Troy Brownfield | |
---|---|
Born |
Terre Haute, IN |
September 1, 1973
Area(s) | Writer |
Notable works
|
Sparkshooter, Blood Queen, Prince Dracula |
Troy Brownfield is a comic book writer, journalist, and college professor from Indiana. He has an extensive list of credits, but became widely known to the online community as a columnist for Newsarama and the creator/editor of ShotgunReviews.com.
Brownfield attended Indiana State University, where he eventually earned a master's degree in English with a focus in Creative Writing. While an undergraduate student, Brownfield wrote a number of items for ISU's Indiana Statesman, including a catch-all column called "My Opinion, Not Yours". This background led to Brownfield's invitation to join the now-defunct ComicKingdom.com; while working with that site, Brownfield created his "Shotgun Reviews" column, so-named because it covered a wide area of ideas and approaches with the overriding element of satirical humor.
In 1999, Brownfield created ShotgunReviews.com, a site intended to give young writers a place to sharpen their work. The site covers several facets of entertainment, and has featured a variety of long-running columns. Among the featured contributors have been Shawn Delaney (site webmaster and Music Editor), Jonathan Birdsong (Lyrical Lounge section editor), Russell Ray (wrestling columnist and one-time Managing Editor), L.I. Rapkin (Senior Writer), The Rev. OJ Flow (comic columnist), Corey Henson (wrestling columnist), Eric Barker (film critic), Matt McConnell (anime critic), Ian King (feature writer), Steve Ekstrom and many more (including numerous members of Birdsong's hip-hop review crew). Brownfield closed the final version of the site in 2012 after a thirteen-year run to focus on his comics writing.
Around 1999, Brownfield, who worked a day job in publishing, began aggressively pursuing print work. His articles have appeared in sources like Wired, The Indianapolis Star, Indianapolis Monthly, INTake Weekly, Street Miami magazine, Savant online, Comicon.com's The Pulse, Nuvo Newsweekly magazine, and more. He has also written nearly 100 features and reviews for Newtype USA magazine alone.
Brownfield eventually began contributing regularly to Newsarama. He formerly edited and co-wrote the Best Shots review feature, as well as the columns "Your Manga Minute" and "Super-Articulate". He remains a frequent columnist. In 2004, Brownfield accepted an appointment to the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of English, Journalism, and Languages at Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, where he taught journalism, English, communications and film. He left the college at the close of the 2010-2011 school year. He continues to adjunct in central Indiana.