Meet the author

Paul Gilligan.

Writer & illustrator · Canada

Paul Gilligan: Canadian cartoonist and author-illustrator of the speech-bubble-driven Pluto Rocket graphic novels, warm fish-out-of-water comedy for readers stepping up from Elephant & Piggie.

Paul Gilligan is a Canadian cartoonist and illustrator based in Toronto, best known to newspaper readers as the creator of the long-running comic strip Pooch Cafe. For children he writes and draws the Pluto Rocket series, early graphic novels in which a wise-cracking street pigeon, Joe Pidge, befriends a well-meaning alien in disguise on a secret mission to understand life on Earth. Told almost entirely in speech bubbles, the books trade in fish-out-of-water comedy, taco-fuelled banter and non-stop slapstick, yet each one turns on a genuinely warm idea: self-worth, acceptance, or the courage to leave your comfort zone. His expressive cartooning and short, punchy chapters make the series a natural stepping stone for readers moving up from Elephant & Piggie into longer comics. He is also the author of the graphic novels King of the Mole People and Boy vs Shark.