Rina Ayuyang was born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA. She was always inspired by the Sunday newspaper funnies and slice-of-life tales. Rina’s new book, The Man in The McIntosh Suit, is a Filipino-American take on Depression-era noir featuring mistaken identities, speakeasies, and lost love in San Francisco’s Manilatown. Her previous book, Blame This on the Boogie, is an homage to the American Musical, exploring themes of identity, family, and pop-culture fanaticism. It appeared on best of year lists from Forbes, London Free Press, and on Publishers Weekly’s Critics Poll. Stories from her self-published mini-comic series Namby Pamby were collected in the book Whirlwind Wonderland co-published by Sparkplug Comic Books and Tugboat Press.
Her online comic, Beginning’s End, published by Mutha Magazine was nominated for an Eisner Award for Best Short Story, and her Cartoonist’s Diary contribution on TCJ.com was chosen as a Silver medalist by the Society of Illustrators’ in the 2016 Comic and Cartoon Art Annual. She has also been an Ignatz Award nominee for Best Web Comic and Promising New Talent.
Rina has also self-published comics such as Souvenir and Doodle DAZE, and contributed to various anthologies like Unicorn Mountain, Stripburger, and Runner Runner. She has exhibited at the Arlington Art Center, Cartoon Art Museum, Giant Robot, Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum, and was a cartoonist-in-residence at the Charles Schulz Museum. She has also run the comics imprint Yam Books, and plays the “nice” co-host on the comics podcast, The Comix Claptrap.
Rina Ayuyang 