Evan Dorkin (born April 20, 1965) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comics artist 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 comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and g ...

and cartoonist. His best known works are the comic books ''Milk and Cheese'' and ''Dork''. His comics often poke fun at

fandom A fandom is a subculture composed of fans characterized by a feeling of empathy and camaraderie with others who share a common interest. Fans typically are interested in even minor details of the objects of their fandom and spend a significant ...

, even while making it clear that Dorkin is a fan himself.

Life and career

Dorkin was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, and moved with his family to

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located in the city's southwest portion, the borough is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull an ...

when he was 13 years old. He grew up reading superhero comics (being loyal to

Marvel Marvel may refer to: Business * Marvel Entertainment, an American entertainment company ** Marvel Comics, the primary imprint of Marvel Entertainment ** Marvel Universe, a fictional shared universe ** Marvel Music, an imprint of Marvel Comics ...

over DC), '' Mad'' magazine, and humor titles by

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Harvey Comics Harvey Comics (also known as Harvey World Famous Comics, Harvey Publications, Harvey Comics Entertainment, Harvey Hits, Harvey Illustrated Humor, and Harvey Picture Magazines) was an American comic book publisher, founded in New York City by Alfr ...

. He became even more obsessed with comics when

comic book retailer The direct market is the dominant distribution and retail network for American comic books. The concept of the direct market was created in the 1970s by Phil Seuling. The network currently consists of: * four major comic distributors: ** Lunar D ...

Jim Hanley opened a store location near his high school; Dorkin later ended up working there.Narcisse, Evan
"Milk & Cheese Creator Evan Dorkin Talks About His Weird, Brilliant Career in Comics"
''

Gizmodo ''Gizmodo'' ( ) is a design, technology, science and science fiction website. It was originally launched as part of the Gawker Media network run by Nick Denton, and runs on the Kinja platform. ''Gizmodo'' also includes the subsite ''io9'', whic ...

''. (July 3, 2018). Dorkin aspired to attend the

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 ...

in the animation department, but was not accepted. (He had taken some animation classes at SVA while he was in high school.) Dorkin ended up attending

New York University Tisch School of the Arts The New York University Tisch School of the Arts (commonly referred to as Tisch) is the performing, cinematic and media arts school of New York University. Founded on August 17, 1965, Tisch is a training ground for artists, scholars of the ar ...

, but eventually switched his passion from animation to comics. Dorkin's earliest published solo comics were ''Pirate Corp$'' (later renamed ''Hectic Planet''), published first by

Eternity Comics Eternity Comics was a California-based comic book publisher active from 1986 to 1994, first as an independent publisher, then as an imprint of Malibu Comics. Eternity published creator-owned comics of an offbeat, independent flavor, as well as so ...

and then

Slave Labor Graphics Slave Labor Graphics (SLG) is an independent American comic book publisher, well known for publishing darkly humorous, offbeat comics. Creators associated with SLG over the years include Evan Dorkin, Roman Dirge, Sarah Dyer, Woodrow Phoenix, Jhon ...

from 1987 to 1989; and then a variety of ''Milk & Cheese'' titles, published by Slave Labor Graphics from 1991 to 1997. As well as his comics work, Dorkin and his wife,

Sarah Dyer Sarah Dyer is an Americans, American comic book writer and artist with roots in the Zine, zine movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1998, ''Action Girl'' was awarded with the "Lulu of the Year" award of Friends of Lulu. Early life Dyer ...

, have written for ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American adult animation, adult animated comedy talk show created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and hosted by a re-imagined version of the 1960s Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Space Ghost. In contrast t ...

''. Dorkin drew the

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game (box art), music album (album art), ...

for several

ska Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

s in the 1990s. He wrote and produced an animated

television pilot A television pilot (also known as a pilot or a pilot episode and sometimes marketed as a tele-movie), in United States television, is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell a show to a television network or other distri ...

for

Adult Swim Adult Swim (AS; 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 representati ...

and often abbreviated as s is an American adult-oriented night-time cable television Television channel, channel that shares channel space with the basic cable network Cartoon Network and is programme ...

titled ''

Welcome to Eltingville ''Welcome to Eltingville'' is an American adult animated comedy pilot created by Evan Dorkin, as an adaptation of his comic book series '' Eltingville''. It premiered in the United States on March 3, 2002, on Cartoon Network's late night programm ...

