~Marcus~

Marcus Medina (b. Marcus Lorenzo Smith) is an American artist who once served eight years in the United States Marine Corps and was honorably discharged of his duties as a decorated Corporal and war veteran in 2010. He was born and raised in Dallas, Texas with an older sister and younger brother by a single mother and his grandmother. As the middle child, he grew up scribbling and doodling, playing video games, building LEGOs, watching MTV or cartoons in the morning, catching Power Rangers after school, and reading illustrated books. His desire to do comics started in 1995-1996 when he drew and wrote satire for his own enjoyment in elementary school. As other children took interest, he created more for a about a nickel and dime. Sometime later, a comic related to his own caused a ban in future activities and he was told to give it up completely.

In high school, he studied Japanese and discovered manga. While manga itself was difficult to afford in a life of poverty, the art brought a passion to draw and do storytelling, but it wasn’t enough. A decade later, he decided to return to writing his story after reentering a period of living without having a home and much money to thrive on.

Throughout his childhood and early adulthood, life was not always easy. He grew up constantly moving around, sometimes changing schools, and was either bullied at home or school. Despite the hardships, he overcame them and achieved minor success in the field of the military and university while achieving a multitude of achievements never done before by any other family member before or after him.

Don’t ever let anything bring you down and keep on pushing. What troubles you overcame in life will give you a good story to tell.
~M. Medina

Favorite Types of Food: Japanese, Italian, Mexican.
Languages practiced: Japanese, Korean, Arabic, Chinese, Esperanto, Danish.
Dislikes: Thieves, Mayonnaise.
Favorite Comic Hero: Batman
Favorite Comic Villain: Harley Quinn
Hobbies: Asian Studies Research, Video Games, Practicing Japanese, Exercise.
Occupation: Marine Corps Iraqi War Veteran (8 Years), International Graduate Student, and currently working on writing.

Education:

National Japanese Honor Society High School Recipient of 2002;
Combat Arts (Marine Corps); Marine Corps University
Army Quartermaster School of Virginia: Culinary Arts
Brookhaven College: General and Asian and Studies
University of Texas at Dallas: Undergraduate studies in World History and Political Science (Pre-Law)
Shanghai University: Graduate studies in Chinese History and Chinese Language Studies as of September 11th, 2016.

Recent Work History