Michael M. Wartella (born August 19, 1976) 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 ...

, animator, writer and

director Director may refer to: Literature * ''Director'' (magazine), a British magazine * ''The Director'' (novel), a 1971 novel by Henry Denker * ''The Director'' (play), a 2000 play by Nancy Hasty Music * Director (band), an Irish rock band * ''D ...

based in New York City, generally publishing under the name M. Wartella or just Wartella. He is best known for his work in ''

The Village Voice ''The Village Voice'' is an American news and culture publication based in Greenwich Village, New York City, known for being the country's first Alternative newspaper, alternative newsweekly. Founded in 1955 by Dan Wolf (publisher), Dan Wolf, ...

'' and on

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 ...

's '' MAD''. He is the founder of

Brooklyn 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 ...

's Dream Factory Animation,M.Wartella Launches His Dream Factory in Brooklyn
Cartoon Brew, July 13, 2013 a boutique studio specializing in the production of animated shorts for corporate and indie clients.

Career

Print

According to his 2013 autobiography, ''Strip Show: 25 Years of Comix, Controversy & Copyright Infringement'', Wartella began his professional career at age ten producing a weekly comic strip called ''Clubhouse Kids'' for a local newspaper, which ran for two years during 1986–1987. Later, while a student at

The University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his Academical Village, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The original governin ...

,''Animator Pursues a Minimal Approach to His Art''
The New York Times, March 19, 1998 Wartella created the absurdist art comic ''Ackxhpæz'' (1994–1996) which he then expanded and nationally self-syndicated to

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 (as "Nuts") from 1998 to 2000. The humor in many of the cartoons was controversial as exemplified in a 1999 comic about the

Columbine High School massacre A school shooting and attempted bombing occurred on April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, Colorado, United States. The perpetrators, twelfth-grade students Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, murdered 13 students and one teach ...

which prompted an outcry when it was published in

Denver Denver ( ) is a List of municipalities in Colorado#Consolidated city and county, consolidated city and county, the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Colorado, most populous city of the U.S. state of ...

. From 2007 to 2009, Wartella's intricate single-panel "reportorial" cartoons began appearing regularly in ''

'', where he is still listed as an honorary contributor. Wartella's sequential comics have appeared in Eisner and

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be a successor to the Kirby Awards, which were ...

nominated anthologies from

DC Comics DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...

and

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 ...

and in magazines including

Andy Warhol Andy Warhol (;''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''"Warhol" born Andrew Warhola Jr.; August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was an American visual artist, film director and producer. A leading figure in the pop art movement, Warhol ...

's ''

Interview An interview is a structured conversation where one participant asks questions, and the other provides answers.Merriam Webster DictionaryInterview Dictionary definition, Retrieved February 16, 2016 In common parlance, the word "interview" re ...

'' and ''

Spin Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles * Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...

''. His illustrations have primarily appeared in "underground" publications including ''

Arthur Arthur is a masculine given name of uncertain etymology. Its popularity derives from it being the name of the legendary hero King Arthur. A common spelling variant used in many Slavic, Romance, and Germanic languages is Artur. In Spanish and Ital ...

'', ''Pop Smear'', and he was the creator of the infamously rare

scratch-off A scratchcard (also called a scratch off, scratch ticket, scratcher, scratchum, scratch-it, scratch game, scratch-and-win, instant game, instant lottery, scratchie, lot scrots, or scritchies) is a card designed for competitions, often made of t ...

cover of ''

Vice Magazine ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. It was founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, and its founders later launched the youth media company V ...

''. Wartella has also contributed several titles and paintings to the "all-new" series 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 ...

trading cards from

Topps 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 card, baseball and other sports and Non-sports tradi ...

, and created similar product parody spoofs for ''

Nickelodeon Magazine ''Nick Magazine'' is a defunct American children's magazine inspired by the children's television network Nickelodeon. Its first incarnation appeared in 1990 and was distributed at participating Pizza Hut restaurants; the version of the magazine ...

'' in the 2000s (decade). Wartella also did new artwork that appears on the cover of the re-launched

MAD Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

#6 (April 2019) featuring miniature

Alfred E. Neuman Alfred E. Neuman is the fictitious mascot and cover boy of the American humor magazine '' Mad''. The character's distinct smiling face, gap-toothed smile, freckles, red hair, protruding ears, and scrawny body date back to late 19th-century ad ...

s in an

M.C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...

style cubist background.

Animation

Wartella is a noted animator and director. Considered a pioneer of online animation, Wartella was among the earliest to use the animated .gif format to create story-driven

independent animation The terms independent animation or indie animation refers to animated shorts, web series, and feature films produced outside a major national animation industry. United States In America, working independent animators included Mary Ellen Bute ...

. In 1998,

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 ...

described his early animated web short ''The Dinky Dog Archive'' as "the

Steamboat Willie ''Steamboat Willie'' is a 1928 American animated short film directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks. It was produced in black-and-white by Walt Disney Animation Studios and was released by Pat Powers (producer), Pat Powers, under the name of Cele ...

of the internet". In the 2000s (decade), Wartella was an artistic contributor to several animated television shows including

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television Cable television, channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global, through PMN’s MTV Entertainment Group Subdivision. The channel launched initially as an all-music ...

