Creator of the "Max Meow " graphic novel series recently visited Williamsport as part of his ongoing book tour.
John Gallagher made an appearance at The Otto Bookstore in downtown to talk about his ongoing children’s graphic novel series. He released the fifth installment, “Max Meow: Attack of the Zombees,” in November. The series, first published by Random House in 2020, follows a superhero cat that also works as a podcaster. Though, the feisty feline is not a very popular podcaster, said Gallagher.
The author and artist currently is working on the sixth installment, “Max Meow: When Pancakes Go Bad, Really Bad.” It is about giant stacks of monster pancakes attacking the City of Kittyopolis, the setting of the series. The adventure features a new character, Rex Rocket, a space dog Gallagher plans to include in a spinoff. The graphic novel should release in March of 2025, he said.
Gallagher, who grew up in Selinsgrove from the age of 6, incorporates quirky small-town life into his works.
“It’s funny because often, the quirky people I have in my cities in my comics are often inspired by the small town feel that Selinsgrove had. In Selinsgrove, you grew up, everybody knew who you were (and) knew your name, so you had to stay out of trouble if you could help it. But people also looked out for each other, and that is an idea I try to get across in my books,” he said.
Though the small town in his graphic novel was inspired by parts of his life, Gallagher’s youngest son, Will, was the biggest influence. His son, being a fan of "Dogman" by Dav Pilkey and dealing with dyslexia, drove Gallagher to create a book that would engage him.
“Max Meow" was a way to create another book he would read, and (he) even helped me come up with the character's name,” he said.,
Gallagher, who attended Temple University and Penn State, started creating comics when he was 5 years old. The first time he first picked up a comic — credit to his mother — he found a love for them. Superhero comics such as Shazam and Batman and Robin were big influences on his work.
“Comics are how I learned how to read, and I have been creating them ever since,” he said. “I always say it was my mom’s fault… She was trying to keep me busy one day and picked up a comic book for me from the grocery store. The combination of words right in the panel next to the characters just mesmerized me.”
Before "Max Meow" published through Random House, Gallagher self-published his comics and graphic novels for nearly 20 years. Acting as the editor, artist and writer helped him get published with bigger outlets, he noted. His first self-published comic was "Buzzboy" about a former quirky teen sidekick inspired by Robin of Batman.
Recently hired to draw for an Iron Man story for Marvel, Gallagher said his next venture will take him his home state of Virginia to speak at local schools for Read Across America. He will read over Zoom with schools across the country. The creator also plans to attend the San Diego Comic-Con this summer. However, at the end of the day, Gallagher’s goal is to get kids have so much fun that they don’t realize they’re reading.
“I was really fortunate (to have) my family, my parents, my brother and sister. They were always so encouraging… I have been very fortunate because I know not everybody gets encouraged all the time with what they were doing," he said. "It was true of my art teachers growing up. They were always excited about what I was going to do next , and I credit them with inspiring me to keep going.”
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