Dracula
Mihály Vass is a Hungarian comic book and graphic artist, born on 28 May 1963 in Gyula. He was the apprentice of Endre Pölös at the István Tömörkény Technical College of Fine Arts in Szeged. He worked for years as a cartoonist for Pannónia Filmstúdió, where contributed to the cartoons 'Macskafogó' and the 'Pumuckl' series.
In 1983 he met Péter Kuczka (chief editor of the Hungarian sci-fi antology Galaktika), who set the artist's career in motion. From 1993 onwards he is a member of the Association of Hungarian Creative Artists (Magyar Alkotómüvészek Országos Egyesülete).
Pikoi's Ships
Vass has also illustrated novels and been involved in quite a wide range of various other projects as well, including logo and ex-libris design, Bible and map illustrations ans well as caricatures. He draws genuine portaits: anybody asked to be his model might consider it a great honour, as the artist himself chooses his models.
Life on Altera
Comic book illustration takes an important part in his work. Over the years Vass has collaborated with many scriptwriters, like Péter Kuczka, Tibor Cs. Horváth and mostly Ferenc Kiss on comics like 'Pikoi isten hajói' ('Pikoi's ships', 1988), 'A Minótaurosz pusztulása' ('The annihilation of the Minotaur', 1992) and a variety of novel adaptations. These include William Irish's 'A tüzlétra' ('Ladder escape', 1990), András Gáspár's 'Ezüst félhold blues' ('Silver crescent blues', 1994), Henryk Sienkiewicz's 'Quo Vadis' (1997), Dr. Pál Veres' 'Abélard és Héloïse' (1999), Bürger's 'Münchhausen báró' (2001), Clifford D. Simak's 'A város' ('City', 2001) and Bram Stoker's 'Drakula' (2013).
His favorite own comics are the ones that were also scripted by himself, especially 'Élet az Alterán' ('Life on Altera'), but also 'Tinglitangó' (2007). The prominent figures of the contemporary Hungarian comic scene often appear on the pages of his comics as characters. He has got two individual and numerous group exhibitions so far. He aims to create works that are visually demanding, coherent and free of extremes.
