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Jeffrey Brown first gained notoriety in the early 2000's for his autobiographical comics Clumsy and Unlikely. Tender and honest, these comics told the story of Brown's troubled, early relationships. Jeffrey Brown is appearing at the Stumptown Comics Fest this weekend with his new project, Incredible Change Bots.

Have you spent much time in our town before? What's your favorite part of Portland?

I haven't... I came to Portland once back in 2005, and like this time,it was a short trip.I did make it down to Powell's, and walked around there a bit. One thing I like about Portland is how much green you can see around town.


Tell us about your current project, the Incredible Change Bots. Are you enjoying working heavily from your imagination?

It's definitely a fun and loose project to work on, much different than working on the autobiographical comics. I have so many self-imposed rules when I'm writing about my own life, but with Change-Bots I can let my mind go off in crazy directions a bit more.

Did you like the Transformers movies?

I saw both Transformers movies. I remember being entertained by the first one, but I don't remember watching the second one, although I know I was in the room while it was playing...


Your autobiographical work put you on the map. Do you feel that you're moving away from that sort of thing?

I'm not moving away from it necessarily, but I'm definitely becoming more careful and deliberate about what I'm writing from my own life. I've got a few subjects I want to address - childhood, and fatherhood, a bit about religion. I do think I'm approaching a point where I'm using my own life less, but it's not anything I'm thinking about or considering consciously.


Is it difficult to write so candidly about yourself? Is there more you'd care to share with your audience?

It wasn't always difficult, but it's more difficult now - just being aware that people are reading things, and how often criticism that comes back on personal terms rather than dealing directly with the books, for example. In the end I just try to put that out of mind and focus on expressing the ideas about life that I want to.