Ivan Brunetti (born October 3, 1967) is an Italian and

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and

comics a medium used to express ideas with images, often combined with text or other visual information. It typically the form of a sequence of panels of images. Textual devices such as speech balloons, captions, and onomatopoeia can indicate ...

scholar based in

Chicago, Illinois (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Career

Noted for combining blackly humorous taboo-laden subject matter with simplified and exaggerated cartoon drawing styles, Brunetti was strongly influenced by Charles M. Schulz and ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ''Peanuts'' is among the most popular and inf ...

''. His best known comic work is his largely autobiographical series ''Schizo'', of which four issues appeared between 1994 and 2006, the first 3 of which have been collected as ''Misery Loves Comedy''. ''Schizo'' #4 received the 2006

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping ...

for Outstanding Comic of the Year. He has also produced two collections of gag cartoons, ''Haw!'' (2001) and ''Hee!'' (2005). He has worked as an illustrator, including cover designs for ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' since 2007. His early work includes also the strip ''Misery Loves Comedy'' which he created for the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chicago is consistently ranked among the b ...

newspaper ''The Maroon'' while a student there. The strip bears no relation to the 2007

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

collection of the same name, which collects the first three issues of ''Schizo'' in their entirety, along with additional material contributed to various other publications during the same time period. In 2005, Brunetti curated ''The Cartoonist's Eye,'' an exhibit of 75 artists' work, for the A+D Gallery of Columbia College Chicago. He then edited ''An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, and True Stories'' (2006,

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Univers ...

), which was declared a bestseller by ''

Publishers Weekly ''Publishers Weekly'' (''PW'') is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers, and literary agents. Published continuously since 1872, it has carried the tagline, "The International News Magazine of ...

'' in January 2007."Comics Bestsellers," in Publishers Weekly, January 8, 2007, pg. 18. The second and final volume of the anthology was released in October 2008. Brunetti also illustrated the cover of comedian

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian, actor and writer. He is known as Spence Olchin in the sitcom '' The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and for narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–present) as ...

's album, ''My Weakness Is Strong''. Brunetti's nonfiction book ''Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice'' (2011,

) won a 2012 Eisner Award. Also in 2012, Brunetti contributed to ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers '' The Observer'' and '' The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the ...

s "Cartoonists on the world we live in" series. His second nonfiction book, ''Aesthetics: A Memoir'', appeared in 2013 to positive reviews. He is currently on the faculty of

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergraduate and gradua ...

, where he teaches classes on comics, drawing and design.

Bibliography

Comics

*''Schizo'' #1–4 (Fantagraphics, 1994–2006) *''Haw! Horrible, Horrible Cartoons by Ivan Brunetti'' (Fantagraphics, 2001) *''32 Drunks'' (Self-published mini-comic, 2001) *''Hee! Yet More Horrible Cartoons'' (Fantagraphics, 2005)

Collected editions

*''Misery Loves Comedy'' (Fantagraphics, 2007) *''Ho!'' (Fantagraphics, 2007)

Nonfiction

*''Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice'' (Yale University Press, 2011) *''Aesthetics: A Memoir'' (Yale University Press, 2013)

Children's books

*''Wordplay'' (TOON Books, 2017) *''3x4'' (TOON Books, 2018) *''Comics: Easy As ABC'' (TOON Books, 2019)

Anthologies (as editor)

*''An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories'' (Yale University Press, 2006) *''An Anthology of Graphic Fiction, Cartoons, & True Stories, Volume 2'' (Yale University Press, 2008)

''New Yorker'' covers

*''January 8, 2007'' *''May 7, 2007'' *''March 2, 2009'' *''September 7, 2009'' *''January 4, 2010'' *''February 15 & 22, 2010'' *''November 1, 2010'' *''May 31, 2010'' *''March 19, 2012'' *''July 1, 2013'' *''September 23, 2013'' *''November 4, 2013'' *''April 21, 2014'' *''December 15, 2014'' *''November 2, 2015'' *September 12, 2016

Illustrator

* *Cover art for

Tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Indigenous peoples and nations of North America. It traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. In pre-colonial times the head was made of stone, bone, or antler, and Eur ...

's album '' Oddfellows.'' *Cover art for

's album '' My Weakness Is Strong.''

References

External links

The Ivan Brunetti Interview at Comic Book Galaxy
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brunetti, Ivan 1967 births Living people American cartoonists American comics artists American comics writers American writers of Italian descent Italian emigrants to the United States Artists from Chicago Columbia College Chicago faculty The New Yorker cartoonists Underground cartoonists