Known in some circles as the Culture Czar of America , Michael R. Neno is one of the foremost cartoonists of his generation. From his critically acclaimed minicomics of the ‘80s to the Xeric Foundation grant winning Michael Neno’s Reactionary Tales and his wacky and touching Quacky Pig and Friends online comic strip, Neno has set a high standard for cartooning that continues to entertain and electrify.
Michael Neno was born December 4, 1961, in the American province of Columbus, Ohio; one day earlier, a half a world away, The Beatles had attended their first business meeting with Brian Epstein.
Inspired by Carl Barks' Disney comics, EC comic books, and a Tintin graphic novel given to him by his father, Ronald, Neno began drawing his own comic books at the age of nine. In 1972, he was exposed to the work of genius cartoonist Jack Kirby, and his consciousness was irrevocably altered; the idea that popular art could also function as a necessary revolutionary force was planted in his coddled and media drenched mind.
After winning a Governor's Award of Excellence from Ohio Governor James A Rhodes, Neno attended the Columbus College of Art and Design, augmenting his education by attending showings of Stanley Kubrick and David Lynch films at local art theatres, as well as directing his own short films. In the mid '80s, he began writing, drawing, and self publishing a series of digests and "mini-comics", as part of the New Wave or Small Press movement. Two of his series, This Eternal Flaw and Pictures of Benevolence won critical acclaim, and his The Get-A-Lifes #1 was named best mini-comic of the year by Small Press Feedback magazine.
Neno also began to produce freelance penciling, inking and lettering in the early '90s for such comic books as AMF's Cosmic Waves, and entered the field of art design with his logo and CD cover art for the alternative group Dark Dixie ("The Manson-Nixon Line").
In 1995, Neno began a three year-long stint lettering for the internationally published cartoonist-provocateur Paul Pope/aka Pulp Hope (THB ,Heavy Liquid ,Batman: Gotham Knights, 100% ), contributing to his One Trick Rip-off graphic novel serialized in Dark Horse Presents, as well as various THB-related stories published by Pope's own Horse Press.
Feverishly producing and submitting his own drawn short stories, Neno had two comic stories, "I Was a Scapegoat for Love" and "Victorian Dream" accepted and published in issues 39 and 46 of Caliber's Eisner and Harvey award nominated anthology series, Negative Burn.
In 1999, Neno's fifteen page noir drama, "A Greater Honor" (loosely based on a true story from Herodotus' Histories), was published in Amazing Montage's Murder By Crowquill mystery anthology book; proceeds from the book's sale were donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.
Early in 2000, Neno published the Quacky Pig and Friends Coloring Book , featuring the debut of Quacky Pig, Lovey Dovey, Psychoid, and Sally Mouse. Later that year, he began writing, drawing, and publishing online (with the assistance of startup capitalists Enter Polonius) a serialized, satirical Quacky Pig and Friends comic strip. 184 strips have been posted thus far on the site, which has garnered a fan base across North America, in England, and as far away as Ghana, Africa. Neno has also designed Quacky-related clothing, promotional spot illustrations, and ads.
Neno published Reactionary Tales #1 in 2001, a psychedelic superhero comic book which was nationally distributed to comic book and pop culture stores. This book was funded by a grant from the Xeric Foundation, and featured the debut of Larvae Boy, Emperor of the Insect World , the first three chapters of Neno's serialized saga, This Eternal Flaw, and a written and drawn introduction by Paul Pope.
Since then, Neno has returned to the mini-comic format with Michael Neno's Dream and The Toy Box , and has been published in Cracked Magazine . His "Big Blue", a story in homage to Golden Age cartoonist Hank Fletcher, was published in 2004 in Fightin' Fun's All Fist Comics #1. Neno has also provided spot illustrations for other cartoonists' ongoing series, including Javier Hernandez' El Muerto, recently released as a feature film. Neno's latest freelance project: a two-fisted The End adventure for Juan Ortiz's Silver Comics , due out in 2007.
Neno is now sequestered away in his midwestern homestead, producing, with the help of his beloved wife, Mary, the second issue of Reactionary Tales, the first issue of a new comic book series, The Signifiers , and Landlark, the Heat-Seeking Dwarf . He is intent on creating a body of work born of historical necessity - one that constitutes an inspirational, motivating force for the vacillating middle bourgeoisie, compelling them to repudiate and overthrow the excesses of ideological and corporate tyranny.
