LIVE: “Off The Mark” Cartoonist Parisi On Career and “Marty Pants” Book Series

LIVE: “Off The Mark” Cartoonist Parisi On Career and “Marty Pants” Book Series

Award-winning cartoonist Mark Parisi is known for his “Off The Mark” cartoons that have been published in newspapers and online since 1987. 

Parisi is also now an author of a book series Marty Pants. The first two books, “Do Not Open!” and “Keep Your Paws Off” are now available, with the third due in November.

Parisi describes the books as “middle-grade novels” and a hybrid of text and graphics. He also describes them as a cross between "The Diary of A Wimpy Kid" and The X-Files, “with a determined but clueless hero.”

Parisi says that it can be tough to be a cartoonist because you always have to "stay plugged" into what’s going on and stay on top of what’s relevant. 

When talking about his long career, he said, “I got into it more for the funny than for the art” explaining he enjoys making people laugh and he’s proud of the humor.