Westfield Childhood Comic Book Fan Publishes First Graphic Novel

WESTFIELD, NJ — Growing up Matt Myklusch of Westfield was always a huge comic book fan with dreams of becoming a comic book artist. He would spend his days as a child creating his own superhero characters.

Drawing inspiration from his childhood heroes he created back in fourth grade, Myklusch is proud to release his ninth book and first graphic novel in a series called Imagine Nation.

Book One, The Blood of Kings, comes out on Tuesday, Jan. 7, and he will be doing a special launch event at the Westfield Memorial Library (click here for details).

Myklusch's first eight books middle-grade readers were published through Simon & Schuster and Lerner Books.

"They're all in that Harry Potter-, Percy Jackson-style, fantasy adventure novels for kids," said Myklusch to Patch. "This graphic novel is actually a spin-off of the books I have with Simon and Schuster, which are all part of the same shared universe. So it's kind of like my version of the Marvel universe, where you have all these stories that are different heroes that are running around the same world."

The premise of his first series, called The Jack Blank Adventures(named after one of Myklusch's sons Jack), is kind of like Harry Potter with superheroes instead of magic.

"Throughout the course of that series, we explore that whole superhero world. And now with the graphic novel series, we're going back to that world just called the Imagine Nation, and getting to just explore it a little further with people who were side characters in the original books are now getting their time in the spotlight," said Myklusch.

His Imagine Nation graphic novel series will feature three books. Book One follows the character Skerren who is in the medieval section of that imaginary world. The book recently received a great review from Kirkus.

Following his passion for comic books, Myklusch said publishing his ninth book and first graphic novel is a "dream come true."

"I've never walked away from the artwork. It's always been a big part of my my creative process, where I like to draw the characters when I'm writing something, and I'll draw the locations to help me visualize it as I'm writing it, because that'll help me make something that the the reader can visualize better as well," said Myklusch.

While Myklusch focuses more on the writing aspects of his book, he said he loved being able to see a professional artist bring his story to life on the pages.

"It's just been so much fun to be part of this process where it's a true collaboration with my illustrator [Onofrio Orlando] on these books," said Myklusch. "He's reading my script and looking at the sample pictures that I drew... then watching him draw it. I feel like I'm getting to watch a movie of my creation before it even comes out. It's been a lot of fun."

At the Westfield Library event, Myklusch will be talking to kids about his books, creativity, and believing in yourself — and leading them in a fun "create-your-own superhero" activity. This program is geared towards children in grades 1 and up.

Additionally, Myklusch partnered with the Town Book Store in Westfield to offer signed copies of the books with original drawings from himself at BloodOfKingsBook.com. The Town Book Store will also have books for sale at this launch event.

For more information on Myklusch and his books visit mattmyklusch.com or follow him on Instagram: @mattmyk or Facebook: facebook.com/mattmyk.

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