Maverick Reveals Student Government Graphic Novel First Look (Exclusive)

Maverick has teamed up with the talented team of writers Dave Justus and Lilah Sturges and artist Joe Eisma for a delightful new graphic novel titled Student Government, and we’ve got your exclusive first preview right here! After a monumental discovery regarding their school’s origins, four students band together to save their school frombeing demolished, dealing with not only outsisde forces but also pressure from within their school. The new graphic novel will go on sale on March 11th, 2025, but you don’t have to wait that long to get your first look, as you can find a full preview on the next slide. You can find the official description for Student Government below.

“At America’s second-oldest university, four earnest, clever, and desperate teens on the interim student government exploit a charter loophole in an effort to save their school from being demolished, facing down pressures on campus and escalating hostility from the Board of Regents in a story both hilarious and heartfelt.”

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A Chance Free Comic Book Day Meeting

The beginnings of Student Government can be traced all the way back to 2009, and amazingly, Free Comic Book Day. “I was still stapling my own minicomics when Lilah and I first met Joe on Free Comic Book Day, 2009, and by day’s end we were determined to work together,” said writer Dave Justus. “Since then, the two of them have become household names in comics, and I can no longer afford staples.”

“When Lilah and I first began envisioning Student Government, it included several hallmarks of our previous collaborations — dark comedy, social commentary, parent/child schisms, churros — and it was truly a unique experience to all be in the same room, everyone throwing in ideas as Joe expertly brought the world and characters to life,” Justus said. “We pitched it as a ‘mature readers’ title, full of casually profane gallows humor and political cynicism… but to the credit of Mike Marts and the editorial crew at Mad Cave, they saw in our proposal all the elements of a compelling Young Adult graphic novel.”

“Which meant we, and a hand-picked creative team, got to craft it under the Maverick imprint, shepherded by editor supreme Lauren Hitzhusen. (Ask her about the very serious ‘business chili’ that kicked off our working relationship, deep in the heartburn of Texas.) As we developed the book with her, we realized that we didn’t have to sacrifice any of the comedy or the politics… but we gained story threads of courage, compassion, optimism, and all the different things that the word ‘family’ can mean,” Justus said.

Finally A Reality

Co-writer Lilah Sturges concurred. “I literally couldn’t be happier that Student Government is finally a reality! Dave, Joe and I have been talking about doing a book together for over a decade and it’s clear that it was meant to be,” Sturges said. “This is one of the most fun, funny, and collaborative projects I’ve ever worked on–it’s just a great group of people, including Lauren Hitzhusen and everyone else at Mad Cave. And when you have a great group of people doing what they love, the result is almost always going to be fantastic–and I really hope that Student Government is a case in point! It’s a book for everyone who likes comedy, bunnies, and justice being served–and isn’t that everyone?”

Illustrator Joe Eisma said, “Student Government is a collaboration that has been in the works since the early stages of my career, when I first met Dave and Lilah at a Free Comic Book Day event in Dallas in 2009. I knew from hanging out with them and reading their comics that it would be a truly rewarding collaborative relationship where we could all amplify each others’ strengths. I’ve never had the chance to build a new comic from the ground up with the writers in the same room before, where we built upon ideas and let characters and storylines develop organically, almost in an improvisational way.

“The MVPs of this book were absolutely our editorial team at Mad Cave/Maverick, Editor Lauren Hitzhusen and Editor in Chief, Mike Marts, who were our strongest cheerleaders and shepherded everything in the right direction. I’m so happy with the final result, and I think readers are truly in for a treat with a story that is charming, funny and heartwarming in all the best ways,” Eisma said.

Student Government will be available in trade paperback for $14.99 on March 11th, 2025, and you can check out the first preview on the next slide.

Are you excited for Student Government? You can talk all things comics and graphic novels with me on Threads and Twitter @mattaguilarcb!