Clumsy
Jeffrey Brown
Clumsy
$10.00
Available at the M.F.A
To contact Mr. Brown please email him at jbrown3@artic.edu.
Swooning for Clumsy
By Grant Reynolds
I haven't met a person yet that hasn't fallen for Jeffrey Brown's debut graphic novel Clumsy - and believe you me I've been showing it off to plenty of people. I've lent it to all of my friends, and had to scramble to retrieve it from my girlfriend, who'd given it to her roommate, who'd given it to her friend, who'd given it to his friend. It's the sort of book you want to steal from the person you borrowed it from (although you really shouldn't. You should go out and buy your own copy to support the artist).
Clumsy is the typical boy-meets-girl story, and believe it or not that's exactly what makes it so great. Told in a series of tiny vignettes, the book follows the course of their relationship, hopping from moment to moment, cherishing each detail regardless of its significance, and leaving the reader with a belly full of nostalgia.
But you don't have to take my word for it, just read the praise on the back cover: Chris Ware, creator of "Rusty Brown" and "Jimmy Corrigan the Smartest Kid on Earth" is credited with stating that Clumsy is "An extremely impressive debut, full of all the things that make a story good: doomed relationships, embarrassing personal details, and the insatiable need to put it all down on paper. This was one of my favorite books to come out in the past year."
James Kochalka ("Monkey Vs. Robot" and "The Sketchbook Diaries") praised: "Clumsy is the story of a new relationship and is stunning in its realism and honesty. The frailty of the drawn line perfectly matches the human frailty portrayed within the story. It's just so damn human."
Brown somehow manages to keep Clumsy walking that perilous, thin line between the disturbingly confessional and the safely impersonal. He brings readers closer and closer, inviting them into his most intimate memories, but never allows them to get too close.
And the humor! It seems that no matter what the situation, good or bad, mundane or weird, Clumsy is always able to stare at the floor and shuffle its feet, dumbfounded by its own hopeless absurdity.
The characters, drawn almost like stick figures, begin to feel so real, their sentiments so genuine. The more you become acquainted with who they are and what they've done, the more legitimate they become. They transcend the comic book. They feel like people you know. Brown has given his characters the credit they deserve. He is one of the few writers I know of who is able to give us all sides of an account, not just his own. And it is this fairness that wins us over.
As far as craft goes, some may be left wanting more. Brown's technique can be perplexing to a traditionalist, who may hunger for lovely panel saturation and cannot be satisfied without perfectly straight lines and clearly legible handwriting. The skeptical reader may assume that Brown's drawings were too hurried. Unfortunately, Clumsy's sketchy style may very well turn off these few readers, but those who keep reading will make a connection. And the "frailty of the drawn line," as Kochalka put it, will become more endearing than flawed.
The second edition of Clumsy, which features new artwork on the front and back covers, as well as a few other surprises, will be available at the SAIC M.F.A. show in Brown's space for $10.00, as well as at Quimby's, Chicago Comics and Graham Crackers.
I second the words of Kochalka: "This is my favorite graphic novel ever. Even if Jeffrey Brown never draws another line again, he has already won a permanent place in my heart. Still, I want more."
Hard at work, Jeffrey Brown has already finished a substantial portion of his next graphic novel, Unlikely. With the success of Clumsy, it will be interesting to see where Brown takes us next.
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