The world which Jim Mahfood (aka Food One) illustrates with his long-running L.A. Ink Stains comic strip is really unlike any other — a highly personal, humorous black & white adventure following his everyday exploits in Los Angeles. Afternoons spent hunched over a desk drawing cartoons that make the world chuckle are offset by long evenings filled with cold Tecates, weed cookies, late night chicken taco runs and midnight movie screenings of Fear & Loathing In Las Vegas. There’s Beastie Boys art exhibits, Z-Trip DJ sets, hikes in Griffith Park and of course pining for unrequited affections. I truly love Jim’s stuff because it illuminates an intimate peek into his daily life without ever seeming self-absorbed or pretentious. It’s the Los Angeles we all love, even if we didn’t even make that particular Beastie Boys art gallery on opening night. You kind of were there, through Jim’s singularly sketched one-page comic renderings. And how he manages to share a whole story in one page bursts is a talent few have. But although most are quite funny, there are some so personal and touching that they hit you like a perfectly phrased poem or love song (read the last cartoon about his friend Mike third frame below, and if you don’t feel anything then I question your belief, Keith).

Even tho Jim’s resume is stacked (he’s drawn Spider-Man, Tank Girl and Clerks comics, penned his own Grrl Scouts and Stupid Comics series and had his art emblazoned on everything from tshirts to Colt 45 cans to Bed Head beauty products), it is now time for Jim to publish his most personal work: his collected L.A. Ink Stains series. The L.A. Ink Stains vol.1 softcover book comes out June 20th via Image Comics, and he’ll be having a special Prom/Book Release Party on June 16 at Titmouse Animation Studios to celebrate… but more to come on that later! For now peruse the awesomeness of his work below, and prepare to buy a book when it comes out. You’ll never have a bummed out adventure when following the exploits of Food One…