Brian Bram

Brian Bram, born May 9, 1955 in Chicago and raised in Deerfield, Illinois, played a minor role in the underground comix movement with his contributions to American Splendor, the comic book series written and published by Harvey Pekar.

Bram's first paid illustration job was a logo for a local rock band. At 17 he began contributing to Triad, a Chicago-based alternative magazine that published work by Skip Williamson and others. At 18 Bram served briefly as art director for the magazine.

Bram moved to Cleveland in 1975 to major in design and illustration at the Cleveland Institute of Art. Underground cartoonist Jay Lynch introduced him to Pekar who hired him to illustrate stories in the first issue of American Splendor. Bram contributed to the first two issues of American Splendor, along with artists Gary Dumm, Gregg Budgett, and Robert Crumb. He provided the art for Remembering Be-Ins in American Splendor #1 (1974) and Rollins on Mars, May 4–5, 1970, and Zoology in American Splendor #2 (1977). In 1980 he moved to Rochester, NY to study film and animation at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

In 1983 Bram produced and hosted an all-night movie program on WUHF (Channel 31; then an independent station; now part of the Fox network). In addition to movies, the program was a forum for local bands including Personal Effects, The Degrads, and Cousin Al and the Relatives.

Since 1987 Bram has been living in Boston, Massachusetts and working as a creative director in the interactive industry.

Further reading

• Comic Books as History, Joseph Witek, 1989, University Press of Mississippi. ISBN 0-8780-5405-7
• Diners of New England, Randy Garbin, 2005, Stackpole Books. ISBN 0-8117-3141-3
• R. Crumb Checklist, Don Fiene, 1981, Bookpeople. ISBN 0-9606-6541-2
• The Catalog of Cool, Gene Sculatti. 1982, Warner Books. ISBN 0-4463-7515-2

External links

• Complete list of Harvey Pekar's artists
• Bram at Linked In
• Bram interviewing Rochester band The Degrads on his TV show, WUHF-TV31, Rochester, NY 1983 on YouTube