Yummy Fur (comics)
Yummy Fur | |
---|---|
Publication information | |
Publisher | Self-published (mini #1–7) Vortex Comics (#1–24) Drawn & Quarterly (#25–32) |
Schedule | irregular |
Genre | Alternative comics |
Publication date | (mini) July 1983–September 1985[1] December 1986–July 1994 |
No. of issues | 32 |
Creative team | |
Created by | Chester Brown |
Yummy Fur (1983–1994) was a comic book by Canadian cartoonist Chester Brown. It contained a number of different comics stories which dealt with a wide variety of subjects. Its often-controversial content led to one printer and one distributor refusing to handle it.
Some of Brown's best-known comics were first published in Yummy Fur, including the surreal, taboo-breaking Ed the Happy Clown and the comics from his autobiographical period, which included the graphic novels The Playboy and I Never Liked You. Also notable were the eccentric gospel adaptations that ran in most issues. The series and its collected volumes have won a number of awards, and have had a lasting influence on the world of alternative comics.
Yummy Fur started as a self-published minicomic which ran for seven issues, the contents of which were reprinted in the first three issues of the Vortex Comics series which started publication in December 1986. The series switched publishers to Drawn & Quarterly in 1991 until the end of its run in 1994, when Brown started on his Underwater series.
Overview
Yummy Fur came at a time when alternative comics was still young, and is considered one of its defining titles. It was one of the earliest examples of a comic that would have its first success as a self-published mini. It started in an era when comic books and their characters were generally considered to be ongoing, and finished when the self-contained stories of the graphic novel had begun to come into prominence. Brown's ambitions changed in step, Yummy Fur started with Ed the Happy Clown, which Brown originally did not intend to have an ending; towards the end, he serialized two works, The Playboy and I Never Liked You, which were conceived from the start as self-complete works.[2] Brown would thereafter make the production of graphic novels the main focus of his output.
Yummy Fur quickly gained a reputation for
The edgy content of the book was contrasted with his
Yummy Fur had been a catch-all title for Brown's work, but since bringing the series to an end in 1994, he has published new stories, like
Stories
Ed the Happy Clown
The story that first drew attention for Brown's work—a surreal, scatological tale of dark humour. The story was improvised for the most part, and grew out of a number of completely unrelated short comics that appeared in the earliest issues of Yummy Fur. The story follows the large-headed, childlike Ed, a children's clown, who, after being submerged in the faeces of a man who can't stop defecating, finds the head of his penis has been replaced with the head of a miniature Ronald Reagan.
The story makes use of a wide variety of media and comic-book
Ed was intended to be a character Brown would use throughout his career, but after the first dozen issues, he grew dissatisfied with the direction the story had taken, and also wanted to change his drawing style. Inspired by the autobiographical comics of Julie Doucet and Joe Matt,[2] Brown decided to bring the Ed story to an end in issue #18 of Yummy Fur and spent the next few years focusing on revealing autobiographical stories.
Gospels
Brown's straight-faced cartoon adaptations of the
Autobiographical comics
After completing Ed, Brown moved on to a series of personally revealing
Disgust/The Playboy
Narrated by a winged, not-so-angelic version of himself, the story details Brown's experiences as an adolescent obsessed with the Playmates in Playboy magazine, while wracked with guilt over his obsessive masturbation, and later his difficulty relating to women as an adult. The story is the source of some controversy, as it graphically depicted a minor masturbating and ejaculating and was also seen by some women to defend pornography.
The story appeared in issues #21–23 of Yummy Fur and was originally titled Disgust and later The Playboy Stories. The story was collected in 1992 under the title The Playboy.
Fuck (or I Never Liked You)
Another tale of Brown's adolescence. Brown has trouble relating with the opposite sex, even when they are the ones trying to connect with him. He is an awkward teenager who never swears, which is picked up by some of the other boys in his school, who constantly pick on him and try to get him to swear.
The story also depicts the final days of Brown's mother when he was 17. Brown is a difficult son, and has trouble expressing his affection for her. She has schizophrenia and dies in the hospital after falling down the stairs.
Originally titled Fuck, the story was retitled I Never Liked You when collected.
Publishing history
Minicomic (1983–1986)
In the early 1980s, Brown had been trying unsuccessfully to get his work published by publishers such as
Vortex (1986–1991)
Brown had pitched his work to
The book was dropped by a
Sales saw their lowest point with issue #9, at 1673 copies, largely due to the fact that Diamond Comic Distributors had dropped the book[10]—purportedly for low sales, despite the fact that Yummy Fur had been getting more orders than many other Vortex titles that hadn't been dropped. It was suspected that the book had actually been dropped due to its potentially offensive content. The Comics Journal had begun to investigate the incident, but a few issues later, Diamond started including Yummy Fur in its catalogue again, and sales started to rise, eventually reaching 7000 copies per issue.[11]
Drawn & Quarterly (1991–1994)
Brown did not want to leave Marks up the creek, and so allowed Vortex to publish a second, "definitive" edition of Ed the Happy Clown in 1992, with a different ending from the one that had appeared in Yummy Fur. Drawn & Quarterly, however, published in the same year the collected version of
Oliveros convinced Brown that the Yummy Fur title was no longer appropriate for the direction the book had taken, and Brown chose to publish his next major story, Underwater, under its own title. The last issue of Yummy Fur was #32, and was an issue-long instalment of his adaptation of the Gospel of Matthew, which would continue in the pages of Underwater.
