Mike Maihack
Even though we both lived in Tampa, I met Mike in New York at the MoCCA Arts Festival. We’d later ended up tabling next to each other a little closer to home at Mega-Con in Orlando.
I immediately became a fan of Mike’s work and I’m not alone. He’s built quite the fan base with his inviting whimsical art.
Mike Maihack is the creator of the Cleopatra in Space graphic novels published by Scholastic/Graphix. The six-book series has earned him a Florida Book Award, a YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers selection, and a starred review from School Library Journal. Cleopatra in Space was also produced as a children’s animated series by DreamWorks Television available on, Peacock and HULU.
His latest book, Spider-Man Animals Assemble just came out. Mike lives in Land O Lakes, Florida with his wife, two boys, and one extraordinarily fluffy cat.
And now, 3 Questions with Mike Maihack.
Why comics? (What compels you to create in this medium?)
I love drawing and I love the act of storytelling (or sometimes just telling jokes). Comics make the perfect medium for me to combine those things! It can sometimes be a bit of a challenge on how to intersect all the ingredients that make up comics, but to me, that’s half the fun and only motivates me to work harder at the craft.
Besides that, I hope to bring about a little joy and positivity into the world, hopefully inspiring future generations to draw their stories (or jokes).
What has (pleasantly) surprised you about creating comics that you didn’t anticipate when you first started out?
Talking to kids about them. I really enjoy visiting classrooms and libraries sharing as much as I can about making comics. It’s amazing to see how excited the students get about all the possibilities the medium can bring. And many of them are already making their own comics! They often share their drawings and folded/stapled stories with me and I’m just amazed at how creative they always are. The future of comics is in good hands.
What are you currently working on?
Right now I’m in the middle of writing/drawing a third Spider-Man team-up graphic novel for Abrams and Marvel. Once that’s finished later this summer, I’ll return to a large original, treasure-hunting opus I started a couple years ago. That story is almost fully penciled, and I plan to spend about a year polishing and coloring it. It’s a fun adventure story, but also probably my most personal (and longest!) book to date. That’ll be published by Candlewick Press and I can’t wait for folks to read it once it’s done.
You can find Mike and links to his work at the following:
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