Chester William David Brown (born 16 May 1960) is a Canadian cartoonist. Brown has gone through several stylistic and thematic periods. He gained notice in alternative comics circles in the 1980s for the surreal, scatological Ed the Happy Clown serial. After bringing Ed to an abrupt end, he delved into confessional autobiographical comics in the early 1990s and was strongly associated with fellow Toronto-based cartoonists Seth and Joe Matt, and the contemporary autobiographical comics trend.
The 19th issue of Yummy Fur began his Brown's autobiographical period. First came the strip "Helder", about a violent tenant in Brown's boarding house; then "Showing 'Helder'", about the creation of "Helder" and the reactions of Brown's friends to the work-in-progress. With "Showing 'Helder'" Brown breaks from his earlier syle by giving the panels no borders and arranging them organically on the page--a style that was to characterize his work of this period. He found his friends were uncomfortable with his writing about their lives, and soon turned to his adolescence for source material. Brown began the first installment of what was to become the graphic novel The Playboy in Yummy Fur #21, under the title Disgust. The revealing, confessional story tells of the teenage Brown's feelings of guilt over his obsessive masturbating over the Playmates of Playboy magazine, and the difficulties he had relating to women even into adulthood. Critical and fan reception was strong, though it drew some criticism from those who saw it glorifying pornography. Playboy's publisher Hugh Hefner wrote Brown a letter of concern that Brown could feel such guilt in a post-sexual revolution world. It appeared in a collected edition titled The Playboy in 1992. Around this time, Brown had become friends with the cartoonists Seth and Joe Matt. The three became noted for doing confessional autobio comics in the early 1990s, and for depicting each other in their works. In 1993, they did an interview together in The Comics Journal's autobiographical comics issue. Seth had joined the new Montreal-based comics publisher Drawn and Quarterly, which had also started publishing Julie Doucet. D&Q's Chris Oliveros had been courting Brown to join as well, but Brown had felt loyal to Bill Marks for giving him his first break. When his contract came up in 1991, however, Oliveros offered Brown nearly double the royalty he was getting from Vortex. Brown moved to D&Q starting with Yummy Fur #25.

Q: When did Brown publish his autobio?
A: The 19th issue of Yummy Fur

Q: What were critics' opinions of the work?
A: Critical and fan reception was strong, though it drew some criticism from those who saw it glorifying pornography.
Was there anything else noteworthy about the autobiography?
Brown began the first installment of what was to become the graphic novel The Playboy in Yummy Fur #21, under the title Disgust. Brown began the first installment of what was to become the graphic novel The Playboy in Yummy Fur #21, under the title Disgust. Brown began the first installment of what was to become the graphic novel The Playboy in Yummy Fur #21, under the title Disgust. Playboy's publisher Hugh Hefner wrote Brown a letter of concern that Brown could feel such guilt in a post-sexual revolution world.
Playboy's publisher Hugh Hefner wrote Brown a letter of concern that Brown could feel such guilt in a post-sexual revolution world.