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Papercutz Unleashes Leo Da Vinci: Renaissance Kid — And the Renaissance Has No Idea What’s Coming
Move over, dusty portraits and museum placards—Papercutz (an imprint of Mad Cave Studios) is giving Leonardo da Vinci a full-color, full-chaos middle-grade makeover in LEO DA VINCI: RENAISSANCE KID, arriving April 14, 2026.
This new graphic novel from award-winning writer Richard Ashley Hamilton (How to Train Your Dragon, Trollhunters) and Italian artist Marco Matrone (Fearbook Club, Tectiv) reimagines the world’s most famous genius as a rebellious kid with a wild imagination, a knack for trouble, and zero interest in playing by Renaissance rules.
A Renaissance Hero for a New Generation
Most of us picture Leonardo da Vinci as an old guy painting masterpieces—but Hamilton and Matrone rewind the clock to a version of Leo who’s sneaking into caves, building bizarre machines, and pranking authority figures long before history books catch up to him.
When young Leo is forced into an apprenticeship in Florence, he suddenly finds himself in a city on the brink of war. Luckily, he also finds two friends willing to chase conspiracies, outsmart villains, and join him in the most creative—and occasionally borderline illegal—pranks the Renaissance has ever seen. Art, invention, and mischief collide as the trio uncovers a threat big enough to reshape their world.
Behind the Book: Why Leonardo Still Matters
“Leonardo da Vinci isn’t just one of my favorite artists—he’s one of my favorite people!” Hamilton says. He describes da Vinci as “timeless and kinda punk,” a creative rebel who blended art, science, and humor to challenge authority. Hamilton saw a comics-ready spirit in him: the left-handed, big-thinking outsider whose sketchbooks still feel electric today.
Matrone adds that the project offered him a chance to reconnect with the hero who inspired him growing up—yes, even as his favorite Ninja Turtle. “I hope readers will feel the same sense of wonder and curiosity that Leonardo inspires in me,” he says, calling the book a celebration of imagination, fantasy, and friendship.
What to Expect
If you mashed up Besties: Prank War, Percy Jackson, and the mystery vibes of History Comics—then threw in a dash of Sherlock Holmes and Indiana Jones—you’d get something close to Renaissance Kid. It’s big on humor, heart, wild inventions, and the kind of kid-powered heroics that spark creativity in readers of any age.
Coming This Spring
LEO DA VINCI: RENAISSANCE KID drops April 14, 2026—one day before Leonardo’s real birthday, because of course it does.
Hardcover: 9781545823743 Paperback: 9781545823750
Expect adventure, art, invention, and enough pranks to make even the Renaissance blush.
