AUTHOR: Brown, Chester

ARTIST: Chester Brown (illustrator)

PUBLISHER: Drawn and Quarterly

FIRST SERIAL PUBLICATION: 1990 (Yummy Fur, issues 21-23)

FIRST BOOK PUBLICATION: 1992

Overview

The graphic novel The Playboy by Chester Brown is a vivid autobiographical exploration of his adolescent experiences with pornography and the accompanying emotional turmoil. Originally serialized in the contentious comic series Yummy Fur, Brown’s work paints a stark portrait of his internal struggles. The narrative spans from his teenage years to adulthood, intertwining themes of guilt, secrecy, and personal reflection.

Publication History

Chester Brown introduced The Playboy, initially known as “Disgust,” in the pages of his provocative comic, Yummy Fur, specifically in issues 21 through 23. Brown began self-publishing Yummy Fur as a minicomic between 1983 and 1986, later collaborating with publishers like Vortex Comics to expand it into a full-sized series by 1995. Over this period, he released thirty-two issues, with The Playboy emerging as a collection in 1992 under the aegis of Drawn and Quarterly, a publisher he partnered with after leaving Vortex in 1991. By 2011, The Playboy went out of print, joining other notable collections like Ed the Happy Clown and I Never Liked You, the latter of which was nominated for an Eisner Award.

Plot

The narrative of The Playboy delves into Brown’s personal account of his engagement with pornography, capturing his feelings of guilt and the anxiety of potential exposure. Structured mainly in two parts with an epilogue, the story begins in the summer of 1975. Here, an older, winged version of Chester Brown acts as a spectral guide for readers, representing the conscience of his younger self, who remains oblivious to this presence. The tale opens with the young Brown distracted in church by thoughts of a Playboy magazine glimpsed at a store, which leads to his cycle of purchasing, hiding, and destroying these magazines.

In the second part, young Brown attempts to eliminate any traces of his magazines by burning them in the family’s fireplace. His paranoia is palpable as he inspects the ashes for evidence, reflecting his fear of being discovered. Despite these efforts, his obsession continues, exacerbated by the tense atmosphere during a family vacation and compounded by the grief of losing his mother. Even after a close encounter with his brother Gordon, Brown attempts to curb his habit.

By 1982, with his first serious girlfriend, Kris, Brown disposes of his magazines, hoping that a romantic relationship will diminish his reliance on them. Yet, his older self admits a lingering preference for masturbation over intercourse, a reflection shared in the narrative. The epilogue transitions to 1990, where Brown questions his then-girlfriend Gerbs about a discarded magazine, ending with her assertion of his confusion.

Characters

• Chester Brown: The central character, Chester is portrayed as a shy, introspective teenager grappling with loneliness and pornography addiction.
• Gordon Brown: Chester’s younger brother, whose presence heightens Chester’s anxiety and fear of being caught.
• Kris: Chester’s first significant romantic partner, who represents a hope for change through a physical relationship.
• John: A friend of Chester’s who also hides a stash of pornography, mirroring Chester’s own secretiveness.
• Unnamed Friend: Appearing in the epilogue, this friend is unaware of Chester’s secret habit of repurchasing discarded magazines.
• Gerbs: Chester’s girlfriend in the epilogue, whom he suspects of retrieving an old Playboy from the trash.

Artistic Style

The Playboy is visually distinct with its striking white-on-black design, where imagery and text stand out against a dark backdrop. Chester Brown’s minimalist approach to shading emphasizes clean lines and generous white spaces. The layout is deliberately unconventional, with panels arranged asymmetrically, often...