'', based on his own characters. He and Dyer wrote some episodes of the '' Superman: The Animated Series'' including the episode "Live Wire", which introduced a new character of the same name. Dorkin wrote the '' Superman and Batman: World's Funnest'' one-shot in 2000 which was drawn by various artists. Dorkin and Dyer worked as freelance writers on the 2006 English-language version of the anime '' Crayon Shin-chan'', where they wrote material for the show's first six episodes. Dorkin co-created ''

Beasts of Burden A working animal is an animal, usually domesticated, that is kept by humans and trained to perform tasks instead of being slaughtered to harvest animal products. Some are used for their physical strength (e.g. oxen and draft horses) or for t ...

'' with

Jill Thompson Jill Thompson (born November 20, 1966) is an American illustrator and writer who has worked for stage, film, and television. Well known for her work on Neil Gaiman's '' The Sandman'' characters and her own '' Scary Godmother'' series, she has wor ...

. Dyer has frequently colored Dorkin's art.

Awards

* 2015 Eisner Awards: Won Best Single Issue (or One-Shot) (for ''Beasts of Burden: Hunters and Gatherers'', with Jill Thompson) * 2010 Eisner Awards: Won Best Publication for Teens (for ''Beasts of Burden'', with Jill Thompson) * 2005 Eisner Awards: Won Best Short Story (for "Unfamiliar", with Jill Thompson) * 2002

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

for Best Short Story (for " The Eltingville Club in 'The Intervention'" in ''Dork'' #9,

) * 2002 Eisner Award for Best Writer/Artist: Humor (for ''Dork'') * 2001

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 the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

for Best Single Issue or Story (for ''Superman and Batman: World's Funnest'', shared with various artists, DC Comics) * 1998 ''

Eisner Award for Best Short Story The Eisner Award for Best Short Story is an award for "creative achievement" in American comic books that has been awarded every year since its creation in 1993. The Eisner Award rules state that "A short story must be within an anthology of bigg ...

'' (for "The Eltingville Club in 'The Marathon Men'" in ''Dork'' #4,

) * 1996 ''

'' (for "The Eltingville Club in 'Bring Me the Head of Boba Fett'" in ''Instant Piano'' #3,

Dark Horse Comics Dark Horse Comics is an American comic book, graphic novel, and manga publisher founded in Milwaukie, Oregon by Mike Richardson in 1986. The company was created using funds earned from Richardson's chain of Portland, Oregon comic book shops known ...

)

Nominations

* 2011

Anthony Awards The Anthony Awards are literary awards for mystery writers presented at the Bouchercon World Mystery Convention since 1986. The awards are named for Anthony Boucher (1911–1968), one of the founders of the Mystery Writers of America. Among the m ...

: Nominated for Best Graphic Novel *2002 Eisner Award for Best Humor Publication (for ''Dork'' #9) *2001 Harvey Award: Special Award for Humor (for ''Dork'', ''Superman and Batman: World's Funnest'', etc.) *2000

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

for Outstanding Debut Comic (for ''Dork'' #8) *1999 Annie Award for Best Writing (for ''

'': Episode- "Lawsuit")

Personal life

Dorkin is married to fellow comics writer/artist

with whom he has a daughter named Emily.

Bibliography

Comics

*'' Rom: Spaceknight'' — (first published art in the

letters page A comic book letter column is a section of an American comic book where readers' letters to the publisher appear. Comic book letter columns are also commonly referred to as letter columns (or lettercols), letter pages, letters of comment (LOCs), o ...

of #37)

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

, 1982 *''Jim Higgins Fantastic Fanzine'' — Jim Higgins, 1984 *''Phigments'' — Brian Marshall Comics Group, 1987 *''Pirate Corp$'' / ''Hectic Planet'' -

, 1987–1989 *''

The Real Ghostbusters ''The Real Ghostbusters'' is an American animated television series, a spin-off/sequel of the 1984 comedy film ''Ghostbusters''. The series ran from September 13, 1986, to October 5, 1991, and was produced by Columbia Pictures Television and DI ...

