Mick Mastroianni was born in Endicott, N.Y., in 1982. The grandson of highly successful cartoonist Johnny Hart, Mick was introduced to cartooning at an early age. Although he moved frequently throughout his childhood, he was always able to make a name for himself with his cartooning abilities at the various schools he attended. The most popular of his childhood creations were the Flugems, a world of wormlike creatures created with the help of his older brother, Mason.
Mick created his first strip in high school, called Bike World, a satirical look at his life involving his older brother, along with his best friends. In 2002, one year after graduating high school, Mick moved to Orlando, Fla., to pursue a career as a movie and television stunt performer. He graduated twice from Kim Kahana's Stunt School, which helped him to land several principle stunt roles in television. He even performed as a precision driver in a nationally aired commercial staring Derek Jeter. Mick's love of animals, especially dogs, attracted him to volunteer at a local animal shelter. While working there, he was inspired to create a comedy about a group of misfit dogs and their experiences in the kennel. He titled it, The Dogs of C- Kennel.
"The name was actually the first thing I came up with. It was inspired by a wing of the shelter called C-Kennel." At the time, Mick was just toying with the idea of C-Kennel, as he had other things on his mind. His concept drawings collected dust on the shelf. In 2005, after living his dream of being a stunt man, and seeing the lack of job security of stunt work, Mick was content to return home to be closer to his family. "The first several months home were a confusing time for me. I was going back to school, but I was faced with the question of not knowing what to do with my life. Until one night I was looking through my old drawings and I came across my C-Kennel concepts. I decided then to create a strip and follow in my grandfather's footsteps."
Mick is currently in Binghamton, N.Y., where he works on The Dogs of C-Kennel and attends Broome Community College, pursuing a liberal arts degree.
