Markus Witzel, who uses the pseudonym of Mawil, was born in East Germany in 1976. He published his first graffiti-inspired comics work in a fanzine in 1991. He studied graphic design at the Kunsthochschule Berlin-Weißensee and worked together with comic group Monogatari, publishing his work in several fanzines, especially his comic about 'Supa-Hasi', a bespectacled rabbit, and his autobiographical comics. He ended his studies in 2002, and in that same year he published his tragicomic comic serial 'Wir können ja Freunde bleiben'.
Supa-Hasi
Together with Andreas Michalke, Fil and Reinhard Kleist he subsequently formed the collective Berlin Comix. The collective published the book collection 'Geschichten aus dem Comicgarten' and the magazine Teufel & Pistolen.
Mawil's comics have been published in magazines like Epidermophytie, Moga Mobo, Panik Elektro, Renate, Strapazin, Stripburger and papers like Der Welt Kompakt. His work has also appeared in France, Poland, Spain and the USA. He is also active as an illustrator. In 1998, Mawil won the Icom (Independent Comic) Prize for funny comics. In 2019 he became the first German comic artist to draw an official 'Lucky Luke' comic book, based on Morris' comic series of the same name. His comic book 'Lucky Luke sattelt um' (2019) transforms the poor lonesome cowboy into a cyclist.
Mawil was a strong graphic influence on Flix.
