Mike Deas
From ABC BookWorld, Illustrator and author Mike Deas lives with his family on Salt Spring Island.
In Mike Deas' graphic novel for young readers, Dalen & Gole: Scandal in Port Angus (Orca, 2011) two aliens arrive in a West Coast community where the fishing industry is dying. They must save their own alien world from disaster as well as the town. It was shortlisted for the 2012 Christie Harris Illustration Prize.
Deas' follow-up is I, Witness (Orca, 2012), a teen graphic novel by Norah McClintock, about two teens who witness a violent murder and then are pursued by the killers.
In 2019, Mike Deas co-authored with Nancy Deas the first title in the “Sueno Bay Adventures” series of graphic novels, Shadow Island (Orca) that introduced the Pacific Northwest island and its mystical properties. The second title in this series is Otter Lagoon (Orca) in which a young girl teams up with a local bad guy to sell exotic animals and stolen crab because she needs money to save a dog that she’s responsible for injuring. She unknowingly disturbs a fearsome sea serpent that hasn’t been around for 100 years and sets off a destructive string of events. She might be in over her head but her friends rally around to support her before the creature destroys the entire island of Sueno Bay.
Hermit Hill (Orca, 2022) by Mike Deas and Nancy Deas takes the reader (ages 6–8 years) to a small village with legendary moon creatures. Four friends are building a go-kart for the annual Fall Fair competition. But when one of the friends, Sleeves, secretly stumbles upon the moon creatures, he locks them up. A race against time leads the friends to undo Sleeves’ actions and save the village.
A graduate of Capilano College's Commercial Animation program, Mike Deas of Victoria illustrated Liam O'Donnell's story for the graphic novel Wild Ride (Orca, 2007), for ages 8-12, followed by O'Donnell's Ramp Rats (Orca, 2008) and Tank & Fizz: The Case of the Slime Stampede (Orca, 2015), the first book in the Tank & Fizz mystery series about two crime-solvers who must outwit their eight-legged principal to clear the name of the school janitor, Mr. Snag, after monsters have unleashed acidic ooze and goop under Rockfall Mountain. It was followed by Tank & Fizz: The Case of the Battling Bots (Orca, 2016); and Tank & Fizz: The Case of the Missing Image (Orca 2017). Fourth in the series is Tank & Fizz: The Case of Firebane's Folly (Orca, 2018)."