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Inker Mark McKenna Unveils Children's Book Homage In Banana-Tail

Posted: Wednesday, December 11
By: J Hues

Mark McKenna is best known to comics fans as inker-extraordinaire working on a staggering variety of titles from DC, Marvel, Image, Acclaim/Valiant and even Malibu’s Ultraverse line. He dropped SBC a note lately about his newest project, which takes quite a departure from what you might expect.

“Dear Friends,

Mark McKenna here...I wanted to tell you all about my exciting new project and the impact it's made in the three week infancy of its release.

BANANA-TAIL is a children's book story about a young monkey who loved bananas(no kidding!). He spent all his days thinking of different ways to enjoy eating them. Diced bananas, sliced bananas, mushed bananas, sun-baked bananas, banana shakes and so on. B-Tail's mother always told him that because he ate so many bananas, one day he would turn into one. And so the story begins...

The journey for me to create, co-write, co-draw, edit and publish Banana-Tail was a huge undertaking, seven years to be exact. If you are unfamiliar with my name, I have been an established inker-artist for both DC and Marvel Comics for 17 years. I have worked on over 270 comic books. The joy of the daily grind of creating comics along with the diminishing workload has made me re-evaluate my future, albeit seven years ago.

My father, who created the "monkey-with-the-banana-for-a-tail", passed away 5 months ago, and I think that was the deciding motivational factor to bring this dream to fruition.

Accompanying the self-publishing venture is the support of a kid friendly website, The World of Banana-Tail Online - Kid's Books, Fun, Games and More! that's averaging 500 hits a day, and a 45 minute presentation that's begun to steamroll through the local elementary schools and libraries in my and connecting counties. The presentation that I'm doing is for the ages of 2 to 70 yrs old. I explain the developmental process of the ideas behind Banana-Tail right through to the final book. I also discuss my career as a comic book artist.

With all of this said, I am hoping for your support. While most of you that read comics, most likely have read work that I've added my input to, I want to continue to build the World of Banana-Tail. Please send the B-Tail weblink to any of your co-workers, acquaintances and family that may have children, or simply enjoy a nice story with lush artwork, and an honest effort.

The book, as well as a limited edition 2003 Banana-Tail Coloring Book Calendar can be purchased from me directly, online. I am working on developing a distribution system, but my cost per unit is such that I would take a tremendous hit to get major distribution.

Thank you for allowing me the time to tell you about Banana-Tail...

Happy Holidays!

Mark McKenna”