Mike Diana

Early life Mike Diana was born in 1969 in New York City. He, his younger sister, and younger brother Matt were baptized Catholic. His mother placed him in an after school art program where, for one assignment, his class was to collect seashells on the beach and incorporate them into a collage made with plaster of Paris. Diana instead incorporated the garbage and a dead fish he had found, referring to the beach pollution that was the topic of contemporary news stories. Diana later related this story during his obscenity trial to illustrate his point of view that "art can be ugly and convey a message."

In 1988 Diana and his friend Robert, who was also born in New York State, bonded over their mutual dislike of the Florida climate, and after Robert got a job at a print shop, he convinced his boss to let them print at cost 960 copies of a zine on which they collaborated called HVUYIM, provided that they did the labor. Later that year Diana created another zine called Angelfuck, which was named after a song from the Misfits album Static Age, of which he published three issues. He then decided to do a digest size magazine, which he called Boiled Angel, The first issue had a print run of 65 signed and numbered copies, and by the time he printed issue #2, demand by readers, who were mostly people in other states and those who had read write-ups in review publications like Factsheet Five, increased its print run to 300. The publication, which depicted subjects such as child rape and sodomy, bestiality, human mutilation, and drug use, was distributed to about 300 subscribers.

Legal troubles Investigation In 1991, a California law enforcement officer came into possession of one of the comics, parts of which reminded him of the then-unsolved Gainesville student murders in Florida. which would later total $10,000.

Baggish argued that Diana's work was obscene in a way that an easily available teen horror movie was not, because the latter "portrays violence in a gross way, but it does not portray sex in a patently offensive way", which is one of the criteria for obscenity under the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court Miller v. California ruling, the other two being an appeal to the "average" prurient interest in sex, and the lack of any artistic, literary, political, or scientific value. According to Lirot, the jury was visibly disgusted by the examples of Boiled Angel that they were made to read. According to Diana, the jurors were asked "what their idea of art was, and one of them said 'needlepoint'." Baggish also called as a witness Tampa psychologist Sidney Merin, who stated that people "of questionable personality strengths" could be aroused by the comic book. making Diana the first artist to be convicted of obscenity in the United States. ACLU's Blumner was surprised by these provisions, saying, "I don't know of any time when such monitoring has been used on an artist. It reminds you of mind control. The fact that the state doesn't like Michael Diana's attitude and will send him to experts and conduct searches is like legalized lobotomy." Susan Alston Executive Director of the CBLDF at the time, in Northampton, Massachusetts argued, "There have been about half-a-dozen comic book obscenity cases in the United States, but most involved store owners selling perceived obscenity—and as a result no artist was ever ordered to stop drawing. Michael Diana is the first known American artist who's been legally banned from drawing as part of his sentence." Richard Wilson, a national officer of the First Amendment Lawyers Association, called the sentence "absolutely illegal", saying that it amounted to unconstitutional prior restraint. Writer Peter David characterized the sentence as "onerous".

Probation, appeals and other legal troubles Despite his and others' reaction to the sentence and Diana's bitterness toward those who targeted him, he says his probation officer, who followed his trial, was generally sympathetic and wished only to help him through his probation. During that time, Diana took up painting, and he produced one for Wired magazine that depicted himself as a tiny figure in the courtroom and the judge and prosecutors as monsters surrounding him, which he jokingly suggested violated his probation. The only count of the three that was judged incorrect was the one for advertising obscene material,

In February 2020, 26 years after his sentence, Diana was removed from probation.

Post-legal trouble work Mike Diana was published and represented by Shane Bugbee and Michael Hunt Publishing. Angry Drunk Graphics now publishes his work.

In a 2011 interview, he indicated that he planned to release a box set of Boiled Angel #1–8. He also indicated a desire one day to produce a graphic novel about the court case and how his life in Florida influenced the rebellious nature of his art.

In 2017 Superchief Gallery in Los Angeles hosted an exhibition of his multimedia work, in addition to several Boiled Angel reprints.

In 2025 Spazio Nadir in Vicenza, Italy, hosted an exhibition of his drawings taken from Boiled Angel curated by Nicola Stradiotto.

Personal life As of 1994, Diana was engaged to Suzy Smith, who once produced a local cable show. They both posed nude for an underground magazine.

Diana's prosecution was referenced in the graphic novel Teenagers from Mars by Rick Spears and Rob G.

Boiled Angels: The Trial of Mike Diana, a documentary detailing Diana's legal battle and its ripples within the comic artists' community, was successfully crowdfunded by artist Anthony Sneed and directed by Frank Henenlotter. It was released in 2018.