To The Letter: Steven Brower, 1952-2026

Features Brigid Alverson | September 3, 2026 Steven Brower portrait by Tony Rodriguez Art director, book designer, and comics historian Steven Brower died on July 24, 2026, at the age of 74. Brower was the Creative Director for Print during a period when the magazine won a number of awards. As a historian of comics and visual imagery, he authored and edited over a dozen books, including several histories of Golden Age comics, a collection of artwork by Woody Guthrie, and his own Inside Art Direction. And throughout this time, he was also a professor at several universities. Brower was born on June 23, 1952, and grew up in the Bronx. He got his first taste of the world of the art direction when he was 14 and got a summer job at the studio of his cousin, the renowned designer Milton Glaser. While doing routine work such as picking up breakfast, shooting and developing Photostats, and cutting Cellotac, an adhesive film, he also got to see the world of an art director up close. In a remembrance of Glaser published in TCJ in 2020, Brower wrote:: Portrait of Steven Brower by Milton Glaser, 1960 One day Milton called over the studio’s assistant, Brian. While I watched, Milton drew a line ...