Lists of issues
Minicomic
# | Date | Contents | Notes |
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1 | June 1983 |
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2 | July 1983 |
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3 | August 1983 |
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4 | September 1983 |
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5 | January 1984 |
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6 |
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7 | September 1985 |
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Most issues were eight pages long, and were photocopied on sheets of 8+1⁄2" x 11" paper, folded in half and stapled together. In February 1985, Brown put out a 48-page, digest-sized compilation of the first six issues, with an extra one-page strip called "Fire with Fire".[14][15]
Brown filled up the first four issues with material that he had produced since 1980, putting out one issue per month. After the fourth issue, his backlog ran out. He had to start producing new material, and Yummy Fur's frequency dropped.
Comic book
All issues had black-and-white contents printed on newsprint, with colour outer covers on heavier stock paper.
# | Date | Main Story | Gospel Stories[16] | Publisher | Notes |
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1 | December 1986 | Ed the Happy Clown | Vortex Comics | Reprints the minicomic issues #1–3 | |
2 | January 1987 | Reprints the minicomic issues #4–6 | |||
3 | February 1987 | Reprints the minicomic issues #6–7 | |||
4 | April 1987 | Mark 1:01–39 | |||
5 | June 1987 | Mark 1:40–3:12 | |||
6 | August 1987 | Mark 3:13–4:14 | |||
7 | 1987 | Mark 5:1–6:6 | |||
8 | November 1987 | Mark 6:6–7:23 | |||
9 | March 1988 | Mark 7:24–8:21 | |||
10 | May 1988 | Mark 8:22–9:13 | |||
11 | July 1988 | Mark 9:14–10:34 | |||
12 | September 1988 | Mark 10:35–12:27 | |||
13 | November 1988 | Mark 12:28–14:52 | |||
14 | January 1989 | Mark 14:53–16:20 | |||
15 | March 1989 | Matthew 1:1–2:13 | |||
16 | June 1989 | Matthew 2:14–2:23 | |||
17 | August 1989 | Matthew 3:1–4:17 | |||
18 | October 1989 | ||||
19 | January 1990 | Helder | Matthew 4:18–4:22 | Autobiographical period | |
20 | April 1990 | Showing Helder | Matthew 4:23–5:10 | ||
21 | June 1990 | The Playboy stories
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Matthew 5:11–7:27 | ||
22 | September 1990 | Matthew 7:28–8:17 | |||
23 | December 1990 | ||||
24 | April 1991 | Danny's Story | Matthew 8:18–8:27 | ||
25 | July 1991 | The Little Man | Matthew 8:28–9:14 | Drawn & Quarterly | |
26 | October 1991 | Fuck I Never Liked You |
Matthew 9:14–9:17 | ||
27 | January 1992 | Matthew 9:20 | |||
28 | May 1992 | ||||
29 | August 1992 | Matthew 9:18–9:30 | |||
30 | April 1993 | ||||
31 | September 1993 | Matthew 9:31–10:42 | |||
32 | January 1994 | Matthew | Matthew 11:2–12:45,14:2–14:12 |
Collections
The Ed the Happy Clown storyline has been reprinted in a number of formats since: a 1989 book collecting material from the first 12 issues of Yummy Fur; a 1992 "Definitive Ed Book", which leaves out much of the later material and also provides a completely new ending; and a nine-issue Ed the Happy Clown series from Drawn & Quarterly with new covers, unpublished artwork and extensive commentary by Brown.
The
Brown decided not to reprint the early Yummy Fur stories which had borrowed from other works. The Gospel adaptations also remain unfinished and uncollected.
Year | Title | Publisher | ISBN | Notes |
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1989 | Ed the Happy Clown: a Yummy Fur Book | Vortex Comics | ISBN 978-0-921451-04-4
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1992 | Ed the Happy Clown: the Definitive Ed Book | ISBN 978-0-921451-08-2
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The Playboy: A Comic Book
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Drawn & Quarterly | ISBN 978-0-9696701-1-7
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Collects the Disgust/Playboy stories from Yummy Fur #21–23 | |
1994 | I Never Liked You | ISBN 978-0-9696701-6-2
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Collects the Fuck stories from Yummy Fur #26–30 | |
1998 | The Little Man: Short Strips 1980–1995 | ISBN 978-1-896597-13-3
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Collects miscellaneous stories from Yummy Fur and elsewhere | |
2002 | I Never Liked You: The New Definitive Edition | ISBN 978-1-896597-14-0
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Reception
The series was recognized by his peers early on, such as Seth, who recommended to Bill Marks to pick it up as a Vortex title; and got good reviews from publications like The Comics Journal as early as its minicomic days.
