Mike Diana

Mike Diana
Diana at the Big Apple Summer Sizzler in Manhattan, June 13, 2009
Born	Michael Christopher Diana 1969 (age 47–48) New York City
Nationality	American
Area(s)	Cartoonist, Inker
Notable works	Boiled Angel

Michael Christopher "Mike" Diana (born 1969) is an underground cartoonist. His work, which is largely self-published, deals with themes including sexuality, violence, and religion. He is the first person to receive a criminal conviction in the United States for artistic obscenity.

Mike Diana was born in 1969 in New York City. He, his younger sister, and younger brother, Matt, were baptized Catholic. His mother placed him in an after school art program where, for one assignment, his class was to collect seashells on the beach and incorporate them into a collage made with plaster of Paris. Diana instead incorporated the garbage and a dead fish he had found, referring to the beach pollution that, at the time, was the topic of news stories. Diana would later relate this story during his obscenity trial to illustrate his point of view that "art can be ugly and convey a message."

In 1979, when nine-year-old Diana was in the middle of fourth grade, he and his family moved from Geneva, New York to Largo, Florida. Though Diana received barely passing or failing grades, he received A's in art classes.

Diana began drawing comics in high school, influenced by macabre subject matter such as Topps Ugly stickers, Wacky Packages and Creature Feature cards. Publications that he drew inspiration from included Heavy Metal, Creepy, Eerie, Basil Wolverton's Plop!, Bernie Wrightson's run on Swamp Thing, and the work of Jack Davis. He also enjoyed underground comics from creators such as S. Clay Wilson, Greg Irons, Rory Hayes, and Jack Chick's Chick tracts, which he describes as "sick". He also enjoyed visiting the Salvador Dalí Museum in St. Petersburg.