Cleopatra in Space is an American children's graphic novel series drawn and written since 2014 by Mike Maihack, and published by Graphix, a division of Scholastic.
Cleopatra in Space | |
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Publication information | |
Publisher | Graphix |
Creative team | |
Written by | Mike Maihack |
Artist(s) | Mike Maihack |
The premise of the series is that a teenaged Queen Cleopatra is brought to the far future to attend school and fight a space tyrant together with her friends Akila and Brian.[1] So far, six books have been published: Target Practice (2014, ISBN 978-0545528436), The Thief and the Sword (2015, ISBN 978-0545528450), Secret of the Time Tablets (2016, ISBN 978-0545838672), The Golden Lion (2017, ISBN 978-0545838726), Fallen Empires (2019, ISBN 978-1338204124), and Queen of the Nile (2020, ISBN 978-1338204155). Maihack revealed in October 2020 he wrote the protagonist, Cleopatra, as a character with bit of ADHD and having "depressive disorder."[2]
It was adapted into an eponymous animated television seriesbyDreamWorks Animation; the series was first broadcast in Southeast AsiaonDreamWorks Channel beginning on 25 November 2019, and was released in the United StatesonPeacock, which launched on 15 April 2020,[3] to certain customers. Maihack would help produce the TV series.[4]
Reviews of Maihack's comics have been generally positive. J. Caleb Mozzocco, in School Library Journal, described Target Practice as having an art style with a "touch of anime/manga influence" along with other cartoonist styles, resulting in a clean, simple, and inviting looking to pages, which is well suited for various characters, settings, and technologies, while adding that Cleopatra is a likable character in these comics as a "kick-butt, teen girl heroine."[5] Rich Clabaugh, a staff writer for The Christian Science Monitor built on this, reviewing the same book, writing that they were pleased to see a "strong, spunky female main comic character that will appeal to both girls and boys" and called Maihack a skilled artist who can breathe a "vibrant life into his characters, human, alien, and cat."[6] Robert Greenberger was more critical but still admitted that Maihack is a talented and "clever storyteller" who uses an "expressive and a restrained color palette."[7] Maihack's other comics were also reviewed positively, some calling Secret of the Time Tablets an all ages "sci-fi series full of pizzazz, high energy, and lots of questions to answer"[8] and The Golden Lion as having beautiful illustrations, complete with a "terrific cast of characters that continue to evolve."[9]
Apart from this, others called Maihack's comics "a rollicking all-ages adventure,"[10] and involving a "series of Star Trek–style space adventures punctuated with far-future high school drama."[11] On 11 September 2020, Daniel Toy described Target PracticeonCNN's Underscored an "action-packed journey through space and time that will excite any young reader" and called the rest of the series "out of this world."[12]
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