Kofi Bazzell-Smith is an artist, MFA Candidate, and professional boxer. With a passion for manga, he studied the art form in Japan, becoming fluent in Japanese. Now, he shares his expertise through lectures and workshops on manga, art practice, and cultural exchange across universities in the US and Japan. Kofi's work intersects Japan's globalizing efforts through popular culture and the rising academic interest in comic studies. As an artist-scholar, he aims to champion these movements, publish manga in Japan, and pioneer manga production education in the US.