Dav Pilkey

Dav Pilkey is an American author and illustrator best known for creating Captain Underpants, an irreverent, wildly popular children's graphic-novel series about two fourth-graders who hypnotize their principal into believing he is a superhero in his underwear. Pilkey has spoken openly about struggling with ADHD and dyslexia as a child and being frequently punished and told he would never amount to anything, experiences that directly shaped his sympathy for restless, misunderstood young readers and his commitment to making reading genuinely fun rather than a chore. Captain Underpants, launched in 1997, went on to sell more than 90 million copies worldwide and was adapted into a 2017 animated feature film and a Netflix animated series. Pilkey later created Dog Man, a spin-off following a half-dog, half-police-officer hero, which has become an even bigger commercial phenomenon, regularly topping bestseller charts and adapted into its own 2025 animated feature film. Both series are built around his signature comic-book-style storytelling, simple line art, and flip-o-rama animation gags that draw reluctant readers into books they might otherwise avoid. New readers can start with the first Captain Underpants book or the first Dog Man volume; both work as complete introductions to his style. Pilkey remains active and continues to publish new installments in both series.