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History

JP for web 2JOHN PORCELLINO was born in Chicago, in 1968, and has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for over thirty years. His celebrated self-published series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists. Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, a collection of King-Cat stories about Porcellino’s experiences as a pest control worker, won an Ignatz Award in 2005, and Perfect Example, first published in 2000, chronicles his struggles with depression as a teenager. King-Cat Classix and Map of My Heart, published in 2007/2009, offer a comprehensive overview of the zine’s first sixty-one issues, while Thoreau at Walden (2008) is a poetic expression of the great philosopher’s experience and ideals. According to cartoonist Chris Ware, “John Porcellino’s comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive.”

Porcellino’s work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Swedish, Italian, and Korean. He currently lives in Beloit, Wisconsin.

In Memory of: Maisie Kukoc Porcellino 1991-2007

SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY

Zines and Comics

Invasion of the Incredible Blobs* (c. 1977)
Sam and the Sneaker (and Other Stories)* (c. 1978)
From the Files of James Bombed, Special Agent 004* (1979-1981)
Tales of Hogarth the Barbarian Pig (1982-1986, 14 issues)
Zo-Zo (1985-1986) (editor, 11 issues)
Cehsoikoe (1987-1990) (editor, 12 issues)
Vole Adventures (1986-1990, 14 installments)
Vole Adventures Adventure Anthology (1988)
Trapped By Magnetic Forces (1988, one shot)
Reincarnation (c. 1988, one shot)
Flipper Trail* (1988) (daily newspaper strip)
King-Cat Comics and Stories (1989 – present, 82 issues to date)
King-Cat Classix (1990-1996, four volumes)
Vanilla Ice News and Adult Baby World Report (w/ K.A. Seckman, 1990-1992, 7 issues)
Important Tool (w/ Steve Jacobek, c. 1991, 2 issues)
Blind Flower Girl (1991, one shot)
True Anxiety! (1992-1993, 3 issues)
Night Time (1993, one shot)
King-Cat/Silly Daddy Flip (w/Joe Chiappetta, 1995-1996, 2 issues)
In der Nacht die Welt dreht sich das Oberste zuunterst (1996, one shot)
Silly-Cat (w/Joe Chiappetta, 1997, one shot)
How Deep Is the Ocean? * (1999)
The Kukoc Cat Named Maisie (2002, one shot included with King-Cat 61)
My Word! (w/Missy Kulik, 2003, one shot)
3 Poems About Fog (2006, one shot)
The Ones That Everybody Knows (2006, one shot)
Now We Are Forty (2008, one shot)
Hot Lovin’ Every Night* (2008, tour diary)
South Beloit Journal (2017, Uncivilized Books)

*unpublished or otherwise commercially unreleased

Poetry and Prose

The Saga of Sum-Tuff Land* (1984-1987)
Long Way Home (1988, Oyster Publications)
Squirrel Nutkin(g) (1990)
Montreal (1990, Oyster Publications)
On Ruby Hill: Poems, 1997-2002 (2009)

*unpublished or otherwise commercially unreleased

Books

The King-Cat Collection (1998, B.ü.L.b. Comix)
King-Cat Nummer Eins (1998, Reprodukt)
Perfect Example (2000, Highwater Books; 2005, Drawn and Quarterly)
Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man (2005, La Mano)
Moon Lake Trails (2006, Ego Comme X)
King-Cat Classix (2007, Drawn and Quarterly)
Thoreau at Walden (2008, Hyperion/CCS)
Map of My Heart (2009, Drawn and Quarterly)
The Next Day (Illustrator)  (2011, Pop Sandbox)
The Hospital Suite (2014, Drawn and Quarterly)
From Lone Mountain (2018, Drawn and Quarterly)

King-Cat in Translation

DANSK – Under stjernerne (2014, Damgaard) DEUTSCHE – King-Cat Nummer Eins (1998, Reprodukt) ESPAÑOL – Una Casa Para Siempre nº1 (2005, Borobiltxo Libros); Ejemplo Perfecto (2008, Ponent Mon); Diario de un Exterminador de Mosquitos (2008, Apa Apa) FRANÇAIS – Le Simo (c. 1995, Le Simo); King-Cat Collection (1998, B.ü.L.b. Comix); Moon Lake Trails (2006, Ego Comme X); L’ Histoire d’un Teuer de Moustique (2015, Employé du Moi); Chroniques Cliniques (2017, Employé du Moi)  HANGUL – Thoreau at Walden (2012) ITALIANO – Inguine MAH! 2008 (2008, Comma 22) SVENSKA – Galago nº88, 92 (2007, 2008, Ordfront); Det Grymma Svärdet (2011-present)

Anthology Contributions

Lime Green Bulldozers, Outside In, Comix Update, Dirty Plotte, This, Big Sky Fuck, Chop Fold and Grind, Ruh Roh, Roctober, Le Simo, Zoomcranks, White Buffalo Gazette, Rollerderby, Flying Saucer Attack, SPX ’97, Scenes from the Inside, Top Shelf, Kartoffelkafer, Beer Zine, SPX 2000, Not My Small Diary, Comics Journal Special, Rosetta, Unicorns, Sidewalk Bump, McSweeney’s, Una Casa Para Siempre, Black Warrior Review, Kramer’s Ergot, Galago, Papercutter, Smoke Signal, The Black Hood, Inguine MAH!, Mineshaft et al