The Collegiate Hepcats

Martin Wagner (b. 1966) is an American artist, cartoonist, and filmmaker. A film major at the University of Texas at Austin, Wagner began HEPCATS as a comic strip in the college newspaper in 1987. Starting in 1989, he self-published it as a black-and-white comic book series. The series received critical praise and a cult following, but Wagner's lack of business experience, and his divorce in 1991 contributed to financial difficulties. His production schedule became increasingly protracted and he ceased publishing the series altogether following issue No. 12 in 1994. In 1996 he made a deal with Antarctic Press to republish the existing material, to be followed by new issues, but the only new material published was a special "#0" color issue. Wagner left the comics industry in 1998 to work in the movie industry which makes the existing copies very collectible. HEPCATS deals with the lives of four college students, rendered as anthropomorphic animals (humanoid bodies, but animal heads), and is inspired by Wagner's own college experiences. Wagner also wrote the SNOWBLIND series.