Ben Hatke (born June 4, 1977) is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and

children's book Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. In addition to conventional literary genres, modern children's literature is classified by the intended age of the reade ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

. He is most well known for his series of

middle grade Middle grade literature is literature intended for children between the ages of 8 and 12. While these books are sometimes grouped together with books for other age bands and collectively called "children's books", middle grade is distinct from pict ...

graphic novels A graphic novel is a self-contained, book-length form of sequential art. The term ''graphic novel'' is often applied broadly, including fiction, non-fiction, and anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics scholars and ...

''Zita the Spacegirl''. His work is notable for its focus on strong female characters.COLYARD, K.W
"'Zita The Spacegirl' Is Getting A Film Adaptation, And Author Ben Hatke Has More Exciting Things On The Way, a"
''Bustle'' (Oct 5, 2016).

Biography

Hatke was born in

Lafayette, Indiana Lafayette ( ) is a city in and is the county seat of Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, located northwest of Indianapolis and southeast of Chicago. According to the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of Lafayette ...

,Brown, Hillary
"''Mighty Jack'' Cartoonist Ben Hatke on Juggling Art, Blowing Fire and Creating Ridiculously Charming Comics,"
''Paste'' (December 12, 2016). and grew up with sisters. His family were members of the

Society for Creative Anachronism The Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA) is an international living history group with the aim of studying and recreating mainly Medieval European cultures and their histories before the 17th century. A quip often used within the SCA describes ...

, and Hatke spent a lot of time outdoors as a child. One of his early comics influences was

Wendy and Richard Pini Wendy Pini ( Fletcher; born June 4, 1951) and Richard Pini (born July 19, 1950) are the husband-and-wife team responsible for creating the well-known ''Elfquest'' series of Comic book, comics, graphic novels and prose works. They are also known ...

's ''

Elfquest ''Elfquest'' (or ''ElfQuest'') is a comic book property created by Wendy and Richard Pini in 1978, and still owned by them. It is a fantasy story about a community of Elves (Elfquest), elves and other fictional species who struggle to survive and ...

''. Other influences included

Bill Watterson William Boyd Watterson II (born July 5, 1958) is an American cartoonist who authored the comic strip ''Calvin and Hobbes''. The strip was syndicated from 1985 to 1995. Watterson concluded ''Calvin and Hobbes'' with a short statement to newspa ...

Maurice Sendak Maurice Bernard Sendak (; June 10, 1928 – May 8, 2012) was an American author and illustrator of children's books. Born to Polish-Jewish parents, his childhood was impacted by the death of many of his family members during the Holocaust. Send ...

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...

Brian Froud Brian Froud (born 1947) is an English fantasy illustrator and conceptual designer. He is most widely known for his 1978 book '' Faeries'' with Alan Lee, and as the conceptual designer of the Jim Henson films '' The Dark Crystal'' (1982) and ...

Trina Schart Hyman Trina Schart Hyman (April 8, 1939 – November 19, 2004) was an American illustrator of children's books. She illustrated over 150 books, including fairy tales and Arthurian legends. She won the 1985 Caldecott Medal for U.S. picture book illustra ...

Barry Windsor-Smith Barry Windsor-Smith (born Barry Smith, 25 May 1949) is a British comic book illustrator and painter whose best-known work has been produced in the United States. He attained note working on Marvel Comics' ''Conan the Barbarian (comics), Conan t ...

, and

Todd McFarlane Todd McFarlane (; born March 16, 1961) is a Canadian comic-book creator, best known for his work as an artist on ''The Amazing Spider-Man'' and as the creator, writer, and artist on the superhero horror-fantasy series '' Spawn,'' as well as bein ...

. Hatke earned his B.A. from

Christendom College Christendom College is a private Catholic college in Front Royal, Virginia, United States. It was established in 1977. History 1977—2000 Christendom College was founded by Warren H. Carroll, a contributor at ''Triumph'' magazine. Carroll ...

in 2000."Christendom Alumnus Ben Hatke Scores Movie Deal at 20th Century Fox,"
Christendom College website (Sep 15, 2016). While he was in college, he spent a semester in Italy studying

Italian Renaissance painting Italian Renaissance painting is the painting of the period beginning in the late 13th century and flourishing from the early 15th to late 16th centuries, occurring in the Italian Peninsula, which was at that time divided into many political stat ...

Career

Hatke contributed the story "The Plank" to the anthology ''

Flight Flight or flying is the motion (physics), motion of an Physical object, object through an atmosphere, or through the vacuum of Outer space, space, without contacting any planetary surface. This can be achieved by generating aerodynamic lift ass ...

'' vol. 2, published by

Image Comics Image Comics is an independent American American comic book, comic book publisher and is the third largest direct market comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry by market share. Its best-known publications include ''Spawn (comics) ...

in 2005. His story "The Edge" appeared in ''Flight'' #3, published (at that point by

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

) in 2006. His character Mighty Jack is a contemporary spin on the

fairy tale A fairy tale (alternative names include fairytale, fairy story, household tale, magic tale, or wonder tale) is a short story that belongs to the folklore genre. Such stories typically feature magic, enchantments, and mythical or fanciful bei ...

