Comics

“The dark thread that winds through all of Mr. Newgarden’s work is his conviction that ‘suffering, regret, compulsion, humiliation, disappointment, betrayal, decay, death—and big noses’ are ‘proven laff-getters,’ as Dan Nadel, a comics scholar, quotes him in the introduction to We All Die Alone.”
– Mark Dery, The New York Times

“Newgarden’s dense, formally experimental work began appearing regularly in RAW from the publication’s first issue. ‘Love’s Savage Fury,’ a narrative about the failure to find love on the subway, is based on a personal advertisement Newgarden read in a newspaper. The characters who Newgarden chose to star in this story were also drawn from mass culture: the lead character of Ernie Bushmiller’s comic strip Nancy and Bazooka Joe, the main character in a series of comic strips printed on bubble gum wrappers manufactured by the Topps corporation. More than an act of détournement, ‘Love’s Savage Fury’ intensely deconstructs the visual appearance of Bushmiller’s Nancy as a meditation on heartbreak, memory, and the iconic precision of those widely known fictional characters who exist within the public imagination.” – Bill Kartalopoulos, Formula Bula 7, Paris

“Between 1988 and 1991, Newgarden drew a weekly cartoon for The New York Press, an alternative newspaper distributed for free in New York City. Simply called ‘Newgarden,’ the feature constantly transformed in content and form. Most often, Newgarden investigated and subverted the mechanics of the single-panel ‘gag’ cartoon. His unpredictable weekly feature split the atom of the ‘gag’ format again and again to tease out the pain that lurks beneath humor—and in the process transformed an old form of visual humor to produce even more uproarious dark comedy with a contemporary sensibility. Newgarden also experimented with wordless comics (featuring ‘The Little Nun’) and found objects (for several consecutive weeks he published the patterns found on toilet paper wrappers). Much of this material has been collected in his book We All Die Alone.”
– Bill Kartalopoulos, Formula Bula 7, Paris

“We All Die Alone,” The New York Press

“The Little Nun,” The New York Press

“There Art to Be a Law,” The New York Press

“Broken Lives Gagarama,” The New York Press

“Jobs O’ Fun,” The New York Press

“Meet The Cast Part 7,” The New York Press

“Drink, Clown, Drink!,” The New York Press

“Humor Theorists Are the Craziest People,” The New York Press

“Slab Happy,” The New York Press

“It’s Em,” The New York Press

“Jokes Clowns Tell,” The New York Press

“The Little Nun,” The New York Press

“Jest in Piece,” The New York Press

“Imagine,” The New York Press

Mark Newgarden continues to create (as well as teach, lecture and write about) comics. His comics have appeared in scores of periodicals including The Village Voice, National Lampoon, Metropolis, I.D. Magazine, Entertainment Weekly and Nickelodeon Magazine as well as anthologies including RAW, Weirdo and McSweeny’s Quarterly Concern. They have also been exhibited in museums, galleries and shows worldwide.

“May,” I.D. Magazine

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