Graphic novel news: Lost Expedition, Mitch Krpata, and book 3!

Hey guys, my name is Brave Tomato, and this set of news is not just some ordinary wheel or fancy pair of sneaker-related news for once. This will be interesting… as long as you’re a fan of the Poptropica graphic novel series.

Let’s start off about Book 2, The Lost Expedition, which will come out for the world August 16th. After over a year of not hearing from them, Oliver, Mya, and Jorge are back for a brand new adventure in the world of Poptropica.

The novel will be written by Mitch Krpata (I’ll get more into him later) and illustrated yet again by Kory Merrit. If you need a reminder, the summary is as follows, according to the Barnes and Noble page:

In book two,The Lost Expedition, Oliver, Mya, and Jorge continue their search for home, with a few hilarious stops along the way. As the friends set sail for new sights, they find the evil Octavian is still hot on their trail, and he’s determined to get his hands on their magical map. To make matters worse, a mysterious organization is keen on expelling the three friends from Poptropica. As the pals travel, they find that each island is filled with its own unique brand of peril, and the mystery surrounding the map and Poptropica itself begins to unfold. Will our trio be able to once again outfox Octavian and discover the identity of this secret society?

So with that up ahead, of course it’s going to get some minor coverage. This news article by the MetroWest Daily News may seem like an ordinary news article showing off the graphic novel, but if you look into it deeper, you’ll find not just the standard summary. The news article confirms that the Poptropica graphic novel series is on a four-book deal. It also says that Mystery of the Map will the only one of the four that’s written by a different person (Galactic Hot Dogs author Max Brailler) and Mitch Krpata will write out the rest of the series.

There are also some interesting quotes said by the man himself in the article. He describes The Lost Expedition as a novel that would teach about “accepting the responsibility” of a leadership role, as well as mixing in the more action packed parts of the books. He had been with Poptropica since its beginnings in 2007, calling the franchise his “life’s work” and he desires it to “survive and outlast [him]”. Check out the article here if you’d like to read about his inspirations and other information.

However, strangely enough, the news article itself isn’t the biggest plot twist of this post. It’s the video that should be drawn attention to as well. It’s only 28 seconds long, but it’s not entirely about the content- it’s about what you hear. (Although at the end of the video, it does show a preview of one of the pages.) You can find it on the news article, so take a good listen to how Mitch sounds.

Sound familiar? Well, if you don’t hear it, Mitch here sounds quite a lot like our favorite blogging and YouTubing pirate, Captain Crawfish! For reference, here’s one of his videos.

Captain Crawfish’s identity had been a major secret for years, and now that the identity has practically been revealed to us, we have yet another mystery off our backs. All those years of crawfish-nomming jokes have been worth it. (And thank you so much for shouting out to me on the Reign of Omegon walkthrough!)

Now, let’s get into the future here, because, everyone, I found the title, cover, release date, and summary of the third Poptropica graphic novel.

*Warning: There might be potential Book 2 spoilers ahead, especially in the summary, so tread carefully.*

The next Poptropica graphic novel, set for an April 11, 2017 release, is…

The Secret Society.

I found this hiding in the search results on the Barnes and Noble website. Well, we found it! Let’s see what the summary has to say.

In this exciting third installment of the Poptropica series, we find Mya, Oliver, and Jorge in the custody of a secret society whose mission is to protect and preserve Poptropica—a mysterious, uncharted island world. These Protectors, as they call themselves, believe that any outside interference with the islands of Poptropica could have catastrophic results on the course of history in the real world. As if things aren’t bad enough, Octavian has finally claimed possession of the confounding map, thwarted the society’s attempts to capture him, and is determined to alter the time line. The trio must join forces with the Protectors and find Octavian before he can go through with his evil plot, or all of human history might be changed—or worse—destroyed!

Well… looks like stuff is about to get real for the kiddos here. We finally have a little bit of an understanding of what Octavian is wanting to do with that map of his. History is at stake, and it looks like our heroes, and the society, are the only hopes of stopping it. After Lost Expedition is read and revealed, all we have to do is wait to see how this will all play out.

Hope you enjoyed this onslaught of news – it’s been a while since we had something this interesting (give or take your opinion on the graphic novel).

BT out!