Biography
Kupperman spent part of his childhood in England. Later on, back in the United States, his parents became professors at the University of Connecticut.[1] His mother is Karen Ordahl Kupperman, noted historian of Early America. His father is Joel J. Kupperman, the most famous of the original 1940s Quiz Kids.[3] When Michael was young, between ages ten and twelve, he was fascinated with editorial cartoons, particularly the work of Pat Oliphant. As a young man, Kupperman did a political strip for the Washington City Paper.[1]
HarperCollins published Kupperman's book Snake 'n' Bacon's Cartoon Cabaret in 2000. Parts of his work were animated later that year for the Comedy Central show TV Funhouse, produced by Robert Smigel and Dino Stamatopoulos.[1] In 2005, he started a comic book series called Tales Designed To Thrizzle, published by Fantagraphics. As of 2009, Kupperman is writing sketches for a new comedy series starring Peter Serafinowicz,[4] and he created a one-off pilot called Snake 'N' Bacon for the Adult Swim network.[5]
In 2013, Kupperman won the Eisner Award for "Moon 1969: The True Story of the 1969 Moon Launch", published in Tales Designed to Thrizzle Vol. 2, Issue 8.[6][7]
In 2013, Michael Kupperman started a biography of his father Joel, who was a child celebrity in the 1940s. Kupperman published the book, All the Answers, in May 2018, getting a Publishers Weekly Best Book of the Year award.
Kupperman lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his son, Ulysses Dougherty, and his wife, Muire Dougherty.