George O'Connor (born November 5, 1973) is an American-born

author In legal discourse, an author is the creator of an original work that has been published, whether that work exists in written, graphic, visual, or recorded form. The act of creating such a work is referred to as authorship. Therefore, a sculpt ...

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

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 ...

living in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

Career

O'Connor's first

picture book A picture book combines visual and verbal narratives in a book format, most often aimed at young children. With the narrative told primarily through text, they are distinct from comics, which do so primarily through sequential images. The ima ...

, ''Kapow!'', was a

New York Times bestseller ''The New York Times'' Best Seller list is widely considered the preeminent list of best-selling books in the United States. John Bear, ''The #1 New York Times Best Seller: intriguing facts about the 484 books that have been #1 New York Times ...

.Official author page at Macmillan Publishing
/ref> His first

graphic novel 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 Anthology, anthologized work, though this practice is highly contested by comics sc ...

, ''Journey into Mohawk Country'', was published in 2006. It uses as its sole text an English translation of the journal kept by the Dutch barber/surgeon/explorer Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert, who in 1634 journeyed from what is now

Albany, New York Albany ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. It is located on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River. Albany is the oldes ...

100 miles into the interior of the

North American continent North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the sou ...

. This

journal A journal, from the Old French ''journal'' (meaning "daily"), may refer to: *Bullet journal, a method of personal organization *Diary, a record of personal secretive thoughts and as open book to personal therapy or used to feel connected to onesel ...

is one of the earliest extant accounts of the

Iroquois The Iroquois ( ), also known as the Five Nations, and later as the Six Nations from 1722 onwards; alternatively referred to by the Endonym and exonym, endonym Haudenosaunee ( ; ) are an Iroquoian languages, Iroquoian-speaking Confederation#Ind ...

people. O'Connor followed up ''Journey'' with his work on ''Ball Peen Hammer'', the first graphic novel written by famed

playwright A playwright or dramatist is a person who writes play (theatre), plays, which are a form of drama that primarily consists of dialogue between Character (arts), characters and is intended for Theatre, theatrical performance rather than just Readin ...

Adam Rapp Adam Rapp (born June 15, 1968) is an American novelist, playwright, screenwriter, musician and film director. His play ''Red Light Winter'' was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2006. Early life Rapp was born in Chicago to Mary Lee (née Baird; died ...

. Set in the near future of an unnamed city after a

societal collapse Societal collapse (also known as civilizational collapse or systems collapse) is the fall of a complex human society characterized by the loss of cultural identity and of social complexity as an Complex adaptive system, adaptive system, the downf ...

, the story follows the lives and loves of a handful of survivors. He also storyboarded and contributed illustrations for the "graphic novel" portions of the

ABC news ABC News most commonly refers to: * ABC News (Australia), a national news service of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation * ABC News (United States), a news-gathering and broadcasting division of the American Broadcasting Company ABC News may a ...

special '' Earth 2100''. From 2010 to 2022, O'Connor wrote and illustrated ''Olympians'', a 12-volume graphic novel retelling of the Greek myths, with one volume for each of the

twelve Olympians file:Greek - Procession of Twelve Gods and Goddesses - Walters 2340.jpg, upright=1.8, Fragment of a Hellenistic relief sculpture, relief (1st century BC1st century AD) depicting the twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in procession; from ...

. He is currently working on a four-book series on the

Norse gods Norse is a demonym for Norsemen, a Medieval North Germanic ethnolinguistic group ancestral to modern Scandinavians, defined as speakers of Old Norse from about the 9th to the 13th centuries. Norse may also refer to: Culture and religion * Nors ...

entitled ''Asgardians'', with the first being on

Odin Odin (; from ) is a widely revered god in Norse mythology and Germanic paganism. Most surviving information on Odin comes from Norse mythology, but he figures prominently in the recorded history of Northern Europe. This includes the Roman Em ...

Bibliography

Picture books

* ''Sally and the Some-Thing'' (2006) * ''Kapow!'' (2007) * ''Uncle Bigfoot'' (2008) * ''Ker-Splash!'' (2010) * ''If I Had a Raptor'' (2014) * ''If I Had a Triceratops'' (2015) * ''Captain Awesome'' series (illustrator)

Graphic novels

* ''Journey into Mohawk Country'', written by Harmen Meyndertsz van den Bogaert (September 5, 2006) * ''Ball Peen Hammer'', written by

(September 29, 2009) * ''Olympians'' series ** ''Volume 1:

Zeus Zeus (, ) is the chief deity of the List of Greek deities, Greek pantheon. He is a sky father, sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, who rules as king of the gods on Mount Olympus. Zeus is the child ...

