Mark Newgarden (born August 1, 1959, in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

) is an American underground

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

. His work has appeared widely, and his influential shape-shifting weekly feature ''Newgarden'', which appeared in

alternative weekly An alternative newspaper is a type of newspaper that eschews comprehensive coverage of general news in favor of stylized reporting, opinionated reviews and columns, investigations into edgy topics and magazine-style feature stories highlighting ...

newspapers like ''

New York Press ''New York Press'' was a free alternative weekly in New York City, which was published from 1988 to 2011. The ''Press'' strove to create a rivalry with the ''Village Voice''. ''Press'' editors claimed to have tried to hire away writer Nat Hento ...

'', created a cult following for the artist. Newgarden's work has appeared in a diverse array of venues, from the pivotal avant-garde comics album '' RAW'' to the ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' op-ed page. His work has been exhibited at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

, the

Cooper-Hewitt Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum is a design museum at the Andrew Carnegie Mansion in Manhattan, New York City, along the Upper East Side's Museum Mile. It is one of 19 Smithsonian Institution museums and one of three Smithsonian facili ...

, the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 500,000 objects. Located near the Prospect Heig ...

The Paley Center for Media The Paley Center for Media, formerly the Museum of Television & Radio (MT&R) and the Museum of Broadcasting, founded in 1975 by William S. Paley, is an American cultural institution in New York City with a branch office in Los Angeles. It is de ...

, and the

Institute of Contemporary Arts The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) is an modernism, artistic and cultural centre on The Mall (London), The Mall in London, just off Trafalgar Square. Located within Nash House, part of Carlton House Terrace, near the Duke of York Steps a ...

in London. In 1992 Newgarden was designated as one of ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

'''s annual "Faces to Watch". Newgarden has worked on various TV, film, and multimedia projects over the years for

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (nicknamed Nick) is an American pay television channel and the flagship property of the Nickelodeon Group, a sub-division of the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. Launched on April 1, 1979, as the first ca ...

, the

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

Packard Bell Packard Bell is a personal computer hardware brand which originated as Packard Bell Electronics, Inc., an independent American computer company. Packard Bell Electronics was founded in Los Angeles in 1986 by Israeli-American investors who bough ...

, and others. Newgarden attended New York's

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by Silas ...

in the late 1970s/early 1980s, graduating in 1982, where his classmates included fellow cartoonists/illustrators Drew Friedman and Kaz. He came to the attention of one of his teachers,

Art Spiegelman Itzhak Avraham ben Zeev Spiegelman ( ; born February 15, 1948), professionally known as Art Spiegelman, is an American cartoonist, editor, and comics advocate best known for his graphic novel ''Maus''. His work as co-editor on the comics magazin ...

, who published him in '' RAW'' and brought him, in 1983, as a creative consultant for the

Topps Company The Topps Company, Inc. is an American company that manufactures trading cards and other collectibles. Formerly based in New York City, Topps is best known as a leading producer of baseball and other sports and non-sports themed trading card ...

. Newgarden was part of the team that created the

Garbage Pail Kids ''Garbage Pail Kids'' is a series of sticker trading cards produced by the Topps Company, originally released in 1985 and designed to parody the '' Cabbage Patch Kids'' dolls, which were popular at the time. Each sticker card features a Garba ...

, and worked on new editions of

Wacky Packages ''Wacky Packages'' are a series of humorous trading cards featuring parodies of consumer products. The cards were produced by Topps beginning in 1967, first in die-cut, then in peel-and-stick sticker format. There were 16 series produced betwee ...

as well as scores of other satiric and novelty products. In 1999 the cartoonist completed writing and directing four episodes of '' B. Happy'', the first of the experimental "Web Premiere Toons" for the

. His picture history of the

practical joke A practical joke or prank is a trick played on people, generally causing the victim to experience embarrassment, perplexity, confusion, or discomfort.Marsh, Moira. 2015. ''Practically Joking''. Logan: Utah State University Press. The perpetrat ...

and

novelty Novelty (derived from Latin word ''novus'' for "new") is the quality of being new, or following from that, of being striking, original or unusual. Novelty may be the shared experience of a new cultural phenomenon or the subjective perception of an ...

industry, ''Cheap Laffs'', was published by Harry N. Abrams in 2004; and ''We All Die Alone'', a monograph collection of his comics and stories, was released from

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

in 2006. ''Bow-Wow Bugs a Bug'', a wordless picture story, was published in 2007 by Harcourt. Newgarden resides with children's illustrator and author Megan Montague Cash in an ex-funeral parlor in

Williamsburg, Brooklyn Williamsburg is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, bordered by Greenpoint to the north; Bedford–Stuyvesant to the south; Bushwick and East Williamsburg to the east; and the East River to the west. It was an independe ...

Bibliography

* ''Cheap Laffs: The Art of the Novelty Item'' ( Harry N. Abrams, 2004) * ''We All Die Alone'' (

, 2006) * ''Bow-Wow Bugs A Bug'' ( Harcourt Books, 2007) * ''Bow-Wow's Nightmare Neighbors'' (Roaring Brook Press, 2014) * '' How to Read Nancy: The Elements of Comics in Three Easy Panels'' with

Paul Karasik Paul Karasik ( ; born 1956)Kartalopoulos, Bill''Indy'' magazine (Spring 2004). is an American cartoonist, editor, and teacher, notable for his contributions to such works as '' City of Glass: The Graphic Novel'', ''The Ride Together: A Memoir of ...

(Seattle:

, 2017) .

References

External links

*
Official website for Bow-Wow, star of Newgarden's picture story series from Harcourt
American comics artists Alternative cartoonists Underground cartoonists People from Williamsburg, Brooklyn School of Visual Arts alumni Living people 1959 births Comics critics {{US-cartoonist-stub