Mike Wenthe may be a mild-mannered AU literature professor by day, but by night, he works with collaborator Isaac Cates to create funny and interesting comics.
Wenthe and Cates, also a literature professor, have been friends since Yale graduate school, where they met at a contemporary poetry reading group.
"Comics came later," Wenthe said.
"I haven't done any solo comics that weren't otherwise part of another project [for a long time]," Wenthe said. "In the past seven years, everything I've done has been in concert with Isaac."
The two have worked together on many projects, notably two current series, "Satisfactory Comics" and "Elm City Jams."
"Satisfactory Comics" is a series of one- to two-page stories written and drawn by Wenthe and Cates based on story lines submitted by friends and readers. "Elm City Jams" is a series of collaborative comics done by Wenthe and Cates and other artists in a "jam" style.
Wenthe described a comics jam as a musical jam session: "joint improvised artwork produced by several hands and, hopefully, several minds. Some are more rule-bound and directed than others."
The two explain the jam in detail in their mini-comic, "A Treatise on the Jam."
The most recent issue of "Satisfactory Comics" was created in a more jam-like way than previous installments. The issue was created during a 30-hour time period this past May.
"'Satisfactory Comics' is usually a more considered collaborative affair. It's more deliberate," Wenthe said.
But since Wenthe moved from New Haven, Conn., where he and Cates lived, the more jam-like method was adopted to cope with the distance.
"The hardest part is finding the time and occasion to do it," Wenthe said. "Being a lit professor can make [drawing comics] harder. We're hyperconscious about questions of form. We have a hard time avoiding erudite references."
In fact, there is a comic in the most recent issue of "Satisfactory Comics" called "Commuted Sentences" that is a series of garbled literary references.
Another highlight of issue seven is "The Graveyard of Forking Paths," a choose-your-own-adventure-style story. Wenthe and Cates borrowed the idea from Jason Shiga, a comic artist who has written several comics in this style.
The pair has also been inspired by two French teams of comic collaborators. Wenthe describes the team of Lewis Trondheim and Joann Sfar, who collaborate on an expansive fantasy series called "Dungeon," as prolific, funny and interesting.
"They do a good job being kid-friendly with a grown-up sensibility, and it's exquisitely cartooned," Wenthe said.
The other team is Philippe Dupuy and Charles Berborian. The pair is very cagey about who does what in their series, "Monsieur Jean."
"No one is really sure who does the drawing," Wenthe said. "We like that they're all writers and illustrators, that they all do all tasks."
The front of "Satisfactory Comics" has a series of charts describing who did what in each story. In reality, though, Wenthe said he finds it difficult to separate their work.
"It's a bit of a false dichotomy as involved as we both are in writing and drawing," he said. "There are very few pages that don't reflect both of our thinking in terms of writing and drawing. Even if I inked a page, Isaac may have drawn it. If I drew it, I may have been working from his character designs."
Wenthe said the style of their drawings has changed since they began reading comics by Dylan Horrocks, though he cites comic artist Walt Kelly as his own personal influence.
"I was 7 when I decided I wanted to be a cartoonist, right after finding a 'Pogo' book [by Walt Kelly] for the first time," he said.
Wenthe's aspirations have changed over the years.
"Teaching, writing and research are much more complete and much more social than the often lonely work of cartooning," he said. "This is my profession; comics are a hobby."
Even so, Wenthe and Cates' hard work show through in their finished product.
"It's tempting to compare ourselves to other, better comics," Wenthe said. "I think we set the right tone with our title, 'Satisfactory Comics.' They're not called 'World Changing, Exemplary Comics.' They're getting better, though. And at the same time, they're not beyond us."
The most recent issue of "Satisfactory Comics" is available at Fantom Comics in Tenleytown. You can purchase "Satisfactory Comics" and all of Mike Wenthe and Isaac Cates' other works at their Web site, satisfactorycomics.blogspot.com.