'' -

NOW Comics NOW Comics was a comic book publisher founded in late 1985 by Tony C. Caputo as a sole-proprietorship. During the four years after its founding, NOW grew from a one-man operation to operating in 12 countries, and published almost 1,000 comic book ...

, 1988 *''Wild Knights'' - Eternity Comics, 1989 *'' Milk and Cheese'' - Slave Labor Graphics, 1991–1997 *''

Predator Predation is a biological interaction where one organism, the predator, kills and eats another organism, its prey. It is one of a family of common feeding behaviours that includes parasitism and micropredation (which usually do not kill th ...

: Big Game'' -

, 1991 *''

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey ''Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey'' is a 1991 American science fiction comedy film, and the feature directorial debut of Pete Hewitt. It is the second film in the ''Bill & Ted'' franchise, and a sequel to ''Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure'' (1989). ...

'' (comic book adaptation) - Marvel Comics, 1991 *'' Bill & Ted's Excellent Comic Book'' - Marvel Comics, 1992–1993 *''Predator: Bad Blood'' - Dark Horse Comics 1993 *''Fight-Man One Shot'' - Marvel Comics, 1993 *''Dork!'' - Slave Labor Graphics, 1993–present *''

Instant Piano ''Instant Piano'' was a humorous comics anthology published by Dark Horse Comics. It ran for four issues from 1994 to 1995. Awards and recognition Writer Evan Dorkin received an Eisner Award for Best Short Story The Eisner Award for Best Short ...

'' - Dark Horse Comics, 1994 *''Generation ECCH! The Backlash Starts Here'' - Jason Cohen & Michael Krugman,

Fireside Books Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

, 1994 *''

Justice League The Justice League (also known as The Justice League of America) are a team of superheroes appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''The Brave and the Bold'' #28 (March 1960). The team was conceived ...

America Annual'' #8 -

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

, 1994 *'' The Mask: The Hunt for Green October'' - Dark Horse Comics, 1995 *'' Superman Adventures'' #21 - DC Comics, 1998 *''Superman Adventures'' #39 - DC Comics, 2000 *'' Superman and Batman: World's Funnest'' - DC Comics, 2000 *''

Bizarro Comics Bizarro () is a supervillain/anti-hero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by writer Otto Binder and artist George Papp as a "mirror image" of Superman, and first appeared in ''Superboy'' #68 (1958 ...

'' - DC Comics, 2001 *''

Captain America Captain America is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by cartoonists Joe Simon and Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''#Golden Age, Captain America Comics'' #1 (cover ...

'' vol. 3 #50 - Marvel Comics, 2002 *''Superman Adventures'' #65–66 - DC Comics, 2002 *''Captain America: Red, White & Blue'' HC (two pages) - Marvel Comics, 2002 * '' The Thing: Night Falls on Yancy Street'', four-issue miniseries with artist

Dean Haspiel Dean Edmund Haspiel (born May 31, 1967 in New York City) is an American comic book artist, writer, and playwright. He is known for creating Billy Dogma, The Red Hook, and for his collaborations with writer Harvey Pekar on his ''American Splendor'' ...

- Marvel Comics, 2003 *''Bizarro World'' - DC Comics, 2005 *''Dose'' - Bankshot Comics, 2007 *''

The Dark Horse Book of Hauntings ''The Dark Horse Book of...'' was the banner title given to a series of four Dark Horse Comics one-shot hardcover comic book horror anthologies edited by Scott Allie and featuring the work of Mike Mignola and others. In 2017 Dark Horse collected ...

'' (story "Stray") by Evan Dorkin and

. *''The Dark Horse Book of Witchcraft'' (story "The Unfamiliar") by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *''The Dark Horse Book of The Dead'' (story "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie") by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *''The Dark Horse Book of Monsters'' (story "A Dog and His Boy") by Evan Dorkin,

, and Jill Thompson. *''

'' (four-issue mini-series) by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *''

Hellboy Hellboy is a fictional superhero created by writer-artist Mike Mignola. The character first appeared in ''San Diego Comic-Con Comics'' #2 (August 1993), and has since appeared in various eponymous miniseries, one-shots and intercompany crossovers ...

