James Kochalka

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James Kochalka

James Kochalka at home in August of 2000 in Burlington, Vermont
Born May 26, 1967 (1967-05-26) (age 41)
Springfield, Vermont
Nationality American
Area(s) Penciller, Inker, Writer
Awards Two Ignatz awards, Harvey Award2006

James Kochlka (born May 26, 1967) is an American comic book artist and writer, and rock musician. His comics are noted for their blending of the real and the surreal. Largely autobiographical, Kochalka's cartoon expression of the world around him includes such real-life characters as his wife, children, cat, friends and colleagues, but always filtered through his own observations and flights of whimsy.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Kochalka was born May 26th, 1967 and grew up in Springfield, Vermont. He attended the Maryland Institute College of Art and holds an MFA in painting. His first published comics work was around 1994. He has cited Eightball by cartoonist Daniel Clowes as being a key inspiration in leading him "towards a whole world of comics that [he] never knew existed." Kochalka strongly believes that "Craft is the enemy," and has had public debates in print and online with other cartoonists who disagree with his position. Kochalka's Craft is the Enemy essays were collected in the 2005 volume The Cute Manifesto.

Kochalka spent six years working in a Chinese restaurant in Winooski, Vermont and eventually left that job to devote his full energy to cartooning and music. His song "Hockey Monkey," recorded with the band The Zambonis, is the theme song for the Fox TV series The Loop.

He is an also instructor at the Center for Cartoon Studies[1], a cartooning school that opened in White River Junction, Vermont in the fall of 2005 and is headed up by cartoonist James Sturm. Kochalka is also part of the "Little Idiot Collective", a group of artists assembled by the musician Moby. Moby also sang back-up vocals on the seven inch single of Kochalka's former band Jazzin' Hell, an outtake of which resurfaced on Kochalka's album Don't Trust Whitey.

Cartoonist Frank Miller told the SuicideGirls website that he is a "big fan of James Kochalka," predicting Kochalka is "going to become more important and it’s going to be fun watching that happen. He reminds me of me when I was six years old and I came into my mother’s kitchen with a bunch of sheets of typing paper folded over and stapled in the middle that were covered with drawings and I said 'Mom this is what I’m going to do for the rest of my life.' I’ve learned a lot from people like Kochalka because they do stuff that shouldn’t work but does."[2]

Kochalka, his wife Amy and their two sons, Eli and Oliver, currently live in Burlington, Vermont.

[edit] Comics and Graphic Novels

Kochalka is highly prolific in his comics work; he told an interviewer in 2002 that he had created 2,000 pages of comics by the time he completed high school. His comics have earned him two Ignatz awards and nominations for the Firecracker Alternative Books award, the Harvey Award and the Will Eisner award. His work is characterized by a simple drawing style, bright colors, and frequent appearances by cats, robots, elves, and monkeys.

Among his most widely disseminated works was a four page story "Hulk vs. The Rain" that originally appeared in black and white in unauthorized alternative comic called Coober Skeber. The story was later redrawn in color by Kochalka for inclusion in Marvel's Incredible Hulk 2001 Annual. His highest-selling single issue to date is likely "Super-F*ckers" #1, which initially sold approximately 2,500 copies through Diamond Distributing, the largest comic book distributing company in North America[3]. In 2002, Kochalka told Mars Import that all 5,000 copies of the first printing of the Monkey vs. Robot graphic novel had sold out [4]. There has since been a second printing, and in an interview in August of 2006 Kochalka said that over 10,000 copies of Monkey vs. Robot have been sold to date[citation needed].

Kochalka currently keeps a daily webcomic, American Elf, which is a diary strip that celebrated its seventh anniversary in 2005, an unmatched feat in the field of daily diary cartooning. Kochalka told The Onion that he wrote the first diary entry while traveling by plane to the San Diego Comicon. Kochalka's friend and fellow cartoonist Brian Ralph was working on his comics on the flight, and Kochalka was inspired to begin cartooning on the plane as well. Kochalka created diary strips during the week of the convention, and he committed to doing a diary strip every day beginning in October of 1998[1].

Beginning in December of 2007, Kochalka made all of his daily diary strip archives free for all readers; previously the archives had only been accessible to paying subscribers, with only the newest strip available for all to read for free. Under the relaunched "American Elf Supersite," all the archived strips dating back to 2002 are free for all readers, while paying subscribers will have access to other comics and MP3s. Kochalka reported on his blog that the site had received around 200,000 hits as a result of the change[citation needed].

The book American Elf is a collection of Kochalka's daily dairy strips, released in a large edition by Top Shelf Productions in Summer 2004, compiling five years of the daily diary strips and other supplemental material. A second volume was released in early 2007, collecting years six and seven of the daily strips in full color.

Kochalka's two primary publishers are Top Shelf Productions and Alternative Comics. He has also published numerous short stories in comics anthologies, self-published his own mini-comics, and published graphic novels through other publishers such as Black Eye, Slave Labor Graphics, and the now-defunct Highwater Books.

