Mathew New

Mathew New (born November 18, 1988 in Offenbach, Germany) is a Bloomington, Indiana underground cartoonist.

Biography

He grew up in a working class Navy family and spent his childhood living in Europe and North Chicago. Most of his later childhood and teens were spent in Loogootee, Indiana, where his parents still reside. He is heavily influenced by Charles Schulz and Adrian Tomine. He has attended the University of Southern Indiana, Ivy Tech Community College, and currently Indiana University-Bloomington. He is most known for his comic strip Crazy Duck and quarterly comic magazine Hula Hooping Hippo.

Background

New began publishing his work when he was still a teenager. At an early age his comic, Crazy Duck, began appearing on the online comic website Drunk Duck. Since publishing on Drunk Duck, he has began self-publishing through a small vanity publisher in Bloomington, Indiana. Unlike other graphic artists like Adrian Tomine and Nate Powell, New has not garnered mainstream success. However, even without a mainstream publisher, New maintains a small following. His style has sometimes been criticized as "too cartoonish", "non-experiemental", and "safe", while others have praised the beauty and ingenuity. Online graphic artist, Luke Pearson, has more than once stated his admiration for New's work.

Indiana Daily Student and The Shield[1]

In 2008 Evansville, Indiana based newspaper The Shield, syndicated an unsuccessful strip by New, titled Ben Eagle. The run was short and eventually the paper dropped the comic completely. During 2008-2009 New's strip Nolan's Closet was syndicated by Bloomington, Indiana based newspaper the Indiana Daily Student. That year the strip appeared five times each week and garnered New a small amount of attention. However, by mid 2009, New ceased work on the strip, stating "creatively my heart just wasn't in it anymore". In late 2009, New submitted a new strip to the Indiana Daily Student, titled Puffin the Penguin. However, the paper regulates the strip to appearing once a week and it has failed to garner a following. Rumors circulate that the paper will drop New and his strip within the year. If this occurs, he will no longer have a comic strip in print.

Hula Hooping Hippo

Hula Hooping Hippo is an ongoing series of comics by Mathew New that are self-published. It is in "mini-comic" form and contains several stories and drawings. Currently, the serial is expected to publish on a quarterly schedule.

Other Work

New has also done the album artwork for several bands.

Bibliography

Crazy Duck: comic strip (Drunk Duck, 2003-ongoing) [2]

Ben Eagle: comic strip (The Shield[3], 2008)

Nolan's Closet: comic strip (Indiana Daily Student, 2008-2009) [4]

Puffin the Penguin: comic strip (Indiana Daily Student, 2009-ongoing)

Hula Hooping Hippo: Issue One, Volume One (Self-Published, 2010)

Visit his website: Hula Hooping Hippo [5]