/Beasts of Burden: Sacrifice'' (one-shot) by Evan Dorkin,

Mike Mignola Mike Mignola (; born September 16, 1960) is an American comics artist and writer best known for creating ''Hellboy'' for Dark Horse Comics, part of a shared universe of titles including ''B.P.R.D.'', '' Abe Sapien'', '' Lobster Johnson'', '' Wit ...

, and Jill Thompson. *''

Dark Horse Presents ''Dark Horse Presents'' was a comic book published by American company Dark Horse Comics from 1986. Their first published series, it was their flagship title until its September 2000 cancellation. The second incarnation was published on MySpace, r ...

'' vol. 2 #4 (story "Food Run") by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *''Dark Horse Presents'' vol. 2 #6 (story "Story Time") by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *''Dark Horse Presents'' vol. 2 #8 (story "The View From The Hill") by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *''Beasts of Burden: Neighborhood Watch'' (three stories from ''Dark Horse Presents'') by Evan Dorkin and Jill Thompson. *'' The Eltingville Club'' - Dark Horse Comics, 2014

Role-playing games

*''

GURPS Fantasy Folk ''GURPS Fantasy Folk'' is a supplement published by Steve Jackson Games in 1990 for the ''GURPS'' role-playing system. Contents ''GURPS Fantasy Folk'' provides information about 24 nonhuman races that can either be used by the gamemaster to creat ...

'' *''

GURPS Middle Ages I ''GURPS Middle Ages I'' is a sourcebook for running a Middle Ages themed ''GURPS'' campaign. It is a part of the extensive ''GURPS'' "generic" roleplaying system. Contents ''GURPS Middle Ages I'' covers English history from the Dark Ages to the R ...

Television

*''

'' (TV series), 1994–1999 ** "Gum, Disease" ** "Girlie Show" ** "Jerk" ** "$20.01" ** "Sharrock" ** "Switcheroo" ** "Cookout" ** "Art Show" ** "Woody Allen's Fall Project" ("Girlie Show") ** "Anniversary" ** "Pilot" ** "Zorak" ** "Hipster" ** "Telethon" ** "Lawsuit" ** "Sequel" * '' Superman: The Animated Series'' (1997–98) ** "Livewire" ** "Monkey Fun" ** "Little Girl Lost" (parts 1 & 2) *''

'' (TV pilot), 2002 *''

Yo Gabba Gabba! ''Yo Gabba Gabba!'' is a children's musical television series created by Christian Jacobs and Scott Schultz. The series is about five costumed toys come-to-life and their friend DJ Lance Rock ( Lance Robertson). It is co-produced by Magic Stor ...

'' (various episodes), 2007-2013 * ''

Ben 10 ''Ben 10'' is an American media franchise created by Man of Action Studios, produced by Cartoon Network Studios and owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The series centers on a boy named Ben Tennyson who acquires the Omnitrix, an alien device rese ...

'' ** "Xingo"

References

External links

Evan Dorkin and Sarah Dyer's House of FunBig Mouth Types Again
- Dorkin's

LiveJournal LiveJournal (russian: Живой Журнал), stylised as LiVEJOURNAL, is a Russian-owned social networking service where users can keep a blog, journal, or diary. American programmer Brad Fitzpatrick started LiveJournal on April 15, 1999, as ...

*
Evan Dorkin
at the Unofficial Handbook of Marvel Comics Creators
Interview on the Super Live Adventure Podcast Part 1
an
Part 2
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dorkin, Evan 1965 births 20th-century American artists 21st-century American artists Album-cover and concert-poster artists Alternative cartoonists American bloggers American comics artists American comics writers American male bloggers American male television writers American television writers DC Comics people Eisner Award winners for Best Writer/Artist Eisner Award winners for Talent Deserving of Wider Recognition Harvey Award winners Living people Marvel Comics people People from Brooklyn People from Staten Island Role-playing game artists Screenwriters from New York (state)