Mike Hawthorne’s new graphic novel memoir, ‘Happiness Will Follow,’ earning praise
Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020
Though next week marks Mike Hawthorne’s first appearance at the Brooklyn Book Festival, he’s certainly not a novice cartoonist, or a newcomer to the world of illustration.
He’s an Eisner and Harvey award-nominated artist, honored for his creative achievement in American comic books, and he’s best known for his work with Deadpool — so much so that, two years ago, he officially became the artist who’s drawn more pages of Deadpool than anyone else in Marvel history. The rest of his work is a huge collection of work on some of the genre’s greatest hits, from Spider-Man to story art and illustration for Fox, Illumination, and Epic Games.
The cover of “Happiness Will Follow,” by Illustration faculty member Mike Hawthorne.
But that’s probably only part of the reason Hawthorne, a member of PCA&D’s Illustration faculty, has been invited to this year’s Brooklyn Book Festival, a weeklong celebration of hundreds of authors, artists, and publishers that kicks off Sept. 28.
He’s been invited for his first appearance at the festival “presumably,” he says, “because of my new book, ‘Happiness Will Follow’.” He’s part of Virtual Festival Day programming on Sunday, Oct. 4, from 10 am to 8 pm. Nearly 100 national and international authors are scheduled to participate in this virtual feast of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and comics programming.
You can find the Brooklyn Book Festival here. Hawthorne will participate in a panel discussion, “Putting the I in Graphic: Drawing the Self,” Oct. 4 at 10 pm. His fellow panelists are Yao Xiao (Everything is Beautiful And I’m Not Afraid) and Tyler Feder (Dancing at the Pity Party); moderator is Nola Pfau, editor-in-chief of Women Write About Comics. To register to watch or ask questions, visit brooklynbookfestival.org and click on Register Now.
The graphic novel is garnering massive praise — Publishers’ Weekly calls it a “gut punch of a graphic memoir” — a result that pretty much amazes Hawthorne.
MH: Honestly, it’s left me speechless. I’ve been lucky to have had the career I’ve had, but this is a new experience that I’m still trying to come to terms with. It’s a privilege to get to tell a story like this, but to have it touch people the way this has been a true honor.
Hawthorne is active on Instagram; you can follow him here. Below, scroll through an excerpt from “Happiness Will Follow.”
