Roger Brand
(January 5, 1943 ? November 23, 1985) was an
American
cartoonist
who created stories for both mainstream and
underground
comic books
. His work showed a fascination with
horror
and
eroticism
, often combining the two.
Biography
[
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]
Early life and education
[
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]
Born in
New Mexico
, Brand grand grew up in
El Sobrante, California
, where he was friends with cartoonist
Joel Beck
. Brand and Beck were classmates at
De Anza High School
, and they remained lifelong friends.
Comics
[
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]
Some of Brand's earliest comics work appeared in the early 1960s in the
University of California, Berkeley
's
California Pelican
humor magazine, alongside drawings by Beck.
In 1966, Brand and his wife
Michele
moved from
Oakland, California
, to
New York City
, specifically to break into the comics business. Brand began as an assistant to
Gil Kane
and
Wally Wood
, contributing to Wood's
witzend
[3]
and moving on to such publications as
Creepy
,
Eerie
,
Jungle Jim
and
Web of Horror
.
[4]
[5]
Dan Adkins
, who also had been Wally Wood's assistant, remembered working with Brand:
I did a story called "The Haunted Sky." I'm not sure if that's a
Creepy
or
Eerie
story ? but it was in one of the books, and I penciled the splash, and . . . because . . . I had to do something for
Marvel
. . . I gave it to Roger to finish. So "The Haunted Sky" . . . is my splash, a story Archie [Goodwin] wrote for me about planes . . . and Roger finished the story. . . . He helped me on that anniversary issue, the 100th issue of "Sub-Mariner versus the Hulk",
Tales to Astonish
, I guess. Roger helped me ink that, we inked nine pages in a week. . . . I don't know how I met Roger.
Bill Pearson
used to have an apartment that wasn't too far from Wally Wood. . . . You'd meet all kinds of people over at Bill's place. I probably met Roger, because I also knew Michelle, his wife. So I met her over there.
[6]
Underground comics
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By the late 1960s Roger and Michele were back in the
San Francisco Bay Area
.
Entering the
underground comix
field, Brand initially did comics for the tabloid
Gothic Blimp Works
, and later for such titles as
Banzai!
,
Candid Press
,
Insect Fear
,
Tales of the Leather Nun
,
Yellow Dog
, and
Young Lust
.
[4]
[5]
[7]
Brand edited and contributed to
Tales of Sex and Death
(two issues, 1971?1975) and
Real Pulp Comics
(two issues, 1971?1973).
Real Pulp
became a springboard for cartoonist
Bill Griffith
's
Zippy the Pinhead
. As Griffith recalled, "In San Francisco in 1970, I was asked to contribute a few pages to
Real Pulp Comics
#1, edited by cartoonist Roger Brand. His only guideline was to say, 'Maybe do some kind of love story, but with really weird people.' I never imagined I'd still be putting words into Zippy's fast-moving mouth some 38 years later."
[8]
In late 1976, while renting a room in
Gary Arlington
's house in the
Mission District
, Brand began working at
Robert Beerbohm
's
comic book store
Best of Two Worlds
, located at 1709 Haight Street in San Francisco. When Beerbohm opened a second location at 2512 Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in May 1977, Brand began working in that location as well, alongside
Kim Deitch
,
Bruce Simon
, and others. By then Brand had developed a severe alcohol problem coupled with the overuse of "
speed
."
[
citation needed
]
Personal life and death
[
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]
Brand's wife
Michele
(1941?2015) was also involved in underground comix, contributing stories to such publications as
It Ain't Me, Babe
,
Wimmen's Comix
, and
Arcade
. Brand and Michele divorced
c.
1974
. She later married comics artist
Bernie Wrightson
[9]
and continued for many years working behind the scenes in the comics industry.
Brand died of
liver failure
at age 42, on November 23, 1985, in San Francisco,
[2]
at
Joel Beck
's house, where he had been living for some time.
[2]
Exhibitions
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]
References
[
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]
Notes
[
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]
- ^
California, Death Index, 1940-1997
- ^
a
b
c
T.H. "Comix Artist Roger Brand Dead,"
The Comics Journal
#107 (Apr. 1986).
- ^
Rosenkranz, Patrick.
Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975
(Fantagraphics Books, 2002), p. 56.
- ^
a
b
Lambiek: Roger Brand
- ^
a
b
Grand Comics Database: Roger Brand
- ^
Jon B. Cooke interview with Dan Adkins,
Comic Book Artist
#14.
- ^
"Comic Book Database: Roger Brand"
. Archived from
the original
on 2012-11-07
. Retrieved
2010-05-20
.
- ^
"Dueben, Alex. "Is Bill Griffith Having Fun Yet?", CBR, October 6, 2008"
. Archived from
the original
on December 25, 2008
. Retrieved
May 20,
2010
.
- ^
MacDonald, Heidi.
"RIP Michele Wrightson,"
The Beat (June 1, 2015).
Sources
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]
External links
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]
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