Brunetti was born in rural Mondavio, Italy, moving with his family to Chicago, where he now teaches. Brunetti “learned not only how to read from comic books, but also how to see,” and a fuller account of comics as both a language lesson and a visual schoolhouse. Suffering more than his share of the indignities of grade school — something of a calling card among contemporary alt-comics creators, one that becomes the explicit topic of revenge fantasies in Schizo - Brunetti eventually graduated from the University of Chicago, where his comics appeared in the school newspaper. Working in a series of unremunerative jobs after graduation, Brunetti began self-publishing his autobiographical comics and one-panel gags in his off hours.