View source for Roger Brand

{{Infobox comics creator
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| birth_date    = January 5, 1943<ref>''California, Death Index, 1940-1997''</ref>
| birth_place   = [[New Mexico]]
| death_date    ={{dda|1985|11|23|1943|1|5}}<ref name=TCJ>T.H. "Comix Artist Roger Brand Dead," ''The Comics Journal'' #107 (Apr. 1986).</ref>
| death_place   =[[Contra Costa County, California]]
| nationality   = American
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| cartoonist    = y
| write         = y
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| spouse = [[Michele Robinson]]
| website       =
| sortkey       = Brand, Roger
| subcat        = American
}}

'''Roger Brand''' (January 5, 1943 – November 23, 1985) was an [[People of the United States|American]] [[cartoonist]] who created stories for both mainstream and [[Underground comix|underground]] [[comic books]]. His work showed a fascination with [[Horror comics|horror]] and [[Erotic comics|eroticism]], often combining the two.
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==Biography==
=== Early life and education ===
Born in [[New Mexico]], Brand grand grew up in [[El Sobrante, Contra Costa County, California|El Sobrante, California]], where he was friends with cartoonist [[Joel Beck]]. Brand and Beck were classmates at [[De Anza High School]], and they remained lifelong friends.

=== Comics ===
Some of Brand's earliest comics work appeared in the early 1960s in the [[University of California, Berkeley]]'s ''[[California Pelican (magazine)|California Pelican]]'' humor magazine, alongside drawings by Beck.

In 1966, Brand and his wife [[Michele Brand|Michele]] moved from [[Oakland, California]], to [[New York City]], specifically to break into the comics business. Brand began as an assistant to [[Gil Kane]] and [[Wally Wood]], contributing to Wood's ''[[witzend]]''<ref>Rosenkranz, Patrick. ''Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975'' (Fantagraphics Books, 2002), p. 56.</ref> and moving on to such publications as ''[[Creepy (magazine)|Creepy]]'', ''[[Eerie (magazine)|Eerie]]'', ''[[Jungle Jim]]'' and ''Web of Horror''.<ref name=lam>[http://lambiek.net/artists/b/brand.htm Lambiek: Roger Brand]</ref><ref name=gcd/>

[[Dan Adkins]], who also had been Wally Wood's assistant, remembered working with Brand:
{{cquote|I did a story called "The Haunted Sky." I'm not sure if that's a ''Creepy'' or ''Eerie'' story — but it was in one of the books, and I penciled the splash, and . . . because . . . I had to do something for [[Marvel Comics|Marvel]] . . . I gave it to Roger to finish. So "The Haunted Sky" . . . is my splash, a story Archie [Goodwin] wrote for me about planes . . . and Roger finished the story. . . . He helped me on that anniversary issue, the 100th issue of "Sub-Mariner versus the Hulk", ''[[Tales to Astonish]]'', I guess. Roger helped me ink that, we inked nine pages in a week. . . . I don't know how I met Roger. [[Bill Pearson (American writer)|Bill Pearson]] used to have an apartment that wasn't too far from Wally Wood. . . . You'd meet all kinds of people over at Bill's place. I probably met Roger, because I also knew Michelle, his wife. So I met her over there.<ref>[http://twomorrows.com/comicbookartist/articles/14adkins.html Jon B. Cooke interview with Dan Adkins, ''Comic Book Artist'' #14.]</ref>}}

=== Underground comics ===

[[File:Talesrogerbrand.jpg|thumb|right|''Tales of Sex and Death''&nbsp;#1 (Print Mint, Apr. 1971), with cover art by Brand]]
By the late 1960s Roger and Michele were back in the [[San Francisco Bay Area]].

