This year the Detroit Bookfest is proud to host graphic novelist Mark Crilley who has been doing comics since the 1990’s.

The big sellers these days in comics and graphic novels are not Spiderman, and Superman – they are young adult, teen and children’s graphic novels published by a host of different publishers. Mark Crilley is a pioneer in that field. I think his first series Akiko on the Planet Smoo appeared before many of the current publishers were in business.

His work encompasses – two major areas – the first beautifully illustrated and well written graphic fiction – and while designed for teens and younger readers can be enjoyed also by adults. The second how to draw book based on his approach of melding Japanese manga style with American approaches to comics.

Most recently he has mashed the two together in a series of fun graphic novels about kids doing comics that also teach how to create comics. The most recent is the “Mighty Onion Series’ and book 2 in the series has just been released and one of its first appearances is at Bookfest though the number of copies will be limited.