A North Jefferson News exclusive: "Iron Grudge," a new comic strip devoted to our favorite college sports rivalry, by Fultondale artist Ryan Brown.

A college rivalry as big as Alabama vs. Auburn deserves something special — and now we have just that, exclusively at The North Jefferson News.

“Iron Grudge” is the handiwork of Ryan Brown (pictured at right), who works for Alabama Power and is a self-taught artist.

Brown lives in Fultondale, and has been drawing comic strips as a hobby for three years. This is his first attempt at a regularly-scheduled strip, and Brown approached his hometown newspaper about whether we would be interested in running it.

We took one look, and our answer was swift: “Boy, would we ever!”

So for the first time, we present the comic adventures of Roland, the rotund elephant who’s a Crimson Tide fan, and his friendly rival Claude, the Auburn tiger.

You’ll see “Iron Grudge” each week in the NJN sports page, and also online afterward. Enjoy!