At a social gathering, in the atmosphere of anxious excitement surrounding the beginning of a new semester, I was too curious not to ask Milwaukee cartoonist Moritz Junker if this title was a pseudonym or his real name.
It is almost too good to be true for his kind of artistry; it is the perfect name for a cartoonist. Despite my initial disbelief in the origin of this moniker, it is indeed his bona fide name.
Junker’s latest comic publication, “Ride the Red Funnel,” premiered on Nov. 7 at Lion’s Tooth at 2421 S. Kinnickinnic Ave., which is an artist-owned independent bookstore featuring a diverse selection of graphic novels, zines, and local art that doubles as an event space.
Junker was selected as Lion’s Tooth 2025 Dandelion artist-in-residence by a jury of professionals, and this comic was created in coordination with their residency program.
The program is in partnership with BearBear, the self-publishing Risograph printing hub and creative studio founded in 2019 by artists Diana H. Chu, Ben Grzenia and the M.I.L.K. Comic Fest.
“Going to M.I.L.K. is how I first found out about the residency,” said Junker. “In 2024, I was selling my work at the fest when Cris Siqueira was there, and she recommended that I apply for the residency.”
Siqueira co-founded Lion’s Tooth with Shelly McClone-Carriere. The vibrant assortment of books, comics and zines at the Bay View store is hand-picked by the two women.
“Cris and Shelly as individuals are important figures in this current community here in Milwaukee,” said Junker.
The cartoonist found out he was selected in the winter of last year, and the Dandelion Comics Residency was a year-long program for the first time in 2025. But “Ride the Red Funnel” was not completed until November, as Junker spent the first six months of the residency working on a different project that was more than 40 pages long. It was eventually scrapped, but the experience taught Junker more about his method of collaboration and general creative process.
The residency offers mentorship from a variety of artists and professionals. Two continuous mentors for the program are comic creators and M.I.L.K. organizers Quinn Blackshere and Hannah Hallman.
In addition, for Moritz Junker’s time as the Dandelion artist-in-residence, his juror panel consisted of Ignatz-nominated cartoonist M.S. Harkness, Silver Sprocket managing editor Ari Yarwood, and owners of the Philadelphia bookstore Partners and Sons, Gina Dawson and Tom Marquet.
“The goal initially was for me to write a script and do a storyboard so that I could get as much feedback along the way as possible,” said Junker. “But, I hadn’t ever worked with people on comics before, as I usually work on them myself.”
Junker learned a lot from the collaboration process, but when he felt like he constantly had to re-write and re-edit the 40-page project, he realized he was starting to feel uninspired by the endeavor.
“It kind of killed the joy of it,” shared Junker about the bigger project. “I didn’t realize this before I did the residency, and I am really glad I did do it, because now I know that I have a preference in the way that I approach the creation of my work.”
The decision to scrap the undertaking was a difficult one that required a little bit of bravery.
“I was at this point where I was thinking to myself: ‘I’ll just make this thing, get it out, and I’ll never have to acknowledge it again,’ but I knew I didn’t want to create something with that mindset.”
The residency is set up for a cartoonist to make a comic that is self-contained and easily consumable. Moritz Junker prefers to begin a creative undertaking by viewing it as a weird art project, where he can imagine where the story can expand as each block is drawn.
“As I was drawing the comic that you see today, I would come up with new associations for each character, and then I knew the story could expand in the future.”
The energy in the air at the release event was warmly infectious, with a thrilled crowd timidly waiting for the designated actors to begin a live reading of the new comic.
Finnegan Connor, a friend of Junker’s, added acoustic guitar instrumentation to soundtrack the live reading, adding perfectly peculiar guitar notes to signify a comedic twist in the plot, or quietly suspenseful melodies to mysterious moments.
Connor’s performance, which added a new, uniquely entertaining element to the comic’s presentation, inspired Junker to continue supplementing his live readings with sound effects. The cartoonist brought a keyboard to the comic reading event Zine Out Loud in Madison on Nov. 21.
“I saw this cartoonist, Sam Szabo, do a charismatic live reading of her comic in Madison, and that’s a way to make a reading more like stand-up comedy,” said Junker. “I don’t think I could ever do one without the music now.”
Considering the feedback of “Ride the Red Funnel”, Junker is anticipating a potential review of the comic from the independent fanzine of comics and manga, Bubbles.
“They do reviews of recently published independent stuff, and Bryan, who is behind the zine, is definitely a tastemaker in my opinion,” said Junker. “I hope Bryan Bubbles likes it.”
A shout out to the UMWPost and author Annabelle Hershelman for the very enjoyable article about cartoonist Moritz Junker’s release presentation of his newest comic “Ride the Red Funnel” at Lion’s Tooth Bookstore in Milwaukee. We weren’t able to attend but did see a video of the reading and sound effects by Junker and several friends, including Finn Conner who added musical (acoustic guitar) emphasis to the cartoon reading. As I read this article I had no doubt that Hershelman enjoyed interviewing Junker and learning about him, his experience in the Dandelion Comics Residency, and his approach to making comic books. Great support for the creative talents of our young adults!