Entering the [[underground comix]] field, Brand initially did comics for the tabloid ''[[Gothic Blimp Works]]'', and later for such titles as ''Banzai!'', ''Candid Press'', ''Insect Fear'', ''Tales of the Leather Nun'', ''[[Yellow Dog (comics)|Yellow Dog]]'', and ''[[Young Lust (comics)|Young Lust]]''.<ref name=lam/><ref name=gcd>[http://www.comics.org/credit/name/Roger%20Brand/sort/chrono/ Grand Comics Database: Roger Brand]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=11289 |title=Comic Book Database: Roger Brand |access-date=2010-05-20 |archive-date=2012-11-07 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121107102529/http://comicbookdb.com/creator.php?ID=11289 |url-status=dead }}</ref> 

Brand edited and contributed to ''Tales of Sex and Death'' (two issues, 1971–1975) and ''[[Real Pulp Comics]]'' (two issues, 1971–1973). ''Real Pulp'' became a springboard for cartoonist [[Bill Griffith]]'s ''[[Zippy the Pinhead]]''. As Griffith recalled, "In San Francisco in 1970, I was asked to contribute a few pages to ''Real Pulp Comics''&nbsp;#1, edited by cartoonist Roger Brand. His only guideline was to say, 'Maybe do some kind of love story, but with really weird people.' I never imagined I'd still be putting words into Zippy's fast-moving mouth some 38&nbsp;years later."<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18342 |title=Dueben, Alex. "Is Bill Griffith Having Fun Yet?", CBR, October 6, 2008. |access-date=May 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081225230137/http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=18342 |archive-date=December 25, 2008 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
 
In late 1976, while renting a room in [[Gary Arlington]]'s house in the [[Mission District]], Brand began working at [[Robert Beerbohm]]'s [[comic book store]] ''Best of Two Worlds'', located at 1709 Haight Street in San Francisco. When Beerbohm opened a second location at 2512 Telegraph Avenue in Berkeley in May 1977, Brand began working in that location as well, alongside [[Kim Deitch]], [[Bruce Simon]], and others. By then Brand had developed a severe alcohol problem coupled with the overuse of "[[Speed (drug)|speed]]".{{cn|date=June 2018}}

== Personal life and death ==

Brand's wife [[Michele Wrightson|Michele]] (1941–2015) was also involved in underground comix, contributing stories to such publications as ''[[It Ain't Me, Babe (comics)|It Ain't Me, Babe]]'', ''[[Wimmen's Comix]]'', and ''[[Arcade (comics magazine)|Arcade]]''. Brand and Michele divorced {{circa|1974}}. She later married comics artist [[Bernie Wrightson]]<ref>MacDonald, Heidi. [http://www.comicsbeat.com/rip-michele-wrightson/ "RIP Michele Wrightson,"] The Beat (June 1, 2015).</ref> and continued for many years working behind the scenes in the comics industry.

Brand died of [[liver failure]] at age 42, on November 23, 1985, in San Francisco,<ref name=TCJ /> at [[Joel Beck]]'s house, where he had been living for some time.<ref name=TCJ />

==Exhibitions==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100610104808/http://www.chazen.wisc.edu/exhibitions/PressRelease.asp?PID=141&date=May%202%20to%20July%2012,%202009&loc=Brittingham%20Galleries%20VI%20&%20VII ''Underground Classics: The Transformation of Comics into Comix, 1963-1990'', Chazen Museum of Art (Madison, Wisconsin), May 2 to July 12, 2009.]

==References==
=== Notes ===
{{Reflist}}

===Sources===
* [[Kim Deitch|Deitch, Kim]]. [http://www.tcj.com/a-lousy-week-for-woods-remembering-roger-brand/ "A Lousy Week For Woods (Remembering Roger Brand)"], ''The Comics Journal'' (OCT 12, 2011).
*[[Clay Geerdes|Geerdes, Clay]]. "The Erotic Cartoon Art of Roger Brand", ''Knight'', July, 1971.

==External links==
*[http://dl.dropbox.com/u/15374694/RogerBrand_JohnBenson_GSW1972.pdf ''Graphic Story World'' Interview with Roger Brand]{{dead|date=June 2018}}
*[http://cloud-109.blogspot.com/2010/05/roger-brand-and-curse-of-green-death.html Peter Richardson on Roger Brand]
*[http://wallywoodart.blogspot.com/2009/06/roger-brand-fan-art.html Steven Thompson on Roger Brand]

{{underground comix cartoonists}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brand, Roger}}
[[Category:1943 births]]
[[Category:1985 deaths]]
[[Category:Artists from San Francisco]]
[[Category:Underground cartoonists]]
[[Category:People from El Sobrante, Contra Costa County, California]]
[[Category:De Anza High School alumni]]