[edit] Partial bibliography

  • American Elf (limited edition hardcover; published by Top Shelf) (2004)
  • American Elf (softcover; published by Top Shelf) (2004)
  • American Elf Vol. 2 (softcover; published by Top Shelf) (2007)
  • Atlas 1 (backup story; published by Drawn and Quarterly)
  • Bizarro Comics (wrote Hawkman story illustrated by Dylan Horrocks; DC Comics)
  • Bogus Dead (zombie anthology with two-page story by Jason Cooley and James Kochalka)
  • Conversation (2004; published by Top Shelf)
  • Conversation (2005; published by Top Shelf)
  • Cute Manifesto, The (2005; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Deadbear, Circus Detective (self-published hardcover)
  • Fancy Froglin's Sexy Forest (2003; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Fantastic Butterflies (2001; published by Alternative Comics and Highwater Books)
  • Horrible Truth About Comics, The (2001; published by Alternative Comics)
  • James Kochalka Superstar #1-11 (Self-published mini-comics)
  • Kissers (1999; published by Highwater Books)
  • Little Mister Man #1-3 (Slave Labor Graphics)
  • Magic Boy and Girlfriend (1998; published by Top Shelf)
  • Magic Boy and the Robot Elf (2003; published by Top Shelf)
  • Mermaid (1998; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Monica's Story]] (1999; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Monkey Vs. Robot (Vol 1) (First Edition) (2000; published by Top Shelf)
  • Monkey Vs. Robot (Vol 1) (Second Edition, smaller size) (2005; published by Top Shelf)
  • Monkey vs. Robot (Vol 2): Crystal of Power (2003; published by Top Shelf)
  • Noisy Outlaws, Unfriendly Blobs, and Some Other Things (anthology featuring 12-page Kochalka story; 2005; published by McSweeney's)
  • Paradise Sucks (Black Eye Books)
  • Peanutbutter & Jeremy #1-4 (2000-2003; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Peanutbutter & Jeremy's Best Book Ever (2004; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Perfect Planet and Other Stories, The (1999; published by Top Shelf)
  • Pinky & Stinky (2002; published by Top Shelf)
  • Quit Your Job (1998; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Reinventing Everything #1 (self-published mini-comic)
  • Reinventing Everything #2 (self-published mini-comic)
  • Sketchbook Diaries (Vol 1) (2003; published by Top Shelf)
  • Sketchbook Diaries (Vol 2) (2003; published by Top Shelf)
  • Sketchbook Diaries (Vol 3) (2003; published by Top Shelf)
  • Sketchbook Diaries (Vol 4) (2004; published by Top Shelf)
  • Squirrelly Gray (2007; published by Random House)
  • Sunburn (2000; published by Alternative Comics)
  • Sunturd (2003) (mini-comic written by Jason Cooley, same art as Sunburn)
  • Super F*ckers #1 (2005; published by Top Shelf)
  • Super F*ckers #2 (2005; published by Top Shelf)
  • Super F*ckers #3 (2006; published by Top Shelf)
  • Super F*ckers #4 (2007; published by Top Shelf)
  • Tiny Bubbles (1998; published by Highwater Books)
  • Top Shelf #1 (anthology title with Kochalka contribution; published by Top Shelf)
  • Top Shelf #5 (anthology title with Kochalka contribution; published by Top Shelf)
  • Top Shelf #6 (anthology title with Kochalka contribution; published by Top Shelf)
  • Top Shelf Asks the Big Questions (anthology title with Kochalka contribution; published by Top Shelf)
  • Triple Dare #1-2 (1998-2000; Published by Alternative Comics)

[edit] Music

James Kochalka performs in August of 2004 at the Crow Bookshop in Burlington, Vermont.
James Kochalka performs in August of 2004 at the Crow Bookshop in Burlington, Vermont.

In his musical work, Kochalka's band, James Kochalka Superstar, has released the albums:

  • Carrot Boy the Beautiful
  • The True Story of James Kochalka, Superstar
  • Kissers
  • Monkey Vs. Robot
  • Don't Trust Whitey (2001)
  • Hotchocolate Superstar (Internet-only, available from Dangerfive Records)
  • Dangerforce Five Singles Club (A collaboration with Colin Clary)
  • Our Most Beloved (2005) (a best-of compilation packaged with a five-video DVD)
  • Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly (2006)

Spread Your Evil Wings and Fly was completed some time before its release in the fall of 2005; an online petition was launched to convince Kochalka's current record label Rykodisc to release the CD. Over 500 people signed the petition demanding the album's release.

Virtually all of Kochalka's CDs come packaged with his cartoons in the accompanying pamphlets, in some cases using the pamphlet as a full-length mini-comic.

Kochalka's best-known musical works are probably the songs "Pizza Rocket" and "Hockey Monkey," the music videos for which were shown on Nickelodeon's animation showcase series KaBlam!.

Rolling Stone named "Britney's Silver Can" one of "The 100 Best Songs of 2006"[5]

Recently, the song "Hockey Monkey," which James co-authored with the Zambonis, has become the theme song for Fox's comedy, "The Loop"

Kochhalka was also in the band Jazzin' Hell, and contributed vocals as the character "Frank Poole" in the rock opera CD, ODYSSEY!

[edit] References

  1. ^ American Elf vol 1 listing on Amazon. Amazon.com. Retrieved on 2008-01-15.

[edit] External links

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