All but the last 3 pages of the 24 page comic features DeForge's story It's Chip, described by Koyama as 'a stand alone horror comic about two children and the monsters they find in the woods'. Lose #2, published by Koyama in 2010, was nominated in the 2011 Doug Wright Awards 'Best Book' category. Lose #1, the first issue of his 'one-man anthology series', published by Koyama Press in 2009, won 'Best Emerging Talent' at the 2010 Doug Wright Awards. He has described Lose as his first 'real' comic. Before the 2009 TCAF, DeForge had been experimenting with a variety of short comics and strips. He also met Annie Koyama, who became his publisher, at that festival. He has said that attending the 2009 Toronto Comic Arts Festival (TCAF) and seeing all the work at the festival provided him with the impetus to make his own comic series, Lose. WorkĭeForge had been an active member of the regional Toronto comics scene for several years before his Cave Adventure webcomic and the first issue of Lose brought wider exposure. He has described his work as a 'props and effects designer' with 'odd bits of storyboard work, character design and concept art' and 'the best day job I could have ever asked for'. Artists that he cites as having been important during formative points in his life include Hideshi Hino, Jack Kirby, Derek Jarman, Eduardo Muñoz Bachs, Prince, Mary Blair, Saul Steinberg and Mark Newgarden.ĭeForge works as a designer for Cartoon Network's Adventure Time. He also cites Chloe Lum and Yannick Desranleau's Seripop work as strongly affecting how he wanted to draw for some time. He became interested in the work of Marc Bell (which he saw for first time in Exclaim!) and Matt Brinkman and has described Chester Brown's I Never Liked You as his 'introduction to alternative comics'. In high school he realized that drawing could be a vocation and started drawing gig posters, initially in exchange for free entrance to concerts until he started charging for his work. He has described his early comics as 'just these dinky revenge cartoons' in response to having been 'picked on a lot growing up'. He read and tried to draw in the style of superhero comics until junior high and high school.

He has described Peanuts as his all-time favorite cartoon strip. He lives and works in Toronto.Īccording to DeForge, he has 'always been drawing cartoons' and learned to read and draw from his parents' comic strip collections such as Bloom County, Far Side, Peanuts and Calvin and Hobbes.

DeForge grew up in Ottawa and attended the University of Toronto, dropping out after two years.

Ant colony by michael deforge