Q&A: BOX BROWN, Bellen!, and Love Is A Peculiar Type of Thing

If you’re not familiar with the work of Box Brown, run over to his site and check it out. Then come back here. It’s the internets; I’ll wait. Box has been doing his own webcomic, Bellen! (Ben and Ellen, see?) since 2006. In addition, he won a Xeric Grant for his big, fat collection of cartoons called Love Is A Peculiar Type of Thing, which can be ordered from Diamond Comics right now.

Recently, a revised version of Bellen! was nearly syndicated by United Features, but Box pulled it when the syndicate let go of its progressive comics editor, Ted Rall. Box says his work has been influenced by both Charles Schulz’ Peanuts and James Kochalka’s American Elf, so let’s chat.

TOM MASON: Were you surprised to win the Xeric Grant for Love Is A Peculiar Type of Thing?

BOX BROWN: Kinda shocked, really. When I created my proposal the book was only a little more than a third finished and I put it on hold between mailing the proposal and receiving the grant. It was a great fire under my ass to get moving on finishing the book.

TOM: What was it like becoming your own publisher?

BOX: There’s a lot of work in publishing a book like this. I had done a lot of self-publishing in the past but nothing of this magnitude.

TOM: What surprised you about it?

BOX: I had no idea what it would be like dealing with Diamond or “marketing” really.

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