Funny Misshapen Body by Jeffrey Brown, 316 pagesI picked up this book namely to see how a graphic novel biography actually works. Does it only relate the highlights because of the amount of space illustrating everything takes? Or is it more of a Sunday life comic that features panels nearly filled with words. This was certainly more of the first. I learned about Jeffrey Brown's life, but only the parts he wanted to illustrate. Originally I intended to pick this up glance though it and then put it back, but like a comic strip I could not help but read a little as I flipped the pages. What I read was hilarious and I checked out the book.
Brown's graphic novel features a simplistic style that he admits is how he likes to draw. This clearly illustrates the point and removes a lot of the clutter that can be distracting. I found reading this graphic novel was quite difficult. As I was reading though I kept thinking that the graphic novel was put together wrong and was jumbled up. But as I later found out in a Q&A in the back, it was designed that way. It seems Brown thought writing a book in a logical format didn't fit with how his brain, and everyone's brain thinks. As we recall our past we think of random events scattered throughout, not a clear logical timeline. While I can agree with his thought process, it doesn't make this any easier to read.
Even though I didn't know anything about Brown when I started this, and honestly had no intention of ever learning about him, I still read the entire graphic novel. It was funny and yet serious at the same time. I couldn't help but smile or chuckle at his embarrassing moments or cringe at some of the others. I encourage everyone who likes graphic novels to give this subset of biographies a try.
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