Mark Beyer (comics)
Mark Beyer (born 1950) is an American cartoonist known for his bleak storylines, often featuring death, disfigurement, depression, and humiliation, which contrast with his childlike, geometric drawing style. Most of his stories are about the adventures of a codependent yet resentful couple named Amy and Jordan.
Biography
Beyer's work was prominently featured in all but two issues (#3 and 4) of RAW Magazine. He has also been published in New York Press and New Musical Express. Beyer also had a recurring animated short series on MTV's Liquid Television (The Adventures of Thomas and Nardo), and a 1995 movie by Gregg Araki, The Doom Generation, was loosely based on the Amy and Jordan strips.
He has also produced cover artwork, including Xman and *** by Michael Brodsky, T-shirts and posters for John Zorn and the New York Downtown avant-garde music scene. In particular the cover and inserts for Zorn's tribute to Ornette Coleman Spy vs Spy (1989) and a popular Naked City T-shirt.
Although he mostly works solo, Beyer has collaborated with writer Alan Moore.
He is originally from Allentown, Pennsylvania, in the state's Lehigh Valley region.
Books
- A Disturbing Evening and Other Stories (Self-published, 1978)
- Dead Stories (Self-published, 1982, reissued Sudbury, MA: Water Row Press, 2000) (ISBN 0-934953-72-4)
- Agony (New York: Raw Books, 1987) (ISBN 0-394-75442-5)
- Agony (Augsburg: MaroVerlag, 1992) German translation
- Amy + Jordan (Paris: Sketch Studio, 1993)
- Amy + Jordan (Augsburg: MaroVerlag, 1996)
- We're Depressed (Sudbury, MA: Water Row Press, 1999) (ISBN 0-934953-65-1)
- Amy and Jordan (New York: Pantheon, 2004) (ISBN 0-375-42270-6)