 15-year-old adventures with the magazine, Playboy.  While the content is certainly adult-themed, there's substance to the narrative - not just pure smut.

Brown's autobiographical work is frequently sexual in nature.  Anyone who has ever been or known a 15-year-old boy (or girl, for that matter), is well aware of the preoccupation with sexual identity inherent in that age.  Chester certainly finds gratification in images of naked women but his pleasure is accompanied by deep shame, fear and embarrassment.  His efforts to hide his magazines from his parents and whatever other probing eyes he contrives are thoroughly documented.  In one memorable panel, Chester encounters his neighbors while trying to hide the Playboy issue he'd just bought.  He is tiny, while the adults loom above him - more appropriate to the perspective of a small child than that of a teenager.

Image via Wikipedia

While current pop culture usually portrays the male psyche as the slobbering, urge-driven hound, the truth is a lot more complicated.  Brown's frankness is startling, yet refreshing.  I'm glad to have read I Never Liked You (collecting Yummy Fur #26-30) first, though I now also understand elements of the later story better.

On the Coffee Table: I Never Liked You

Title: I Never Liked You
Writer and Artist: Chester Brown

Image via Wikipedia

Chester Brown was a big part of my A-Z Challenge this year as artist and writer for four of the 26 comic books I featured, including two of my favorites: Louis Riel #4 and Yummy Fur #27.  As noted in my A-Z post, Yummy Fur issues 26-30 were collected in graphic novel form as I Never Liked You.  The story is an autobiographical account of Brown's teenage years in the Montreal suburb of Chateauguay. 

Chester's a quiet guy.  Kids at school make fun of him because they know he never swears - strictly forbidden by his parents to do so even away from school.  He has friends, though, many of them female.  One of the girls, Carrie, is clearly in love with him but he has no idea how to respond to it.  His true affections are directed towards another girl in the neighborhood, Sly.  Much of the story revolves around Chester's inability to relate to the women in his life, especially his mother, whose struggles with mental illness feature prominently in the narrative. 

Just as I wrote in regards to Louis Riel, much of the power of Brown's work derives from its simplicity.  Dialogue is sparse, the black and white panels uncomplicated and to the point.  Chester shuts the people in his life out but as the readers, we are afforded an intimate view.  He doesn't divulge many secrets but he doesn't need to.  For us, at least, the important details are made plain enough.

I'm still undecided as to how I feel about Chester Brown.  While I thoroughly enjoyed both this book and Louis Riel, the other works I've explored thus far have either disgusted me (Ed the Happy Clown #2) or left me cold (Underwater #2).  I suppose I can say that I prefer his non-fiction to his fiction.  I am genuinely curious about his other autobiographical works.

A to Z Reflections, 2013

May is here and so, A-Z is over.  As always, the opportunity to make new friends and enjoy their alphabetical explorations has been wonderful.  A big thank you to all on the A-Z team for another fine year.

Some final comic book thoughts: given how little advance planning went into selecting my scavenger hunt comics, I've been both surprised and delighted by a few exceptional finds.  I felt all five of the following were strong enough to inspire further exploration of their series:

Atlas
Louis Riel
Next Men
Pathfinder
Yummy Fur

Less surprising, at least to me, is that three of the titles are published by Drawn & Quarterly, a Montreal-based outfit which specializes in offbeat comics and graphic novels.  They also operate a bookstore in Montreal which has become our family favorite.

As much fun as the challenge provided, it's also nice to get back to regular programming.  I hope you'll all come back to visit for Family Movie Night and Baseball Tunes next week.  Also, I've started a bloggers' book club which is holding its first "meeting" on Friday, May 31st.  See details here.

Be sure to check out the A-Z reflections of other participants. You'll find the bloghop list here.

See you 'round the 'sphere!

A Comic Book Scavenger Hunt, A-Z: Yummy Fur

Title: Yummy Fur
Issue: #27
Release: January 1992
Writer and Artist: Chester Brown
Store: Drawn and Quarterly (Montreal)

Image via Comic Vine

Issues #26-30 of Yummy Fur were eventually collected in graphic novel form under the title I Never Liked You. The story is autobiographical, chronicling Brown's teenage experiences in suburban Montreal.  There's nothing particularly scandalous here as his parents were quite strict, forbidding him ever to swear - even away from the house (thus the story's original F-bomb title).  There is a bit of nudity so the book does fall short of child friendly.

Starting with what is essentially the second chapter of the story, I missed out on some of the details regarding individual characters.  Gordon is his brother but they play with three other kids - Connie, Carrie and Grant - who are...neighbors?  I'll need to go back to the beginning to clear all of this up.  There is clearly a mutual love interest between Chester and Carrie but one wonders how far his shyness will allow that to develop.

So, that's four Chester Brown titles for me so far.  He's batting .500, 2 for 4, with me.

Any interest in joining a bloggers' book club?  Please visit my link here.

My scavenger hunt was pretty straight-forward: find comic books off the rack with titles starting from A-Z.  Go check out the rest of the participants in this year's A-Z challenge.  The official site is here.