Box Brown

{{short description|American cartoonist}}

{{For|the abolitionist|Henry Box Brown}}

{{Use American English|date=September 2023}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}

{{Infobox comics creator

| image = Brown, Box -MBFI.jpg

| caption = Brown at the Miami Book Fair International, 2014

| birth_name = Brian Brown

| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1980}}

| area =

| cartoonist = y

| publisher = y

| notable works = André the Giant: Life and Legend
Retrofit Comics

| awards = Two Ignatz Awards, 2011

Eisner Award, 2019

| website = {{Official URL}}

}}

Brian "Box" Brown (born 1980) is an American cartoonist whose first work was the online comic Bellen!{{cite web|url=http://www.topshelfcomix.com/ts2.0/artist/318 |title=Box Brown / Top Shelf 2.0 |website=Topshelfcomix.com |date= |access-date=October 2, 2011}}

He was awarded in 2011 a Xeric Grant for the comic Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing.{{cite web |url=http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/04/02/interview-box-browns-excellent-adventure/ |title=Interview: Box Brown's Excellent Adventure |website=Newsarama |date=April 2, 2009 |access-date=October 2, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015164410/http://blog.newsarama.com/2009/04/02/interview-box-browns-excellent-adventure/ |archive-date=October 15, 2012 }}

In 2011, Brown started a Kickstarter fundraiser{{cite web|url=http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1154777626/retrofit-comics-the-return-of-the-alt-comic-floppy |title= Retrofit Comics: The Return of the Alt-comic Floppy |website=Kickstarter|date=July 25, 2011 |access-date=August 2, 2013}} to create a new publisher called Retrofit Comics, with the goal of publishing 16 alternative comic books over 16 months.{{cite web|url=https://www.cbr.com/retrofit-comics-has-arrived/ |title=Retrofit Comics has arrived! |website=Comic Book Resources |date=September 13, 2011 |access-date=October 2, 2011}} Since completing this goal, Retrofit Comics has continued to publish new comic books every month or two.

Brown created a full-length graphic novel about the professional wrestler André the Giant called André the Giant: Life and Legend. It debuted as ninth bestseller on the New York Times Bestseller List for Paperback Graphic Books and remained on the list for three weeks.{{cite web|url=https://www.nytimes.com/best-sellers-books/2014-06-01/paperback-graphic-books/list.html |title= Best Sellers |publisher=The New York Times website |date=June 1, 2014 |access-date=September 8, 2014}}

In 2019, his book Is This Guy For Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman won the Eisner Award for Best Reality Based Work.{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/arts/2019-eisner-awards-complete-winners-list-1225835/|title=Eisner Awards: The Complete Winners List|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=September 23, 2019|access-date=April 3, 2022}}

He has a syndicated non-fiction comic strip, Legalization Nation.{{cite news|title= Legalization Nation: A provocative cannabis comic for the weed-curious|author=Elissa Esher|newspaper =San Francisco Chronicle|date=January 7, 2022|url=https://www.sfgate.com/cannabis/article/Legalization-Nation-A-provocative-cannabis-comic-16758050.php}}{{cite news|work=Editor and Publisher|title=New syndication options for illustrators | date=June 16, 2022 |url=https://www.editorandpublisher.com/stories/new-syndication-options-for-illustrators,231246}}

Graphic novels

  • Love is a Peculiar Type of Thing (Top Shelf, 2009)
  • The Survivalist (Blank Slate, 2011)
  • Number, Issues 1 & 2 (Retrofit / Big Planet Comics, 2014)
  • André the Giant: Life and Legend (First Second, 2014)
  • An Entity Observes All Things (Retrofit Comics, 2015)
  • Tetris: The Games People Play (First Second, 2016){{cite web|url=http://nerdist.com/exclusive-box-brown-pieces-together-the-story-of-tetris/|title=Exclusive: Box Brown Pieces Together the Story of TETRIS – Nerdist|date=April 26, 2015|publisher=|access-date=May 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161110043539/http://nerdist.com/exclusive-box-brown-pieces-together-the-story-of-tetris/|archive-date=November 10, 2016|url-status=dead}}{{cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/928492029|title=Tetris: the games people play|first=Box|last=Brown|date=May 15, 2017|publisher=|oclc=928492029|access-date=May 15, 2017|via=Open WorldCat}}
  • Powerman (Kilgore Books, 2016)
  • Is This Guy for Real? The Unbelievable Andy Kaufman (First Second, 2016).{{cite web|title=Book Review|url=https://www.publishersweekly.com/978-1-62672-316-0|website=Publishers Weekly|access-date=February 12, 2018}}
  • Cannabis: The Illegalization of Weed in America (First Second, 2019)
  • Child Star (First Second, 2020)
  • Accidental Czar: The Life and Lies of Vladimir Putin (with Andrew S. Weiss, First Second, 2022)
  • The He-Man Effect: How American Toymakers Sold You Your Childhood (First Second, 2023)

References

{{Reflist}}