Michael J. Weller
Encyclopedia
Weller designed USA sleeve for David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World LP (Mercury, 1970), re-released (EMI CD, 1999). As "Captain Stelling" Weller wrote and drew The Firm (cOZmic comics, 1972) - an early British artist's publication inspired by American underground comic book innovations. In 1973, a page by "Stelling" entitled 'Missile Crisis' was made part of Michel Choquette
Michel Choquette
Michel Choquette is a French Canadian from Montreal, a humorist who has written for print, for television and for film, and a comedian who has performed for television....
's comic book The Someday Funnies
The Someday Funnies
The Someday Funnies is an exceptionally large and varied book of comics which was published by Abrams on November 1, 2011. During the early 1970s, the humorist Michel Choquette gradually put together a unique collection of comics about the 1960s, by soliciting work internationally from contemporary...
. He followed "Willie D" (Andrew Marr
Andrew Marr
Andrew William Stevenson Marr is a Scottish journalist and political commentator. He edited The Independent for two years until May 1998, and was political editor of BBC News from 2000 until 2005....
) as featured cartoonist on Chainsaw punk zine (1980-84).
Michael Weller enjoyed a parallel career in the 1980s and 1990s as political writer, cartoonist, activist of the left
Left-wing politics
In politics, Left, left-wing and leftist generally refer to support for social change to create a more egalitarian society...
, and local community organiser based in Penge
Penge
Penge is a suburb of London in the London Borough of Bromley. It is located south east of Charing Cross.-History:Penge was once a small town, which was recorded under the name Penceat in a Saxon deed dating from 957...
, south London. In 2006 he became a signatory to the Euston Manifesto
Euston Manifesto
The Euston Manifesto is a 2006 declaration of principles by a group of academics, journalists, and activists based in the United Kingdom. The statement is a reaction to what are asserted to be widespread violations of leftist principles by others who are commonly associated with the political Left...
.
As 'M.J.', 'Michael John', 'Mick' and 'Mike' Weller - using identity-playing forenames, nicknames and other nom-de-plumes - he has produced artists books, zines and small press
Small press
Small press is a term often used to describe publishers with annual sales below a certain level. Commonly, in the United States, this is set at $50 million, after returns and discounts...
publications. Since 1990 he has been associated with London's poetry scene and poetics
Poetics
Aristotle's Poetics is the earliest-surviving work of dramatic theory and the first extant philosophical treatise to focus on literary theory...
of performance writing
Performance Writing
Performance Writing was pioneered at Dartington College of Arts in Devon, UK as a radical new approach to writing. It is a multi-modal approach which explores through artistic practice how writing interacts with other art forms and practices — visual art, sound art, time-based media, installation,...
.