Mawil

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Mawil, Angoulême , 2015

Mawil (* 1976 in Berlin as Markus Witzel ) is a German comic artist. A recurring theme in Mawil's partly autobiographical works is that of the lovable loser.

life and work

After Mawil had already started drawing at the age of eight, one of his comics was first published in a fanzine in 1991. The style, which was still heavily based on graffiti , under the series title crowers, was striking .

In 1995 Mawil finished his school education with the Abitur and in the following year began studying communication design at the Berlin-Weißensee School of Art . In 2002 he graduated with a diploma and the tragicomic episode story We Can Stay Friends, based on true events . This work has been published in several editions since 2003 and was awarded the ICOM Independent Comic Prize in 2004 in the "Funny" category. Up until 2007, Mawil had received this award four times, in addition to two honorable mentions. We can stay friends has also been published by the English publisher Blank Slate Books since 2008 .

The comic strip beach safari with Mawil's alter ego Supa-Hasi , a rabbit with an oversized head, somewhat overwhelmed by life and love, was also published as a term paper during his studies . Although this figure represents a further development of the original character Supa-Lumpi , according to the artist, it functions more as the main actor in fictional stories in contrast to the Mawil character. In addition, Supa-Hasi represents a kind of company logo and therefore appears marginally in other Mawil publications.

Mawil at the Munich Comic Festival (2019)
Mawil at Comic Con Germany 2019

His comics have appeared in magazines such as Epidermophytie , Moga Mobo , Panik Elektro , Renate , Strapazin , Stripburger and newspapers such as Welt Kompakt . In the meantime, many of Mawil's publications have also found their way abroad. There are numerous cross-references to publications in France, Poland, Spain and the USA on the artist's website.

The Monogatari group , which consisted of six Berlin illustrators, was co-founded by Mawil during his studies. During its existence, the members made a name for themselves through a variety of publications, exhibitions and other activities. Later Mawil was also part of another studio collective called Berlin Comix . Its members included Andreas Michalke , Fil and Reinhard Kleist . This formation published the anthology Tales from the Comic Garden and the small-format magazine series Teufel & Pistolen .

In addition to his work as a comic artist, Mawil also works as an illustrator for newspapers. In addition, the Berliner Tagesspiegel published a series of stories that were created exclusively and in alternation with Arne Bellstorf (since January 2016 Barbara Yelin ), Flix and Tim Dinter .

In May 2019 he helped design the children's supplement for the young world with the Lucky Luke figure and reported on his role as the new Lucky Luke draftsman. In the homage to the cult comic, Mawil lets Lucky Luke ride a bike instead of his horse Jolly Jumper because, as he explained, he is an "absolute bike fan". In March 2020, Mawil was stuck in family quarantine in the Swabian Alb due to the COVID-19 pandemic and designed the poster for the Süddeutsche Zeitung keep your distance! , which is intended to remind people of the most important rule in times of non-contact.

Mawil also worked for the Berlin film lounge and the video clip for Guten Tag (The Complaint) from the band Wir sind Helden was implemented by Mawil and Kathi Käppel. The latter was also part of the Monogatari group.

In 2015 and 2016 he was a member of the jury for the award The Extraordinary Book of the children and youth program of the Berlin International Literature Festival .

Press reviews and quotes

“ The boy can just draw, he has to study that too. "

- Mawil's parents

“ The Woody Allen of the local comic strip. "

- Leipzig Blitz

“ ... you can hardly avoid the great New York city neurotic if you are looking for comparisons for what Mawil does in his two extremely recommendable books 'We Can Stay Friends' and 'The Band': He sets the eternal Failure of his main character in such a strange light that every other love and life-scared bunny who reads this not only finds comfort in it, but at least for a few moments never again wants to be one of these boring winners. "

- The world

Publications (selection)

Award

  • 2014: Max & Moritz Prize , category best German-language comic for Kinderland
  • 2019: Rudolph Dirks Award , Action / Adventure category for Lucky Luke Homage 3: Lucky Luke changes saddles

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ blankslatebooks.co.uk
  2. ↑ "I don't need supertypes". About writing and drawing comics, in: Junge Welt, May 29, 2019.
  3. ↑ Martina Knoben: Please keep your distance! Retrieved April 16, 2020 .
  4. ↑ a b spiegel.de
  5. ↑ a b c [1]
  6. ↑ Mendrisio, the full comic online
  7. ↑ Survived seven dark years. In: FAZ . June 20, 2014, p. 10.
  8. ↑ Internationaler Comic Salon Erlangen 2014, laudation Kinderland von Mawil ( Memento from December 16, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on July 14, 2014.
personal data
SURNAME Mawil
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Witzel, Markus (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German comic artist
DATE OF BIRTH 1976
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin