Comic Creator Mixes Music with Art

Is it possible to combine a love of art with a love of music?

Fair Lawn resident Mark Mariano believes it is. He performs not only with his band, The O-Matics, but every morning he is up before 6 a.m., hard at work in his home studio drawing his O-Matics comic strip. Now every Wednesday, fans of his music and his art can see their adventures in sequential art form at Mariano’s website. 

“We used to have Mark do the comic strips to get people to come back to our web site,” said Chris Mariano, his brother and bandmate. “When we changed the website around, we decided not to publish the comics and we received many requests to see the comics, so Mark put them back up.”

In the last several years, Mark Mariano has been making a name for himself with his comic books “Happyloo” and “Flabbergast.” His book “Happyloo: Friends, Foes and Fun” is described as a “visual vacation to a colorful land filled with adventures in friendship and discovery.” The feedback has been tremendous, and it climaxed as he received a national library award praising the inventiveness.

“It was funny, Chris was working at a television station and we worked together on the idea of Happyloo to be a cartoon but the plans fell through,” said Mark. Chris said he encouraged his brother to turn his venture into a comic book to prevent a great concept from ending up in a “bottom drawer purgatory.”

“I think what is great about it is I get emails from kids who drew their own versions of the characters in the comic,” said Mark. “I really appreciated it.”

The 30 year-old comic book artist has been cartooning since he was a kid and today his work reflects a family friendly and fun attitude. But according to Chris, he acts an "imagination advocate."

"We will be at comic book conventions and kids will walk up to us and Mark will ask them about their interests and he will encourage the kids to pursue their dreams," said Chris. "I am then able to talk to the parents about buying Mark's books and they are very receptive."

Chris explained that as a kid, his brother would give comic strips to each member of the family, tailored to their interest and always mysteriously "from Santa."

Mark said he remembered his comic strips always had a silly bend to them, and that he would just let his imagination run wild.

"I had a 'Spy vs. Spy' themed comic strip which featured versions of Wolverine and Daredevil and they would do funny things to each other. When kids are growing up, they imitate what they knew and I knew those two characters," said Mark.

Chris said his work has developed so well, that what others consider minutiae, Mark turns into a story. 

“If you drop a pen on the floor, Mark will write a story about how small creatures have stolen the pen and turned it into a rocketship,” he said. “It is just amazing to see what he can do.” 

When asked about his secret, Mark said he devotes his time to his work as if it were a second job. The comic book artist explained that every day he wakes up at 5 a.m. and heads to his studio to make his own comic books.

"I usually get ready for my second job about 7 a.m. [where he works for Passaic County in the archives department] and I am home by 4:30 p.m. and back at the drawing board," said Mark.

Mark said he is just happy to enjoy the best of both worlds—art and music—and invites people to view his site here.

“I just love what I do and I want to encourage people, especially kids, to pursue their dreams,” said Mark. “If I can do it, anyone can.”