Jack and the Beanstalk "Jack and the Beanstalk" is an English fairy tale with ancient origins. It appeared as "The Story of Jack Spriggins and the Enchanted Bean" in 1734 4th edition :File:Round about our Coal Fire, or, Christmas Entertainments, 4th edn, 1734.pdf, On C ...

''Zita the Spacegirl''

According to ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'', ''Zita the Spacegirl'', "centers on a girl named Zita who embarks on a journey to becoming an intergalactic hero after her friend is abducted by an alien doomsday cult. Along the way, she rides a giant mouse, deals with humanoid chickens as well as robots, and makes friends with a blob-like creature."Kit, Borys
"Fox Animation Picks Up Movie Rights to 'Zita the Spacegirl',"
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (SEPTEMBER 14, 2016). According to Hatke, the character was actually created by his wife Anna while she was still in high school. When Hatke and Anna met in college, he began adapting the character into its present incarnation. He continued developing the character in webcomics and then a short story titled "Zita the Spacegirl: If Wishes Were Socks," in the 2008

anthology ''Flight Explorer''.Gustines, George Gene
"Graphic Books Best Sellers: To the Rescue,"
''New York Times'' (September 21, 2012). ''Zita the Spacegirl'' debuted in 2011 with

First Second Books First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint (trade name), imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck, Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual e ...

. The second and third volumes appeared in 2012 and 2014. In 2016, it was announced that

Fox Animation Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve spec ...

had picked up the movie rights for the ''Zita'' trilogy; the films will be produced by

Chernin Entertainment Chernin Entertainment is an American film and television production company owned by The North Road Company that is based in Los Angeles, California. It was founded on February 24, 2009 by producer and former media executive Peter Chernin, who is ...

Personal life

Hatke lives in

Front Royal, Virginia Front Royal is the only incorporated town in Warren County, Virginia, United States. The population was estimated at 15,400 as of 2023. It is the county seat of Warren County. History The entire Shenandoah Valley including the area to beco ...

, with his wife AnnaLiu, Jonathan H
"Q&A With Ben Hatke on Legends of Zita the Spacegirl,"
''Wired'' (Sept. 26, 2012). and their five daughters. He is an avid player of

role-playing games A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, or abbreviated as RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, eith ...

, as well as a practitioner of

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

. He is also a

fire-eater Fire eating is the act of putting a flaming object into the mouth and extinguishing it. A fire eater can be an entertainer, a street performance, street performer, part of a sideshow or a circus act but has also been part of spiritual traditi ...

and amateur

tumbler Tumbler may refer to: * Tumbler (firearms), a part of the firing mechanism in older firearms * Tumbler (glass), a type of glassware * Tumbler (pigeon), a pigeon breed * Tumbler (Project Xanadu), a unique identifier of a unit of text or an e ...

. Hatke's daughter Ida died in an accident in 2019, at the age of four.

Awards

* 2011

Cybils Award The Cybils Awards, or Children's and Young Adult Bloggers' Literary Awards, are a set of annual book awards given by people who blog about children's and young adult books. Co-founded by Kelly Herold and Anne Boles Levy in 2006, the awards were c ...

— ''Zita the Spacegirl'' * 2016 Eisner Award for Best Publication for Early Readers (up to age 8) — ''Little Robot''

Bibliography

Graphic novels

* 2011 ''Zita the Spacegirl'' (

First Second First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It ...

) * 2012 ''Legends of Zita the Spacegirl'' (First Second) * 2014 ''The Return of Zita the Spacegirl'' (First Second) * 2015 ''Little Robot'' (First Second) * 2016 ''Mighty Jack'' (First Second) * 2017 ''Mighty Jack and the Goblin King'' (First Second) * 2018 ''The Zita Trilogy Boxed Set'' (First Second) * 2019 ''Mighty Jack and Zita the Spacegirl'' (First Second) * 2023 ''Things in the Basement'' (First Second)

Children's books

* 2014 ''Julia’s House for Lost Creatures'' (First Second) * 2016 ''Nobody Likes a Goblin'' (First Second) * 2016 (by Ann M. Martin and Annie Parnell) ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Whatever Cure'' * 2017 (by Ann M. Martin and Annie Parnell) ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Won't-Walk-the-Dog Cure'' * 2018 (by Ann M. Martin and Annie Parnell) ''Missy Piggle-Wiggle and the Sticky-Fingers Cure''. Retrieved July 31, 2018. * 2020 ''Julia’s House Moves On'' (First Second) *2021 ''Julia's House Goes Home'' (First Second), ISBN 978-1250769329

Adult books

* 2023 ''Reynard's Tale: A Story of Love and Mischief'' (First Second) ISBN 978-1250857910

References

External links

*
''Zita the Space Girl'' website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hatke, Ben 1977 births Artists from Indiana Artists from Virginia American comics writers American comics artists American children's book illustrators American graphic novelists Living people People from Front Royal, Virginia 21st-century American illustrators