Mike Hawthorne Shares Tragic True Story In ‘Happiness Will Follow’ OGN

Boom! Studios has announced Happiness Will Follow, an original graphic novel from Mike Hawthorne, coming in May 2020. It tells the true and tragic story of enduring abuse and discovering a love of art that has helped Hawthorne build the home he never had. It’s a story of family, survival, and what it means to be Puerto Rican in America.

Hawthorne says:

Many will know me from my work on Spider-man and Deadpool but with Happiness Will Follow, I’m digging deeper into my personal history than I ever have in my career. While Happiness Will Follow may seem like a straightforward memoir, I believe it truly serves as an illustration of what it means to be Puerto Rican in the United States. What it means to have a nationality with no real nation. I hope you’ll be onboard with me.

Happiness Will Follow goes back to the beginning with Hawthorne’s mother, Bianca Otero, a proud, though atypical Puerto Rican woman from Santurce, San Juan. She moves to the mainland where she became a single mother struggling to raise her son alone in New York City. The place tormented them both with its unforgiving nature. When Mike falls victim to a death curse, she sets down a path that will drive him away from her both physically and emotionally, leaving her son to grapple with his complicated relationships with his mother, identity, and heritage.

Sierra Hahn, Executive Editor, Boom! Studios adds:

Mike has an incredible gift for illustration and storytelling, and it’s even more deeply moving when he turns that gift to sharing the story of his childhood and how his relationship with his mother shaped his entire life, even to this day. Happiness Will Follow is a singular memoir about complicated relationships with your family, culture, and identity and we’re very proud to be a part of bringing this graphic novel to life.

Happiness Will Follow is set for release in May 2020 under Boom! Studios’ Archaia imprint.