Marcus Medina (b. 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 which 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 school or at home. Despite his hardships, he overcame them and achieved minor success in some fields 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);
• Graduation Diploma in Culinary Arts (Army Quartermaster School of Virginia);
• Associates of Arts in Asian and General Studies (Brookhaven College);
• Bachelors in World History and Political Science (Pre-Law) at University of Texas at Dallas
• Currently attending Shanghai University for a Masters in Chinese History and Chinese Language Studies as of September 11th, 2016.

Recent Work History

• Taught English in Seoul Special City from May 2013 – Aug ’14, Jeju Island from Aug ’14 – May ’15, and Cheongju-si until September ’16 in South Korea for Chungdahm Learning Institute.
• Volunteer English Teacher in Shanghai City, Shanghai, in China from Feb 2017 – present.
• English Mentor at Shanghai University from Jun – Jul in 2017.