: King of the Gods'' (January 5, 2010) ** ''Volume 2:

Athena Athena or Athene, often given the epithet Pallas, is an ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek goddess associated with wisdom, warfare, and handicraft who was later syncretism, syncretized with the Roman goddess Minerva. Athena was regarde ...

: Grey-Eyed Goddess'' (April 13, 2010) ** ''Volume 3:

Hera In ancient Greek religion, Hera (; ; in Ionic Greek, Ionic and Homeric Greek) is the goddess of marriage, women, and family, and the protector of women during childbirth. In Greek mythology, she is queen of the twelve Olympians and Mount Oly ...

: The Goddess and her Glory'' (July 19, 2011) ** ''Volume 4:

Hades Hades (; , , later ), in the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, is the god of the dead and the king of the Greek underworld, underworld, with which his name became synonymous. Hades was the eldest son of Cronus and Rhea ...

: Lord of the Dead'' (January 31, 2012) ** ''Volume 5:

Poseidon Poseidon (; ) is one of the twelve Olympians in ancient Greek religion and mythology, presiding over the sea, storms, earthquakes and horses.Burkert 1985pp. 136–139 He was the protector of seafarers and the guardian of many Hellenic cit ...

: Earth Shaker'' (March 19, 2013) ** ''Volume 6:

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

: Goddess of Love'' (December 31, 2013) ** ''Boxed Set'': Includes the first six volumes in the series (October 7, 2014) ** ''Volume 7:

Ares Ares (; , ''Árēs'' ) is the List of Greek deities, Greek god of war god, war and courage. He is one of the Twelve Olympians, and the son of Zeus and Hera. The Greeks were ambivalent towards him. He embodies the physical valor necessary for ...

: Bringer of War'' (January 27, 2015) ** ''Volume 8:

Apollo Apollo is one of the Twelve Olympians, Olympian deities in Ancient Greek religion, ancient Greek and Ancient Roman religion, Roman religion and Greek mythology, Greek and Roman mythology. Apollo has been recognized as a god of archery, mu ...

: The Brilliant One'' (January 26, 2016) ** ''Volume 9:

Artemis In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, mythology, Artemis (; ) is the goddess of the hunting, hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, transitions, nature, vegetation, childbirth, Kourotrophos, care of children, and chastity. In later tim ...

: Wild Goddess of the Hunt'' (January 31, 2017) ** ''Volume 10:

Hermes Hermes (; ) is an Olympian deity in ancient Greek religion and mythology considered the herald of the gods. He is also widely considered the protector of human heralds, travelers, thieves, merchants, and orators. He is able to move quic ...

: Tales of the Trickster'' (January 30, 2018) ** ''Volume 11:

Hephaistos Hephaestus ( , ; eight spellings; ) is the Greek god of artisans, blacksmiths, carpenters, craftsmen, fire, metallurgy, metalworking, sculpture and volcanoes.Walter Burkert, ''Greek Religion'' 1985: III.2.ii; see coverage of Lemnos-based ...

: God of Fire'' (January 29, 2019) ** ''Volume 12'': ''

Dionysos In ancient Greek religion and myth, Dionysus (; ) is the god of wine-making, orchards and fruit, vegetation, fertility, festivity, insanity, ritual madness, religious ecstasy, and theatre. He was also known as Bacchus ( or ; ) by the Greek ...

: The New God'' (March 8, 2022) ** ''Boxed Set'': Includes volumes seven through twelve in the series (March 8, 2022) * ''Unrig: How to Fix Our Broken Democracy (World Citizen Comics)'', written by Daniel G. Newman (July 7, 2020) * ''Asgardians'' series ** ''Volume 1:

'' (March 26, 2024) ** ''Volume 2:

Thor Thor (from ) is a prominent list of thunder gods, god in Germanic paganism. In Norse mythology, he is a hammer-wielding æsir, god associated with lightning, thunder, storms, sacred trees and groves in Germanic paganism and mythology, sacred g ...

'' (October 8, 2024)

References

External links

George O'Connor's Official website

Olympians Series Official Website

George O'Connor interview on the Leonard Lopate show

{{DEFAULTSORT:Oconnor, George Living people 1973 births