Michael Manning (born 1963) is an American comic book artist and writer, fine art illustrator, and traditionally trained animator currently based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his graphic novel series, The Spider Garden and Tranceptor, which combine elements of pan-sexual fetishism and BDSM culture with complex characters in science fiction and fantasy settings. He is also active in the supernatural horror and fantasy genres, drawing adaptations of the work of authors such as H.P. Lovecraft, Edgar Allan Poe, and Alexandre Dumas for the Graphic Classics comics anthology series, as well as illustrating an anachronistic version of the German folk epic, The Nibelungen. Biography Early career Manning was born in Flushing in the New York City borough of Queens and raised in Beverly, Massachusetts where he exhibited an early interest in drawing and writing. Exposure to Japanese animation, fairy-tale book illustration, American and European comics, and the mythology of many cultures all contributed to the formation of his emerging style. 1980s Manning went on to study film and animation at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. He began self-publishing art and comics in 1987 while working at Olive Jar Animation in Brookline, MA as an animator and director of short films, commercials, and music videos. Self-published titles such as Shunga, Ukiyo-X and Z/Xero brought his work to the attention of comic book artists John Bergin and James O'Barr (creator of The Crow) who in turn showed his work to Kevin Eastman of Tundra Publishing. This led to the inclusion of two of Manning's short pieces (one of which was a collaboration with Red Spider White Web author Misha Nogha) in Tundra's Bone Saw anthology - Manning's first professional comics publication. 1990s A move to San Francisco in 1991 coincided with Manning's decision to focus on comic books and erotic illustration full-time. Manning continued to self-publish and produce work for the Bay Area's emerging BDSM/sex-zine community while his artwork and stage/costume design for multi-media performances appeared regularly at local music venues, fetish events, and art galleries. Much of his graphic work from this period was subsequently collected and published in the art collection Lumenagerie (1996) and the anthology Cathexis (1997). He also wrote and drew four volumes of the Spider Garden series and in collaboration with artist Patrick Conlon the first installment of the Tranceptor series. 2000s A second collection, Inamorata: The Erotic Art