"The High Life of Weed Dude," a New Comic by the Legendary Mike Diana

Mike Diana may not be a household name, but the artist is pure-play canon. Not only is he one of the most notorious underground comix figures of the past 30 years, he's also the only person in American history to be criminally convicted of an artistic obscenity charge.

I recently got in touch with the illustrator for a story I was working on about Instagram's relationship with art censorship. Diana answered my questions in a thoughtful and soft-spoken manner, and we continued talking well after the "interview" had ended.

Diana said he'd be interested in creating a new comic from scratch for MERRY JANE, and soon we started brainstorming ideas about an anthropomorphic pot plant who's forced to leave his cannabis garden due to a chemtrail raid by the feds. After getting kicked off the farm, the humanlike herb moves to NYC to start slangin' weed — which, of course, he can grow off his own body.

This is the first chapter in the picaresque pot adventure we're calling "The High Life of Weed Dude." Welcome to his wild THC-infused world, where plants can piss smoke, shit buds, and wear cool-ass sunglasses. We're stoked to publish the premiere installment below, and expect future chapters in the upcoming weeks. Dive into the dank, and visit Mike Diana's website for more of his infamous art.

~ Merry Jane Editors