Michael John Weller (South London, 1946) is a British
underground comics artist, political writer, cartoonist, activist and album-cover designer.
Weller designed the sleeve for the United States release of
David Bowie's The Man Who Sold the World LP (Mercury, 1970), re-released (EMI CD 1999 and Metrobolist LP, CD, streaming formats, Parlophone, 2020). As "Captain Stelling" Weller wrote and drew The Firm (cOZmic Comics, 1972) - an early British artist's publication inspired by American underground comic book innovations. In 1973, a page by "Stelling" entitled 'Missile Crisis' was made part of
Michel Choquette's comic book
The Someday Funnies. In the 1970s Weller was published by
Hunt Emerson for
Birmingham Arts Lab press. He followed "Willie D" (
Andrew Marr) as featured cartoonist on
Chainsaw punk zine (1980–84).
Michael Weller enjoyed a parallel career in the 1980s and 1990s as political writer, cartoonist, activist of the
left, and local community organiser based in
Penge, south London. In 2006 he became a signatory to the
Euston Manifesto.
As 'M.J.', 'Michael John', 'Mick' and 'Mike' Weller - using identity-playing forenames, nicknames and other noms-de-plume - he has produced
artists books, comics,
zines ("spineless wonders") and
small press publications. Affiliated to
Association of Little Presses Weller opened self-publishing imprint homebakedbooks 2005-2023.[1] Between 1990 and 2010 he was associated with London's poetry scene. Launch of Beat Generation Ballads was documented in video by Voiceworks (2011), becoming the title of a large-scale musical composition for piano by
Michael Finnissy premiered at
Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival in 2014, winning a solo British Composer Award 2015.
Beowulf Cartoon has been on reading display at
Poetry Library exhibitions Visual Poetics (2013) and Poetry Comics (2015).
Michael John Weller continues to write, draw, and publish for traditional print and digital mediums, including artists film, poetry glitch and The Metrobolist website.
Bookworks
Harriet Staunton: A Victorian Murder Ballad, (Visual Associations, 1999)
Space Opera: The Artist's Book, (Visual Associations, 2000)
Madeline My Love In Death And Fancy, (Visual Associations, 2001)
Beowulf Cartoon, (Writers Forum & Visual Associations, 2004)
Three-part The Secret Blue Book, (homebakedbooks, 2005)
Slow Fiction: twenty-three tales in a box, (homebakedbooks, 2010)
Beat generation Ballads, (Veer Books, 2011)
minimus post ode poem, (zimZalla avant objects/object 021, 2014)
Metrobolist: Five Chapters, (homebakedbooks, 2015)
Three Piece Bathing Suit, (Blart Books, 2016)
Spurious Purple: 72 serial e-shots from 2016, (HomeBaked, 2017)
intermittent, (HomeBaked, 2018)
Old New Little Presses In The Age of Electronic Reproduction, (LUMIN, May 2019 objectzine edition)
Metrobolist 7, (Veer Books/bookartobject, April 2021)
An Open Letter To J.K. Rowling From You-Know-Who, (Yar Mouth Press, 2022 - 20th anniversary edition)
Selected comics, pamphlets and zines
the bop that just won't stop!, 1979 Birmingham Arts Lab Press (Ar-Zak Microcomik 7)
Coffin' Blood, 1979
the power of rock n'roll zerox poemik, 1980
A SONG FOR EUROPE, sheet music, 1983 (Pop Laboratory)
Pinball and the Perfect Lasagne (with Phil Mellows and Colin Greenland), 1984 (Pop Laboratory)
Systemize, Buiiding a D-I-Y Cartoon System, 1985
Fantasy number one, 1990 (itma)
Four-Eyed Flicks, 1993
The Fabulous Five, The comical story of the Arbiter, 1993