Box Brown's 'Andre the Giant: Life and Legend'

Following up his wrestling-centric comic Number 1, published early this year, Brown's Andre the Giant: Life and Legend tells the story of the pro wrestling icon and actor Andre Roussimoff, who was born with acromegaly, a condition that produces an excess of human growth hormone, causing protruding features, above-average height, and swelling of the internal organs. Roussimoff was brought up in rural France, where doctor visits were uncommon, and it wasn't until he was in his 20s that a physician in Japan diagnosed him. Cardiac complications stemming from the disease led to the seven-foot-four-inch, 520-pound wrestler's death at age 46 in 1993. My new piece in the Chicago Reader.