A Matter of Life

by Jeffrey Brown

Overview

After the acclaimed indie film Save the Date and the bestselling all-ages humor book Darth Vader and Son, graphic novelist Jeffrey Brown (Clumsy, Unlikely) returns to the autobiographical work that first made his reputation. In A Matter of Life, Jeffrey Brown draws upon memories of three generations of Brown men: himself, his minister father, and his preschooler son Oscar. Weaving through time, passing through the quiet suburbs and colorful cities of the midwest, their stories slowly assemble into a kaleidoscopic answer to the big questions: matters of life and death, family and faith, and the search for something beyond oneself.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781603092661
Publisher:	IDW Publishing
Publication date:	07/02/2013
Edition description:	Mature Readers (ages 16 and up)
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	16 Years

About the Author

Jeffrey Brown is the best selling author and illustrator of the middle grade Jedi Academy series, as well as the Darth Vader and Son series. When he was a kid, Jeffrey always dreamed of growing up to draw comics and make books for a living—and now he’s living that dream! Jeffrey has written a number of autobiographical books for adults (Clumsy, Unlikely, and A Matter of Life, among others, all from Top Shelf Productions), humorous graphic novels about cats (Cat Getting Out of a Bag, Cats Are Weird, from Chronicle Books), and parodies like Incredible Change-Bots (and its two sequels, all also from Top Shelf).

His most recent project has been 40,000 years in the making: Lucy & Andy Neanderthal! Lucy and Andy are a brother and sister living in the stone age, where they struggle to survive mammoths, cave bears, and their own sibling rivalry. Lucy & Andy Book Two: The Stone Cold Age is available now.

Editorial Reviews

In this graphic memoir, a Midwestern preacher's son loses his faith and discovers art. Both the style and tone of this coming-of-age narrative sustain an engaging naïveté, even as the young son who is the author becomes a father himself, and the deceptively simple story encompasses three generations of male Browns, who may or may not discover the answers to life's biggest questions in church. The creatively prolific Brown (Funny Misshapen Body, 2009, etc.) has extended his talents into film, animation and broadcasting (on NPR's This American Life), and he also teaches comics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Yet there is nothing artistically flashy or academic in this understated, matter-of-fact memoir, which begins, in darkness leading to a glimmer of light (over six large panels): "When I was little, I believed in God. At least I think I did. At some point I realized that I didn't believe. And I hadn't in a long time. If ever. It doesn't mean I don't believe in something bigger than myself." Such an introduction leaves a lot of open space for interpretation, and the rest of the narrative, in panels not considerably larger than postage stamps, proceeds to fill in some of it, though by no means all. It's a story of church, camps and missions, then college, art, museums, sexual awakening and fatherhood, where a son might receive different answers than the father, who is the author, received from his own father. Brown dedicates the memoir to his father and son, and love for both permeates the pages, where epiphanies are small, revelations conventional, and neither the artist nor the challenges he faces ever seem larger than life. Intermittently engaging, but there are more questions than answers here.

Kirkus Reviews