You can never have enough sparkle in your life, even if you are a super spy charged with a mission to solve cases about mystical creatures!

From publisher Oni press comes a new middle-grade graphic novel – ‘Agent Cupcake’ – full of spies, secrets, and a touch of sparkle!

Twelve-year-old Miguel Mangayayam has always loved one thing: mystical beasts. So he’s thrilled when he’s hired by the Mystical Beasts Bureau (MBB) to be their first ever human spy, where he’ll use his encyclopedic knowledge of hippogriffs, mermaids, dragons, and more to solve the latest cases.

Even better? He’s partnered with the supercool unicorn superspy, Agent Cupcake! Together, they’ll go undercover, gather intel, crack codes, and collect clues to solve the MBB’s toughest mysteries. But when they receive reports that unicorns are losing their magical powers, Miguel and Agent Cupcake will have to put their spy skills to the test to figure out why, even if it means going up against a mega-corporation like HOARD. Could someone be trying to steal magic to put unicorns out of business?

‘Agent Cupcake’ hails from the Eisner-nominated team known as Triple Dream Comics. The trio comprises the magical girl team of Mel Hilario, Katie Longua, and Lauren Davis. Their mission is to inspire a better world through stories. The creative team have previously collaborated on the computer science–themed graphic novel ‘Debian Perl, Digital Detective’.

In a press release about their graphic novel debut, co-writer Mel said the trio believe that curiosity, imagination, and whimsy should be part of learning. Co-writer Lauren said the novel doesn’t force readers into one mindset, instead it incorporates realistic storylines with a healthy dose of magic.

“‘Agent Cupcake’ blends real world knowledge about secret messages, social engineering, spyware, and lock picking with a world where a mermaid can run a spy agency, a griffin can help you break into a safe, and unicorns use their magic to craft horrifyingly cute plushies,” she said.

And at the same time, “it’s a very human story about learning how to fail, transforming passion into action, and figuring out where you fit in,” said artist Katie Longua.

In our opinion, you can never have enough whimsy and magic in your life, especially during times of great uncertainty where more and more people are looking for great stories and creative outlets to rediscover magic in their own lives.

Scroll below to read what Mel, Katie and Lauren shared with us about ‘Agent Cupcake’!

Mel Hilario

How did Triple Dream Comics originally come together, and what was your mission?

We met and first worked together at an educational book and toy company; when those jobs ended, we decided to keep making comics as a team. The idea of learning through narrative is something we each believe in, and our different academic and artistic backgrounds support and sustain our creative dynamic. One of our readers told us we were like the Powerpuff Girls and we are more than ok with that comparison! With our powers combined, our mission is to make the world a better place through stories.

As the co-writer on AGENT CUPCAKE, what makes this story special to you, and what are you most excited for readers once they get their hands on a copy? 

In a way, this book is a confluence of the things Lauren, Katie, and I loved as kids. I was raised half at the library and half in front of the TV—fortunately, on educational media that was also playful, innovative, and that might have been considered unconventional at the time, e.g. Sesame Street, Schoolhouse Rock! I had a book called Stories for Free Children by Letty Cottin Pogrebin that, I later realized, shaped the way I think and see the world. I’m excited for readers to find something in Agent Cupcake that delights, inspires, and impacts them the way that so much art has done for the three of us.

Lauren Davis 

Can you tell us more about the creative process of writing AGENT CUPCAKE with Mel and how you balanced the ideas you both had? 

Fortunately, Mel and I have pretty complementary writing styles. I tend to focus more on structure – how one part of the story leads into the next and what action goes into which panel – while Mel fleshes out the details of the world – how the characters talk, how the different mystical beast cultures interact, even how a particular character decorates their office! Sometimes we do disagree, though. Occasionally, Mel will propose something and I can’t immediately see how it fits in the book. I’ll get grumpy about it, push back, then go for a walk and realize she was right all along!

What kinds of childhood inspiration did you draw from for this graphic novel and what kind of nostalgia do you hope AGENT CUPCAKE will provoke in readers? 

I am a child of the 1980s, so I grew up on both My Little Pony and reruns of the secret agent sitcom Get Smart, which are very much in Agent Cupcake’s DNA. I was also one of those kids who was assigned D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths in grade school and reread it until the cover fell off.

I hope young readers will look back on Agent Cupcake as a book that helped them see their own potential to do things they might not have expected. I also hope that readers can carry forward the many mentor characters in the book – warm, empathetic beasts who encourage Miguel to try new things and even to fail – as fictional friends.

Katie Longua

Where did you inspiration for the artwork come from, and what was your creative process of putting the illustrations together and working with the co-writers? 

I always thought I would make comics alone, but everything changed when I met Mel and Lauren. Working together is a blast! The three of us work together from the very start of an idea, brainstorming, sketching, and consuming many delicious snacks. I’ve always appreciated the way they include me in the writing process and take into consideration my ideas. Creating the art takes much longer than writing, and they offer a lot of support through that process too. I know I can count on them to find me reference, organize files, or even just feed me!

Finding inspiration for my work has been a lifetime task. I grew up loving anime and video games and it’s largely where my playful style and love of color comes from. Agent Cupcake features a lot of wondrous nature settings from the labyrinthine Mystical Beasts Bureau to the isolated Unicorn Village. I took a lot of inspiration from Miyazaki movies like My Neighbor Totoro and Princess Mononoke, as well as the Mana series of video games, Legend of Mana in particular. More recent cartoons like Steven Universe and Bee and Puppycat are also super inspiring to me. I love seeing what other anime kids grew up to create.

At a time when there is so much negativity in the world and online, what kind of joy do you hope AGENT CUPCAKE will bring readers right now? 

At its core Agent Cupcake is a fun, sometimes even silly, adventure. I strove to create a fully realized fantasy world that readers can really immerse themselves in. At the same time Agent Cupcake addresses prominent issues right now such as corporate corruption and worker’s rights. I hope this book can help get kids thinking about those topics before they have to deal with them in real life.

Check out some inserts from ‘Agent Cupcake’ below! Get your copy of ‘Agent Cupcake’ today, and let the magic and mystery begin! Follow the Triple Dream Comics creatives on Instagram – Mel Hilario, Katie Longua, and Lauren Davis.