's cult hit ''

Wonder Showzen ''Wonder Showzen'' is an American adult puppet black comedy television series that aired between 2005 and 2006 on MTV2. It was created by Vernon Chatman and John Lee of PFFR. Described as a children's television series for adults, the show's ...

'' (2005–2006), and

Adult Swim Adult Swim (stylized as

dult swim Dult is a village in Batala in Gurdaspur district of Punjab State, India. It is located from sub district headquarter, from district headquarter and from Sri Hargobindpur. The village is administrated by Sarpanch an elected representativ ...

and s is an American adult-oriented television programming block that airs on Cartoon Network which broadcasts during the evening, prime time, and Late-night television, late-night Dayparting, dayparts. T ...

's series ''

Superjail! ''Superjail!'' is an American adult animated television series created by Christy Karacas, Stephen Warbrick and Ben Gruber for Cartoon Network's late night programming block, Adult Swim. It follows the events that take place in an unusual pr ...

'' (2008–2009) and '' Xavier: Renegade Angel'' (2007–2009). In 2013, Wartella opened his own full-service production studio, Dream Factory Animation, in Brooklyn NY which has conceived, developed and produced animated programming for clients including

Condé Nast Condé Nast () is a global mass media company founded in 1909 by Condé Nast (businessman), Condé Montrose Nast (1873–1942) and owned by Advance Publications. Its headquarters are located at One World Trade Center in the FiDi, Financial Dis ...

Radical Media Radical media are communication outlets that disperse action-oriented political agendas utilizing existing communication infrastructures and its supportive users. These types of media are differentiated from conventional mass communications thro ...

, The Creative Agency and Warner Bros. From 2010 to 2013, he created nearly 300 hand-drawn animated shorts for Cartoon Network's '' MAD'', where his work was featured in every episode during four seasons.

Music videos

As of 2022, Wartella has directed several music videosM. Wartella music videos
at IMVDB combining live action and animation for musical acts including

Ozzy Osbourne John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne (born 3 December 1948) is an English singer, songwriter, and media personality. He rose to prominence during the 1970s as the lead singer of the heavy metal music, heavy metal band Black Sabbath, during which per ...

King Tuff Kyle Thomas, known professionally as King Tuff, is an American musician recording on Sub Pop Records. King Tuff and his band have released several music videos and have continually toured across the United States, Australia and Europe since 201 ...

and

The White Stripes The White Stripes were an American Rock music, rock duo formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1997. The group consisted of Jack White (guitar, keyboards, piano, vocals) and Meg White (drums, percussion, vocals). They were a leading group of 2000s indi ...

. Wartella's music videos have received accolades from ''Blender'' magazine and ''

Stereogum ''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine. ''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...

''."The 5 Best Videos of the Week"
Stereogum, May 2014

Bibliography

* ''Wartella's STRIP SHOW: 25 Years of Comix, Controversy & Copyright Infringement'' by

Wartella Michael M. Wartella (born August 19, 1976) is an American underground cartoonist, animator, writer and director based in New York City, generally publishing under the name M. Wartella or just Wartella. He is best known for his work in ''The Vil ...

, (

Burger Records Burger Records was an American independent record label and record store in Fullerton, California, United States. The label was founded in 2007 by Sean Bohrman and Lee Rickard, members of the power pop band Thee Makeout Party. The record/vide ...

, 2013) * ''Found: Requiem for a Paper Bag'' (cover) by

Davy Rothbart David Ira Rothbart (born April 11, 1975) is an American author, filmmaker, contributor to ''This American Life'', and the editor/publisher of '' Found Magazine''. Career Davy Rothbart's magazine ''Found'' is dedicated to discarded notes, letter ...

, ( Fireside, 2009 ) * ''Chew on This'' (cover), by

Schlosser Schlosser is a German surname which can mean "locksmith", "machinist", or "metal worker". Notable people with the surname include: *Eric Schlosser (born 1959), American journalist and writer * Friedrich Christoph Schlosser (1776–1861), German h ...

/Wilson, (

Houghton Mifflin The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a heraldic star. Computer scientists and mathematicians often vocalize it as ...

, 2006) * ''Hotwire Comix & Capers'', ed. by Glenn Head, (

Fantagraphics 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 ...

Books, 2006) * ''Bizarro World'', ed. by

Joey Cavalieri Joey Cavalieri is an American writer and editor of comic books. He is best known for his work on the characters Green Arrow and Huntress as well as the co-creation of Helena Bertinelli, the third Huntress, for DC Comics. Career Joey Cavalier ...

, (

, 2005)

References

External links

Ackxhpaez

Dream Factory Animation
*

Interviews

Obey Propaganda Interview, October 2013

Strange Kids Club Interview, May 2012

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wartella, M. University of Virginia alumni Alternative cartoonists Underground cartoonists Living people 1976 births American animators The Village Voice people Artists from New York City