M. Wartella

M. Wartella
M. Wartella
Born	August 19, 1976 (age 47)
Nationality	American
Occupation(s)	Cartoonist, animator
Years active	1994–present

Michael M. Wartella (born August 19, 1976) is an American underground cartoonist, animator, writer and director based in New York City, generally publishing under the name M. Wartella or just Wartella. He is best known for his work in The Village Voice and on Cartoon Network's MAD.

He is the founder of Brooklyn's Dream Factory Animation,^[1] a boutique studio specializing in the production of animated shorts for corporate and indie clients.

Print career

According to his 2013 autobiography, Strip Show: 25 Years of Comix, Controversy & Copyright Infringement, Wartella began his professional career at age ten^[2] producing a weekly comic strip called Clubhouse Kids for a local newspaper, which ran for two years during 1986–1987.

Later, while a student at

alternative weekly newspapers (as "Nuts") from 1998 to 2000. The humor in many of the cartoons was controversial as exemplified in a 1999 comic about the Columbine High School massacre which prompted an outcry when it was published in Denver.^[4]

From 2007 to 2009, Wartella's intricate single-panel "reportorial" cartoons began appearing regularly in The Village Voice,^[5] where he is still listed as an honorary contributor.

Wartella's sequential comics have appeared in

Vice Magazine

.

Wartella has also contributed several titles and paintings to the "all-new" series of Wacky Packages trading cards from Topps, and created similar product parody spoofs for Nickelodeon Magazine in the 2000s (decade).

Wartella also did new artwork that appears on the cover of the re-launched

M.C. Escher

style cubist background.

Animation career

Wartella is a noted animator and director. Considered a pioneer of online animation, Wartella was among the earliest to use the animated

.gif format to create story-driven independent animation. In 1998, The New York Times described his early animated web short The Dinky Dog Archive as "the Steamboat Willie of the internet".^[3]

In the 2000s (decade), Wartella was an artistic contributor to several animated television shows including MTV2's cult hit Wonder Showzen (2005–2006), and Adult Swim's series Superjail! (2008–2009) and Xavier: Renegade Angel (2007-2009).^[6]

In 2013, Wartella opened his own full-service production studio, Dream Factory Animation, in Brooklyn NY which has conceived, developed and produced animated programming for clients including

Radical Media, The Creative Agency and Warner Bros.^[1]

From 2010 to 2014, he created nearly 300 hand-drawn animated shorts for Cartoon Network's MAD, where his work was featured in every episode during four seasons.^[1]

Music videos

As of 2022, Wartella has directed several music videos

Blender Magazine^[8] and Stereogum.^[9]

Title	Year	Artist	Label	Role
"Sun Medallion"	2013	King Tuff	Burger Records	Director^[7]
"Waterfall"	2014	Ex Hex	Merge Records	Director^[7]
"Physical Emotions"	2014	Black Bananas	Drag City	Director^[7]
"Madness"	2015	King Tuff	Sub Pop	Director^[7]
"Rainbow Shiner"	2019	Ex Hex	Merge Records	Director^[10]
"Richest Man"	2020	Brendan Benson	Third Man Records	Director^[11]
"Apple Blossom"	2020	The White Stripes	Sony Legacy	Director^[12]
"Let's Shake Hands"	2020	The White Stripes	Sony Legacy	Director^[12]
"Patient Number 9"	2022	Ozzy Osbourne	Epic Records	Director (co-directed with Todd McFarlane^[13])