MICHAEL KELLEY - WRITER/CREATOR

First off, thank you sincerely for taking the time to learn more about me and my work. As you probably know by now, I'm an American living in China. To be more precise, I live in Shenzhen - my favorite city in the entire country. If you're unfamiliar, Shenzhen is in the southeast corner of China, bordering Hong Kong. My wife & I moved here in 2013 for what was supposed to be a two year adventure, but has become an entire new chapter of our lives.

I was always fascinated with the comic book medium and its unique ability to tell a wide range of stories. For years, I kept journals with plots I began writing my comics not long after moving to China. The initial idea came about while casually discussing superpowers with a friend. That friend became the model for my first character. Since then I've created more stories using friends as models for characters, & while writing those stories came naturally to me, actually making a comic book proved to be quite a challenge. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was my lack of drawing talent. Initially I tried using photographs of my friends in front of a green screen, but that proved to be infeasible. Eventually I accepted that I don't need to rely on myself & I needed to collaborate with a professional artist to truly do my characters justice. Now I'm able to tell the stories that have been collecting dust on my hard drive.

Much of my inspiration comes from my time abroad. Part of it derives from the experiences I've had in the places I lived in & visited, both good & bad. This includes the interactions with the people I've met along the way - new friends, colleagues, & just peculiar folks who catch my attention. Another big part is gleaned from my research of the country's rich history & culture. I've had the pleasure & honor of speaking with some incredibly knowledgable people who are all too happy to share the stories of their people that have been passed down to them by generations of storytellers. And while I do add my own flare to the original myths that I draw upon, I'm always sure to be respectful of the source by consulting with those who share them with me.

I hope that you enjoy reading the stories that I create and exploring the universe that I'm building. Your support is - as always - greatly appreciated.

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