Shout-out: Marek Bennett

DIGESTATE CONTRIBUTOR:

MAREK BENNETT!

Marek Bennett ( www.MarekBennett.com ) is a longtime contributor to the terrestrial carbon cycle, both through exhalations and excretions. [photo redacted]  His best-loved works include several stacks of thermal carbon reserves

and an elaborate system of interspecies managed animal-vegetable symbiocommunes 

fueled by a potent yet playful combination of manures, grasses, isopods, annelids, and sweat.  His largest manure pile currently maxes out at over 110 degrees F on a rainy day in the shade! 

When at rest, Bennett stays sharp by drawing comics related to (but not limited to):

• Wilderness conservation legislation [Official Cartoonist, Weeks Act Centennial = http://comicsworkshop.wordpress.com/about-2/overview/environment/ ]
• Eastern European food [ http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/?cat=586 ]
• Eastern European music [ http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/?cat=18 ]
• Eurozone low finance [[ category http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/category/economy/, or maybe specifically http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/2012/06/05/sinking-to-new-debts/ or something like http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/2012/05/04/meal-tickets/ as the intersection between FOOD and ECONOMY...? ]]
• The fertile intersection between arts, education, and state constitutional law [ http://comicsworkshop.wordpress.com/category/education/arts-advocacy/ ]
  

During certain seasons, the subject can be seen shuttling frantically between schools and libraries, assisting groups of young victims in dealing with the symptoms of Early-Onset Obsessive Original Comics Creation Disorder. 

His most recent full-size mini-comic was LIVES OF THE SAINTS [ http://marekcomics.wordpress.com/2012/04/17/lives-of-the-saints/ ], detailing the gruesome deaths (sic) of eight saints found on a 16th century gothic altar in Eastern Slovakia.  

His most recent book was NICARAGUA COMICS TRAVEL JOURNAL [ http://marekcomics.wordpress.com/2009/10/06/nicaragua-comics-travel-journal/ ].  

His current webcomic, COFFEE+DUMPLING+KOMIKS [ http://marekslovakia.wordpress.com/ ], publishes daily from now until it's finally collected in book form!

Subject seems to enjoy procrastinating by grilling small or chopped vegetables, fungi, and animals over open flames.

Editor's note: Marek won a Xeric grant for his book "Breakfast at Mimi's" in the same cycle as I received one for my first book. I emailed him to see if he was up for a trade, and he was. "Mimi's Doughnuts" (the comic strip collected in his Xeric book) instantly connected with me because of my own doughnut-related experiences. My dad ran a Dunkin' Donuts throughout most of my childhood, and I worked there from about 12 years old and on (longer if you count folding donut boxes or rolling quarters from the cigarette machine while my dad counted the cash drawers). 

I mentioned this to Marek, and it just so happened that his current storyline involved a Dunkin' Donut-like chain opening up near the mom-and-pop style doughnut shop central to "Mimi's Doughnuts". We made plans for me to bore him with donut-related anecdotes after the Small Press Expo that year, but unfortunately my ride came before we could chat. 

Anyhow, it is my personal opinion that Marek's current project "COFFEE+DUMPLING+KOMIKS" is  above and beyond anything he's done in the past (that's not to disparage his past work, I just REALLY love this comic). There's a nice size excerpt of it in Digestate, so check it out!