Mariko Tamaki | |
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 Tamaki in 2018 | |
| Born | 1975 (age 48–49) Toronto, Canada |
| Occupation | Graphic novel writer, performance artist |
| Period | 2000s–present |
| Notable works | Skim , This One Summer |
| Website | |
| www | |
Mariko Tamaki (born 1975) is a Canadian artist and writer. She is known for her graphic novels Skim , Emiko Superstar, and This One Summer . [1] In 2016 she began writing for both Marvel and DC Comics. She has twice been named a runner-up for the Michael L. Printz Award.
Mariko Tamaki was born in Toronto, Ontario. She is of Japanese and Jewish descent. [2]
Mariko attended Havergal College, an all girls' secondary school. [3] She studied English literature at McGill University, graduating in 1994. [4]
Tamaki has worked as a writer and performance artist in Toronto, including with Keith Cole's Cheap Queers and in the performance group Pretty Porky & Pissed Off with Joanne Huffa, Allyson Mitchell, Abi Slone, Tracy Tidgwell, and Zoe Whittall. [5]
Tamaki published the novel Cover Me in 2000. Told in a series of flashbacks, it is about a depressed teenager dealing with self-harm and feeling like an outsider in school. [6]
Skim, a collaboration with her cousin Jillian Tamaki, was published in 2008 by Groundwood Books. It is graphic novel about a teenage girl who develops romantic feelings towards her female teacher; the secondary storyline is about the suicide of a classmate's ex-boyfriend who may have been gay. The text is about transitional life moments and "the conflicting need to belong and desire to resist." [7] Tamaki says she did not set out to "make a statement about queerness and youth:" "I think Skim is more a statement about youth, and the variety of strange experiences that can encapsulate." [8] According to one reviewer, "the expressionistic fluidity of the black and white illustrations serves the purpose of pages of prose;" there is little plot and spare dialogue. [7] Tamaki writes that artists such as Hergé, Igort, and Vittorio Giardino, as well as Asian art, had an influence on her style, but her storytelling is rooted in American comics influences like Daniel Clowes, Chester Brown, and Will Eisner. [9] Skim was originally developed as a short play for Nightwood Theatre. [10]
Emiko Superstar, Tamaki's second graphic novel and first with illustrator Steve Rolston, is about a young woman who feels trapped in her suburban life. It was inspired by performance art and Girlspit, an open mic night event in Montreal. [8] The protagonist is inspired to try performance art after visiting a similar space. As one review says, "this is a story about finding oneself, one's voice, and one's true character amidst the trappings of counter-culture fame." [11]
Tamaki performed at experimental feminist performance art festival Edgy Women in Montreal in 2006 and 2010. [12]
In 2014, she again collaborated with Jillian Tamaki on the graphic novel This One Summer , published by Groundwood Books.
In 2016 it was announced that Tamaki would be writing a new series called Hulk starring She-Hulk for Marvel Comics, [13] as well as the mini-series Supergirl: Being Super for DC Comics. [14]
In 2017, she began writing novel adaptations of the Lumberjanes comic series. [15]
Tamaki's graphic novel collaboration with artist Rosemary Valero-O'Connell, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me , is a queer coming-of-age story about a toxic relationship. It was released in May 2019 by First Second Books. [16]
In November 2019, Tamaki wrote a four-part mini-series for Marvel called Spider-Man & Venom: Double Trouble. [17]
Tamaki began writing for the Wonder Woman series with #759. [18] Her run concluded with #769, and was collected in its entirety in a trade paperback titled Lords and Liars. [19]
Tamaki's graphic novel I Am Not Starfire was released on 10 August 2021 as part of the young adult original graphic novel series from DC Comics. [20] Yoshi Yoshitani provided art for the story, which centers Starfire's daughter Mandy Koriand'r, who plans on "moving to France to escape the family spotlight and not go to college" despite her mother's protestations.
In January 2021, as part of DC's Future State event, Tamaki and artist Dan Mora collaborated on Dark Detective, with colors by Jordie Bellaire. The series ran for four issues from January to February. In March, Tamaki, Mora, and Bellaire became the new creative team for Detective Comics , beginning with #1034. Tamaki is the first female lead writer of the title's publication history. Her run concluded with #1061. [21] [22]
Skim won an Ignatz Award, a Joe Shuster Award, and a Doug Wright Award in 2009, and was a nominee for the Children's Literature category at the 2008 Governor General's Awards. Tamaki was also awarded an Honour of Distinction by the Dayne Ogilvie Prize, a literary award for LGBTQ writers in Canada, in 2012. [23]
This One Summer won a 2014 Ignatz Award, a 2015 Eisner Award, the 2015 Michael L. Printz Award, a Caldecott Honor, and a 2016 Rudolph Dirks Award in the category Youth Drama / Coming of Age. [24]
In 2019, Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Graphic Novel as well as the Best Children's or Young Adult Book Award from the Harvey Awards. [25] [26] Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me was also awarded the 2020 Walter Award in the Teen category, and received the Eisner Award for Best Publication for Teens. [27] [28] That same year, she also received the Eisner Award for Best Writer, for Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me, Harley Quinn: Breaking Glass, and Archie. [29]
Her 2023 graphic novel Roaming , illustrated by Jillian Tamaki, was shortlisted for the 2024 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Comics. [30] Roaming won the 2024 Eisner Award for Best Graphic Album—New, with Tamaki winning the 2024 Eisner for Best Writer. [31]
Lumberjanes novels, all illustrated by Brooklyn Allen
Colleen Doran is an American writer-artist and cartoonist. She illustrated hundreds of comics, graphic novels, books and magazines, including the autobiographical graphic novel of Marvel Comics editor and writer Stan Lee entitled Amazing Fantastic Incredible Stan Lee, which became a New York Times bestseller. She adapted and did the art for the short story "Troll Bridge" by Neil Gaiman, which also became a New York Times bestseller. Her books have received Eisner, Harvey, Bram Stoker, Locus, and International Horror Guild Awards.
Carla Speed McNeil is an American science fiction writer, cartoonist, and illustrator of comics, best known for the science fiction comic book series Finder.
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 year in 2001 due to the show's cancellation after the September 11 attacks. As of 2014 SPX has been held in either Bethesda, North Bethesda, or Silver Spring, Maryland.
Craig Matthew Thompson is an American graphic novelist best known for his books Good-bye, Chunky Rice (1999), Blankets (2003), Carnet de Voyage (2004), Habibi (2011), and Space Dumplins (2015). Thompson has received four Harvey Awards, three Eisner Awards, and two Ignatz Awards. In 2007, his cover design for the Menomena album Friend and Foe received a Grammy nomination for Best Recording Package.
Hope Raue Larson is an American illustrator and cartoonist. Her main field is comic books.
First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It also publishes graphic non-fiction for young readers, including the Science Comics and History Comics collections, and for adults, including the World Citizen Comics, a line of civics graphic books, and biographical works such as The Accidental Czar.
Nathan Lee Powell is an American graphic novelist and musician. His 2008 graphic novel Swallow Me Whole won an Ignatz Award and Eisner Award for Best Original Graphic Novel. He illustrated the March trilogy, an autobiographical series written by U.S. Congressman John Lewis and Andrew Aydin, which received the 2016 National Book Award, making Powell the first cartoonist to receive the award.
Skim is a Canadian graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and drawn by Jillian Tamaki. Set in 1993, in a Toronto Catholic girls high school, it is about an outsider girl called Skim.
Dean Mullaney is an American editor, publisher, and designer whose Eclipse Enterprises, founded in 1977, was one of the earliest independent comic-book companies. Eclipse published some of the first graphic novels and was one of the first comics publishers to champion creators' rights. In the 2000s, he established the imprint The Library of American Comics of IDW Publishing to publish hardcover collections of comic strips. Mullaney and his work have received seven Eisner Awards.
Jillian Tamaki is a Canadian American illustrator and comic artist known for her work in The New York Times and The New Yorker in addition to the graphic novels Boundless, as well as Skim, This One Summer and Roaming written by her cousin Mariko Tamaki.
This One Summer is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki published by First Second Books in 2014. It is a coming of age story about two teenage friends, Rose and Windy, during a summer in Awago, a small beach town. Rose and Windy discover themselves and their sexuality while battling family dynamics and mental disabilities.
Notable events of 2012 in webcomics.
Tillie Walden is an American cartoonist who has published five graphic novels and a webcomic. Walden won the 2018 Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work for her graphic novel Spinning, making her one of the youngest Eisner Award winners ever. She was named Vermont's Cartoonist Laureate for the years 2023 - 2026, making her the state's youngest-ever Cartoonist Laureate.
Rosemary Valero-O'Connell is an American illustrator and cartoonist. She is known for her work with DC Comics and BOOM! Studios.
Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me is a graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Rosemary Valero-O'Connell. It follows Frederica "Freddy" Riley throughout her struggles with her on-again, off-again relationship with the eponymous Laura Dean. The novel was first published by First Second Books on May 7, 2019. A young adult and lesbian teen novel, Laura Dean includes themes about teenage lesbian and queer sexuality.
Roaming is a fictional graphic novel written by Mariko Tamaki and illustrated by Jillian Tamaki, and published on September 12, 2023.
Zoe Thorogood is a British comic book author and artist. She is the author of The Impending Blindness of Billie Scott and It's Lonely at the Centre of the Earth, as well as a run of Hack/Slash through 2022-to-2023, in which series creator Tim Seeley resumed writing. In addition to her work on independent comics, she also co-created the character of Spider-UK together with Ramzee for Marvel Comics and wrote multiple stories in anthologies published by DC Comics.
She's half Jewish and half Japanese, which translates as "Asian" to ignorant people.
'It was a high school revenge piece,' says Tamaki, 'a message to the students of Havergal (Tamaki's alma mater) that the freaks were gonna be famous and the popular people were gonna be nowhere.'
It's a safe bet that no one was more surprised by MARIKO TAMAKI's sudden, overnight success in the comics realm than Tamaki, BA'94, herself.
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