Happy Birthday: Ben Dunn

Born in 1964 in Pin-Tung, Taiwan, Ben Dunn emigrated to the U.S. a year later.

Growing up, he enjoyed reading comics and tried his hand at drawing, but it wasn’t until he returned to Taiwan for six months in 1976 that Dunn was first exposed to—and fell in love with—manga. Eight years later, tired of working for other people, Dunn decided to try his hand at comic books himself.

He founded Antarctic Press and began to produce Manga-style American comics. Dunn’s first title, Ninja High School, has remained one of Antarctic’s most popular and is still being published today—Dunn created, wrote, and drew the series for many years before handing it off to other artists and writers.

In 2003, Dunn sold Antarctic and started a new development company, Sentai Studios, but that venture failed and he later returned to Antarctic. He was also a major artist on Marvel’s "Mangaverse" line and has worked for Image and other publishers.