'The Wildwood Days of Doo Wop' (2021).
Michael Jasorka is an American self-publisher, comic book cartoonist and storyboard artist. Explored themes like found-media, pop culture and the beach town of Wildwood, New Jersey, his comic book have included 'December 3rd 1967: An Alien Encounter' (2011), 'Destroy Centaur' (2019), 'Mr. Fascination and The Fascination Machines' (2019), 'The Wildwood Days of Doo Wop' (2021) and 'Castle Dracula & Dungeon: Employee Handbook Illustrated' (2022).
Early life and career
Michael Jasorka was born in 1984 in New Jersey. A graduate in Illustration from Rowan University in Glassboro, he worked as a resident assistant for the campus when he began self-publishing and producing comics under the banner Bombshell Comics. Since 2006, he has used this imprint for his personal comic projects, but also for packaging comic books for clients for promotional purposes.
Bombshell Comics
In 2012, Jasorka self-published his comic book 'That Bike', dealing with the 1969 AMF Roadmaster "American V" bicycle as it's discovered on a rooftop in Philadelphia. Jasorka is best known for adapting the first "found audio read-along graphic novel experience", the comic book 'December 3rd 1967: An Alien Encounter' (2011), which follows the words of Herbert Schirmer, a 1960s Nebraska state patrolman who had an encounter with a UFO while on duty. His futuristic comic book 'Destroy Centaur' (2019) introduced bio-engineered pinball characters from the 1981 Bally pinball machine 'Centaur', who return to a polluted Earth from the future to play the remaining pinball machines.
'December 3rd 1967: An Alien Encounter' (2011).
Several of Jasorka's comic books have been inspired by the pop cultural history of the beach town of Wildwood, New Jersey, where Jasorka frequented as a young child. 'Mr. Fascination and The Fascination Machines' (2019) and 'Castle Dracula & Dungeon: Employee Handbook Illustrated' (2022) dealt with Wildwood's history in boardwalk games and attractions, while 'The Wildwood Days of Doo Wop' (2021) and 'Flag Me Down: The Story of Wildwood's Tramcar' (planned for 2026) treated Wildwood's rock 'n' roll culture and historical trackless train.
Comic art teacher
Between 2010 and 2023, Jasorka worked in Los Angeles as a commercial storyboard artist, and was additionally a comics/sequential arts educator for teenagers at Venice Arts. In his classes, he taught the finer points of writing for a particular theme, learning the fundamentals of drawing with traditional tools and using the computer for advanced coloring and lettering techniques. Since 2023, Jasorka has been teaching online cartoon classes online through Outschool.com.
'Castle Dracula & Dungeon: Employee Handbook Illustrated' (2022).