Mawil

Markus Witzel, also known as Mawil, was born in Berlin in 1976, where he still lives today. Even while in school, he published his comics in fanzines and anthologies. After graduating from high school, he studied graphic design at the Berlin-Weissensee School of Art, where he founded the comic group Monogatari with other like-minded artists. During his studies, he created his first full-length album, “Strand Safari,” featuring Mawil’s alter ego, a bespectacled rabbit. A year later, he graduated with “Wir können ja Freunde bleiben.” In 2014, Mawil was awarded the Max und Moritz Prize for “Best German-Language Comic” for “Kinderland.” In 2021, Mawil was honored with the prestigious Wilhelm Busch Prize for his body of work. He was the first German illustrator to have the honor of drawing a “Lucky Luke” homage, “Lucky Luke Sattelt Um.” In 2021, his first children’s books, "Mauer, Leiter, Bauarbeiter" and "Power-Prinzessinnen-Patrouille" were published. Since then, four more children’s comics ("Papa macht alles falsch", "Die Feuerwehr macht Urlaub", "Fritzi Frühaufsteher") have been released – most recently “Pizza!” in the spring of 2026.