In one of the best graphic novels published in recent years, Chester Brown tells the story of his alienated youth in an almost detached, understated manner, giving I Never Liked You an eerie, dream-like quality. For the new 2002 definitive softcover edition Brown has designed new layouts for the entire book, using "white" panel backgrounds instead of the black pages of the first edition.
A limited-edition reprint of Brown's celebrated biography of the Canadian rebel Louis Riel tells the story of the charismatic, and perhaps mad, nineteenth-century Metis leader whose struggle to win rights for his people led to violent rebellion on the nations western frontier. When the collected book appeared in 2003, Brown won widespread critical and industry acclaim for Louis Riel, including two Harvey Awards and inclusion on countless best-of lists. Beyond that, it single-handedly revitalized the biography genre of comics, paving the way for a new generation of artists. This special tenth anniversary edition features rare supplementary material, including early cover art from the original serialization, pencil studies and draft scripts, poster and catalogue art, and a new essay by critic Sean Rogers.
"It has the thoroughness of a history book yet reads with the personalized vision of a novel." -Time Chester Brown reinvents the comic-book medium to create the critically acclaimed historical biography Louis Riel, winning the Harvey Awards for best writing and best graphic novel for his compelling, meticulous, and dispassionate retelling of the charismatic, and perhaps insane, nineteenth-century Métis leader. Brown coolly documents with dramatic subtlety the violent rebellion on the Canadian prairie led by Riel, who some regard a martyr who died in the name of freedom, while others consider him a treacherous murderer.
A LONG-OUT-OF-PRINT CLASIC BY A MASTER OF UNDERGROUND COMICS In the late 1980s, the idiosyncratic Chester Brown (author of the muchlauded Paying for It and Louis Riel) began writing the cult classic comic book series Yummy Fur. Within its pages, he serialized the groundbreaking Ed the Happy Clown, revealing a macabre universe of parallel dimensions. Thanks to its wholly original yet disturbing story lines, Ed set the stage for Brown to become a world-renowned cartoonist. Ed the Happy Clown is a hallucinatory tale that functions simultaneously as a dark roller-coaster ride of criminal activity and a scathing condemnation of religious and political charlatanism. As the world around him devolves into madness, the eponymous Ed escapes variously from a jealous boyfriend, sewer monsters, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and a janitor with a Jesus complex. Brown leaves us wondering, with every twist of the plot, just how Ed will get out of this scrape. The intimate, tangled world of Ed the Happy Clown is definitively presented here, repackaged with a new foreword by the author and an extensive notes section, and is, like every Brown book, astonishingly perceptive about the zeitgeist of its time.
The critically lauded memoir about being a john, available in paperback for the first time! Paying for It was easily the most talked-about and controversial graphic novel of 2011, a critical success so innovative and complex that it received two rave reviews in The New York Times and sold out of its first print run in just six months. Chester Brown's eloquent, spare artwork stands out in this paperback edition. Paying for It combines the personal and sexual aspects of Brown's autobiographical work (I Never Liked You, The Playboy) with the polemical drive of Louis Riel. He calmly lays out the facts of how he became not only a willing participant in but also a vocal proponent of one of the world's most hot-button topics—prostitution. While this may appear overly sensational and just plain implausible to some, Brown's story stands for itself. Paying for It offers an entirely contemporary exploration of sex work—from the timid john who rides his bike to his escorts, wonders how to tip so as not to offend, and reads Dan Savage for advice, to the modern-day transactions complete with online reviews, seemingly willing participants, and clean apartments devoid of clichéd street corners, drugs, or pimps. Complete with a surprise ending, Paying for It continues to provide endless debate and conversation about sex work.
The idiosyncratic master Chester Brown continues his thoughts on sex workThe iconoclastic and bestselling cartoonist of Paying for It: A comic-strip memoir about being a john and Louis Riel returns and with a polemical interpretation of the Bible that will be one of the most controversial and talked-about graphic novels of 2016. Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus is the retelling in comics form of nine biblical stories that present Chester Brown's fascinating and startling thesis about biblical representations of prostitution. Brown weaves a connecting line between Bathsheba, Ruth, Rahab, Tamar, Mary of Bethany, and the Virgin Mother. He reassesses the Christian moral code by examining the cultural implications of the Bible's representations of sex work.Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus is a fitting follow-up to Brown's sui generis graphic memoir Paying for It, which was reviewed twice in The New York Times and hailed by sex workers for Brown's advocacy for the decriminalization and normalization of prostitution. Brown approaches the Bible as he did the life of Louis Riel, making these stories compellingly readable and utterly pertinent to a modern audience. In classic Chester Brown fashion, he provides extensive handwritten endnotes that delve into the biblical lore that informs Mary Wept Over the Feet of Jesus.
Chester Brown's "Paying for It" explores his journey into prostitution, blending personal narrative with social commentary. Following his acclaimed works, this graphic novel examines contemporary sex work, featuring relatable experiences and modern transactions. With a surprise ending, it sparks debate on the topic, making it a significant 2011 release.
The Playboy is a memoir about Brown's adolescence, sexuality, and shame that chronicles his teenage obsession with the magazine of the same name. Exploring the physical form of comics to its fullest storytelling capacity, a fifteen-year-old Chester is visited by a time-traveling adult Chester, and the latter narrates the former's compulsion to purchase each issue of Playboy as it appears on newsstands. Even more fascinating than his obsession with the magazine is Brown's need to keep this habit secret, and the great lengths to which he goes to avoid detection by, at first, his family, and then, later, by girlfriends. Fans of his acclaimed and controversial memoir Paying For It are sure to be drawn in by this early autobiographical portrait of blazing honesty. The expanded reissue includes all-new appendices and notes from the author
Brown offers an examination of the jurisprudence of a range of international courts and tribunals relating to issues of procedure and remedies, and assessment whether there are emerging commonalities regarding these issues which could make up a unified law of international adjudication.
The critically lauded memoir about being a john is now a major motion picture! Paying for It was the most talked-about and controversial graphic novel of 2011, a critical success so innovative and complex that it received two rave reviews in The New York Times. Chester Brown's eloquent, spare artwork stands out in this new paperback edition, tied to the release of the film adaptation co-written and directed by Sook-Yin Lee, Brown’s longtime friend and the director of Year of the Carnivore and Octavio is Dead! Paying for It offers an entirely unvarnished exploration of sex work through Brown’s own life story, showing him as a timid john who rides his bike to his escorts, wonders how to tip so as not to offend, and reads Dan Savage for advice. The book demystifies an experience that is so often sensationalized, revealing a world of online reviews, seemingly willing participants, and clean apartments devoid of clichéd street corners, drugs, or pimps. In it, Brown combines the personal and sexual aspects of his autobiographical work (I Never Liked You, The Playboy) with the polemical drive of Louis Riel, as he explores one of the most hotly debated issues in the world and advocates for the importance of legalizing sex work. Now with an introduction by Lee, expanded notes discussing the film adaptation, movie stills and behind the scenes shots, as well as a new cover by Brown and artwork that he created for the production, Paying for It: The Film Edition is an unmissable edition for fans of Brown and film-making alike.
