Chicago: a family-friendly city of beautiful outdoor art, inland beaches, and strange tomato pies often confused for pizzas.
Enter the brothers Sun. Wesley and Brad were brought up on a steady diet of Sega, comics, and cartoons. And what happens when parents dare to raise their children on such things? Well, in the case of the Sun Bros, the result was comics that read like the cool, scary movies they show late nights on cable. The intro to their first book, Chinatown, employs a super cinematic intro style with an abrupt stop right as — well, I don’t want to spoil it. But it made me nod and say, “Oh, that was raaad,” when I read it the first time.
The Sun Bros went to Kickstarter to raise funds for the printing of Chinatown, and it was so successful that they were able to print their second book, Apocalypse Man, as well. Now both books, in both print and digital formats, are available on Gumroad.
One of the coolest thing about the Sun brothers is that they tap into their shared culture as well as their childhood influences. Their upcoming book Monkey Fist is their take on the Monkey King legend from Chinese mythology. In their adaptation, the monkey is the lowest cog in a fast food giant who rises through the ranks of HQ in a manic, action-packed style.
When I met Wesley and Brad on a stormy evening (countless takes were ruined by rumbles and bursts of heavy showers), Wesley stressed the importance of in-person marketing. They have a busy schedule of appearances, talks, panels, and conventions. Hey, cartoonists. Don’t you wish you had an in-house Communications Director?
Expect lots more from this dynamic duo, and check out their goods at sunbrosstudios.com and gumroad.com/thesunbros.
Music in this video comes from the ever-positive SNCKPCK.
Previous stops on the Trip:
John Staskevich and Kevin Holland of NTHSynth - Columbus, OH
Brad Guigar, comic artist and illustrator - Philadelphia, PA
Lisa Yen, designer - Queens, NY
As always, we love hearing your feedback — feel free to get in touch.