ED THE HAPPY CLOWN

In the summer of 1982, challenging himself to produce more pages, Chester Brown improvises stories. His partner encourages him to publish these boards in the form of a fanzine. The first issue of Yummy Fur appeared in July 1983. It is in these pages that Ed is born, a lunar and naive character, between Harry Langdon and Little Orphan Annie. This unlucky clown suffers the worst indignities. He is buried under a mountain of shit, sees his glans replaced by the head of an improbable Ronald Reagan… His adventures mix macabre and scatology, horror and science fiction, sex and religion, fiction and autobiography. Brown uses all means, adopts Catholic imagery, while ridiculing homophobia and featuring vampires and mad scientists. Unsurprisingly, his His refusal to self-censor has led to accusations of perpetuating stereotypes. racist or sexist. The book is in reality a real UFO, burlesque, enjoyable and deeply disturbing. In 1989, Chester reworked this serial wacky to turn it into a “graphic novel.” Then he changes it again in 2005 and 2012 to arrive at this final version which, thanks to its unpublished notes provide an extraordinary insight into the author's creative process. Ed the happy clown will not be Chester Brown's Tintin, who abandons him to his comes out and highlights Josie and Chet, the tragic lovers, whose ending reveals suddenly a universe closer to the Louvin Brothers than to Charles Schulz.