Minature Sulk TP Jeffrey Brown 1st print Top Shelf Minisulk

Description

Minisulk Paperback
by Jeffrey Brown (Author, Artist)

The author of the autobiographical classics Clumsy and Unlikely takes a break from books about girls for this humorous short story collection featuring fiction, gags, and autobiography. Included are such gems as “My Brother Knows Kung Fu” and “Action Television Show.”

Brown follows his bad-relationship graphic novels, and his superhero parody, Bighead (2005), with a pocket-size gathering of extremely short autobiographical pieces dealing with everything from his coffee addiction to the aftermath of an auto accident. Roughly half the strips concern utterly normal childhood events. Relatively lengthy ones depict, say, a disappointing birthday party, or being restless in church, while tiny ones resemble Peanuts sans punch lines.

Their considerable charm arises from their commonality, not from any surprises. The one seemingly non-autobiographical story, about an encounter on a bus trip, is also the longest and the least successful. The bookis, however, more out-and-out funny than Brown’s others; even the strips portraying his dealings with women–the obsessive focus of most of his previous work–are uncharacteristically angst-free, more likely to be about an innocent crush than about the clingy neediness he has previously displayed. What isn’t different is Brown’s appealingly informal, deceptively casual drawing style, whose seeming awkwardness conjures an aura of disarming honesty.

Publisher Top Shelf (Apr 12, 2005)
Paperback 96 pages
ISBN-13 978-1891830662
Weight 3.21 ounces
Dimensions 3.9 x 0.3 x 6.1 inches

Miniature Sulk is a small collection of cartoons from the mind of Jeffrey Brown. His art, while somewhat crude and unpolished is very reminiscent of the kind of small and self-published comics that were prevalent in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Kudos to Top Shelf for giving people like Brown a forum for their work. It’s this kind of eclectic variety that makes Top Shelf so interesting. This little (smaller than a regular paperback) is a collection of panel strips which I assume draw on real-life experiences. Some are funny, some are, serious, and some are even pointless, but then again, that really is life, isn’t it?

There is a wide diversity of themes in the book. The first is just called “My Brother knows kung-fu” as we see the brother in question demonstrating his martial arts skills in various situations including on a locked door and escaping a spanking. And this is really what goes on throughout the book. Random strips about life, relationships and things as mundane as biting one’s nails to short, watching TV, shoveling snow, fidgeting around at church, etc…Jeffrey Brown’s observations really call to mind the commonplace routines in all our lives and noting with some skepticism just how ordinary life can be. Not everything works in the book. Not everything intended to be funny hits the mark. I’m sure the somewhat crude art style will put some people off but all in all it was an enjoyable little read.

If you’re a fan of Brown’s, this is a must-have for the collection!

Near mint, 1st print.