JOHN PORCELLINO was born in Chicago, in 1968, and has been writing, drawing, and publishing minicomics, comics, and graphic novels for over twenty-five years. His celebrated self-published series King-Cat Comics, begun in 1989, has inspired a generation of cartoonists. Diary of a Mosquito Abatement Man, a collection of King-Cat stories about Porcellino’s experiences as a pest control worker, won an Ignatz Award in 2005, and Perfect Example, first published in 2000, chronicles his struggles with depression as a teenager. King-Cat Classix, published in 2007, is a comprehensive overview of the zine's first fifty issues, and Thoreau at Walden is a poetic expression of the great philosopher’s experience and ideals. According to cartoonist Chris Ware, "John Porcellino's comics distill, in just a few lines and words, the feeling of simply being alive."
 
Porcellino's work has been translated into French, German, Spanish, Swedish, and Italian. He currently lives in Denver with his wife Misun, and two Skweezil-Cats named Liz and Charlie.
 
More info: www.king-cat.net.
 
Map of My Heart celebrates the twentieth anniversary of John Porcellino’s seminal and influential comics zine, King-Cat Comics, which he began self-publishing in 1989. In this collection, Porcellino, while living in isolation and experiencing the pain of divorce, crafts a melancholic, tender graphic-ballad of heartbreak and reflection.

Known for his sad, quiet honesty, rendered in his signature deceptively minimalist style, Porcellino has a command of graphic storytelling as sophisticated as the medium’s more visually intricate masters.  Few other artists are able to so expertly contemplate the sadness, beauty, and wonder of life in so few lines.

Map of My Heart release date: September 29, 2009, from Drawn & Quarterly Books, Montreal. www.drawnandquarterly.com

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Patrick Porter is a musician, painter, and writer who has spent the last fifteen years traveling hard and creating art.  He has had fourteen CDs released on a number of indie labels, including Asaurus Records, Evelyn Records, and Camera Obscura Records.  He has also written two novels, "Kristallnacht" and "Apocalypse Later," as well as a slew of poetry chapbooks published on various small presses.  His paintings have shown in galleries throughout the USA and Europe.  A Swan at Smiley's, his tribute to Denver's notorious Colfax Avenue, was released in April 2009 on Greyday Records of Portland.