James Kochalka is a comic writer and artist, who is known for his whimsical, fun stories that often blend real with surreal environments, and his colorful artwork.
James Kochalka was born in Springfeild, Vermont. His primary inspiration for writing comics comes from Daniel Clowes's Eightball. His comics have a child-like innocent tone (regardless of their often sexual content) and a simple style of drawing. He is prolific in his comic writing and his comics deal with a huge variety of subject matter. Some of his more popular works include American Elf, a comic diary which is continually updated, telling daily short stories from his own life, Monkey Verses Robot, a story with little text that deals with an epic battle between robots and monkeys, Super F*ckers (sic), dealing with an eponymous super-hero team that exploits their popularity and reputation to enjoy personal gain, and Conversation, a comic seres which he co-creates with one other writer per-issue, drawn around a conversation the two have.
Kochalka is also the front person and namesake of the rock n' roll band James Kochalka Superstar. The band's songs often correspond to his comics. JKS has recorded a theme song to Super F*ckers, and a song version of Monkey Verses Robot. His song "Hockey Monkey" has been used in local advertising for hockey games in the Portland, Maine area. Kochalka has been known to perform live for Comic Book Legal Defense Fund fundraisers and also to sometimes perform naked.