Critical views
Joseph Witek wrote of the difficulties Yummy Fur presented—in the context of the "
Chris Lanier, writing in
Awards
The following are awards or nominations for Yummy Fur or collections of work that first appeared in it:
Year | Organisation | Award | Result |
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1989 | Harvey Awards
|
Best Writer[21] | Nominated |
Best Cartoonist[21] | Nominated | ||
Best Continuing or Limited Series[21] | Nominated | ||
Special Achievement in Humor[21] | Nominated | ||
1990 | U.K. Comic Art Award | Best Graphic Novel/Collection[22] for the first edition of Ed the Happy Clown |
Won |
Harvey Awards
|
Special Award for Humor[23] | Nominated | |
Best Cartoonist[24] | Won | ||
Best Graphic Album[24] for the first Ed the Happy Clown collection |
Won | ||
1991 | Best Continuing or Limited Series[25] | Nominated | |
Best Single Issue or Story The Playboy Stories " in Yummy Fur #21–23
|
Nominated | ||
Best Cartoonist (Writer/Artist)[25] | Nominated | ||
1992 | Best Cartoonist[26] | Nominated | |
1993 | Best Graphic Album of Previously Released Material The Playboy
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Nominated | |
1998 | Ignatz Awards
|
Outstanding Graphic Novel or Collection[28] for The Little Man |
Nominated |
1999 | Harvey Awards
|
Special Award for Excellence in Presentation[29] for The Little Man |
Nominated |
Best Graphic Album of Previously Published Work[29] for The Little Man |
Nominated | ||
Urhunden Prizes | Foreign Album[30] for Ed the Happy Clown |
Won |
See also
References
- ^ Young, Thom. "Top 10 Alternative Comic Book Series". Comics Bulletin. Retrieved 2011-04-25.
- ^ a b Brown, Ed the Happy Clown #9, notes page 1
- ^ Mackay 2005; Grammel 1990, p. 88.
- ^ Bell 2006, p. 154.
- ^ Grammel 1990, p. 80.
- ^ Brown, Ed the Happy Clown #1, notes page 2
- ^ Mackay 2005.
- ^ Brown, Ed the Happy Clown #5, notes page 1
- ^ Powers & Baisden 1989, p. 13.
- ^ Davis 1989.
- ^ Brown, Ed the Happy Clown #8, notes page 2
- ^ Groth 1997, part 4.
- ^ a b Yummy Fur in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- ^ Bell 2006, p. 147.
- ^ Yummy Fur in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
- ^ Brown, Underwater #7. pp. 26–27
- ^ Witek 1992, p. 77.
- ^ Lanier 1995, p. 99.
- ^ Lanier 1995, p. 102.
- ^ Lanier 1995, p. 100.
- ^ a b c d "1989 Harvey Award Nominees". Harvey Awards. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ Bell 2006, p. 150.
- ^ "1990 Harvey Award Nominees". Harvey Awards. Archived from the original on 2004-06-25. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ a b "1989 Harvey Award Winners". Harvey Awards. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ a b c "1991 Harvey Award Nominees". Harvey Awards. Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ "1992 Harvey Award Nominees". Harvey Awards. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ "1993 Harvey Award Nominees". Harvey Awards. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ "1998 Ignatz Award Recipients". Small Press Expo. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ a b "1999 Harvey Award Nominees". Harvey Awards. Archived from the original on 2011-09-28. Retrieved 2011-11-30.
- ^ Hammarlund 2009; Hahn 2006.
Works cited
- ISBN 978-1-55002-659-7.
- Brown, Chester. Ed the Happy Clown. Drawn & Quarterly. Nine issues (February 2005–September 2006). (notes pages unnumbered, counted from first page of notes)
- Davis, Erik (January 1989). "Ed's Big Boy". Spin. 4 (10): 13. Retrieved 2011-04-07.
- Grammel, Scott (April 1990). "Chester Brown (interview)". Fantagraphics Books: 66–90.
- Fantagraphics Books. Retrieved 2011-12-01.
- Hahn, Joel (2006). "Urhunden Prize". Comic Book Awards Almanac. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- Hammarlund, Ova (2009-09-20). "Seriepris till Joakim Pirinen och Jan Lööf" (in Swedish). [se Seriefrämjandet]. Archived from the original on November 22, 2011. Retrieved 2011-05-02.
- Lanier, Chris (February 1995). "Pixy and the Post-Nuke Protagonist". Fantagraphics Books: 96–102.
- Mackay, Brad (2005-07-18). "Special Ed". Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2011-11-14.
- Ng Suat Tong (July 2004). "Old Wine in New Wineskins: The Gospel According to Chester Brown". Fantagraphics Books: 31–37. Retrieved 2011-04-07 – via The Hooded Utilitarian.)
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: External link in
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- Powers, Thom; Baisden, Greg S. (November 1989). "Bindery Refuses Yummy Fur and Omaha Collections". Fantagraphics Books: 13.
- Witek, Joseph (1992). "From Genre to Medium: Comics and Contemporary American Culture". Rejuvenating the Humanities. Popular Press. pp. 71–78. ISBN 978-0-87972-546-4.
External links
- Yummy Fur at the Comic Book DB (archived from the original)
- Dissecting Yummy Fur #19