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Monday, June 6, 2016

Tsujigo's DC Fan Art


[Jeffrey Brown (aka Tsujigo) was one of our first followers on our old tumblr site back in 2013. In an odd way, this feels like we're interviewing an old friend/pen pal.]

Jeffrey Brown has been into comics since he was a teenager, and his very first comic was Chris Claremont & Jim Lee's X-Men #1 (1991). What really nurtured his love of comic books were the comic book themed cartoons of that era (ex: Batman: The Animated Series, Superman: The Animated Series, X-Men, Spider-Man, WildC.A.T.s, etc) which inspired him to track down and read the comic books.



"My first DC comics were random issues of Superman, Action Comics and The Adventures of Superman during the Reign of the Superman story arc - during that time when I was a kid (in the early 90s) the Death of Superman had already happened, I remember watching the Richard Donner Superman movies, Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman and re-runs of the Super Friends. Diving into the comics during this time was a little jarring because there were four supermen running around (i.e. Cyborg Superman, Steel, the Eradicator & Superboy). I remember really liking the story about these four supermen filling the gap left behind after Superman's death at the hands of Doomsday. I remember enjoying how each creative team told their own separate stories while building towards the spectacular return of Superman in Superman #82 (1993)."




As evidenced by his fan-art (and self-published side-project), Tsujigo has an affinity for strong female lead characters. Jeffrey explains "I grew up watching a lot of horror movies and seeing how Ellen Ripley [Aliens trilogy] kicked so much ass - being equally as smart & resourceful as Arnold [Schwarzenegger] in Predator - as well as Kirsty Cotton from the first two Hellraiser films outsmarting Pinhead. I remember that when I read the Claremont X-Men that I really got into the way he fleshed out and added depth to female characters like Storm, Rogue, Jean Grey, and Psylocke (among others). My second favorite series would be the DCAU version of Superman from Superman: The Animated Series. I enjoyed the storytelling and it's 'neo art deco' style developed by Bruce Timm and his team when they were working on this series along with Batman: The Animated Series and Batman Beyond."
 
"Additionally, I got into reading New Teen Titans (Wolfman/Perez) after first seeing them in the Teen Titans cartoon (2004) and then seeking out the hardcover collections. My love of Doom Patrol also stems from their appearance on the Teen Titans cartoon and then hunting down trade paperbacks of the Grant Morrison run, and much later I bought back issues of the Paul Kupperberg/Steve Lightle and Kupperberg/Erik Larsen runs. I like the Doom Patrol for the simple fact that they are misfits who are trying to live their lives despite their bizarre powers being both a blessing and a curse. I liked the way Morrison crafted a weird, yet very powerful narrative. I strongly gravitated towards it when I first read it."



"My favorite female DC character is... well, I have more than one, but Kathy Kane/Batwoman is at the top of my list for the simple fact that I loved the way Greg Rucka and J.H. Williams III crafted a very emotional story that, to me, made her very compelling on so many levels. I believe she can stand on equal footing with Batman, but I like that she works independent of the Bat-Family fighting the mythical monsters and supernatural threats."




"I also like Rene Montoya (mainly her Batman: TAS version ) and her journey into becoming the Question (also written by Greg Rucka). I really like the way Rucka writes strong female characters. Bruce Timm and Paul Dini's version of Harley Quinn (when she was in the DCAU) is a very compelling character with a certain level of optimism and I also enjoyed her team-ups with Poison Ivy & Catwoman. To me, Harley Quinn is a fun character."



page from The Valkyrie Quartet web comic


It just so happens that Tsujigo/Jeffery Brown also publishes a web comic: The Valkyrie Quartet. If I had to summarize The Valkyrie Quarter in one sentence, it's about "a team of super-powered misfits just trying to live their lives in a crazy world of high-tech terrors and genetically-engineered monsters."

There's a few ways to check out Tsujigo/Jeffrey Brown's work:

page from The Valkyrie Quartet web comic



Tsujigo currently has a one-shot comic out on NOISE TRADE called the Valkyrie Quartet: Knock-About. It's about two of the main characters from his web comic (Uncanny Girl & Rhona Silvestri) going out on a date that casually keeps getting violently interrupted by a forgotten foe they believed to be from their past.





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