He began simplifying it after bringing Ed the Happy Clown to an end, as he had been reading work by cartoonists with simpler styles such as John Stanley and Brown's friend Seth. He abandoned the grid layout that he had used and arranged panels on the page in a varied, organic manner. He made the drawings first and only afterwards laid down panel borders, which conform to the shapes of the pictures they enclose and are in a wobbly free-hand—much like those of the Hernandez brothers or Robert Crumb. Brown distorted his images to convey emotion, but not in traditional cartoonish ways. For example, when the adolescent Brown encounters friends of his parents, he does not physically shrink with embarrassment, but does so through distortion of perspective. Chet is introverted and self-isolating, preferring pornography to communicating with others, such as his brother. Chet takes centre stage in the narrative, and supporting characters make but brief appearances. Brown depicts Chet's obsessive masturbation, and his uncommon masturbation style has drawn notice: he faces down and rubs his penis between the palms of both hands, a style Marcy R. Isabella likens to a pair of praying hands. The style has come to be called "the Chester" after a cartoon of it by Peter Bagge. He feels terrified of being caught masturbating and his regret afterwards drives him continually to rid himself of the magazines, such as by hiding them in the woods near his house, but always returns for them. Brown's mother dies while he is at camp, which is mentioned only briefly, as when he returns from camp he immediately heads to the woods to dig up the Playboy he had buried there. Comics critic Darcy Sullivan sees Brown in this scene having "shunted aside his painful feelings for her, and for other women, in favor of this tatty fetish". Chet feels surprised at and repelled by a centrefold of a black Playmate he comes across, bringing about the realization of racist feelings he has. When finishing The Playboy, Brown felt guilt over still looking at Playmates and credits having come out in print with helping him overcome his shame. While many have interpreted the book as a condemnation of pornography, to Brown it is about the guilt he was made to feel for using the media. Some interpretations, such as those of Sullivan and Darrel Epp, see The Playboy demonstrating how