Local artist and muralist Michael Roy — aka Birdcap — is ready for his work to be experienced in a new medium. 

His newest project, “The Grief Manual,” is a graphic novel written in the wake of his mother’s death in 2020. Initially released online last year in a serial format, the novel — Roy’s first professional venture into words paired with his signature visual storytelling — is now in print. 

Roy said he knows the book is a departure from his usual artistic inclinations. 

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“I’m very happy with my fan base and the group that I get to work with,” Roy said. “But it’d be fun to have (the book) in a store that I didn’t walk into and hand it to them.” 

Shortly after Roy self-published “The Grief Manual,” his father also passed away, and Roy delayed sharing it until he would update it to include additional pages about his dad. 

Those who have followed Roy’s work, both online (he has nearly 45,000 followers on Instagram) and through his larger-than-life murals, will recognize his distinct style within the graphic novel. It’s a style, he said, was inspired by early ’90s graffiti and Nickelodeon cartoons. 

“I like to identify with cartoony stuff because you can talk about really heavy topics, but it doesn’t feel as over the head cliche,” Roy said. 

Roy was raised on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi and spent five years in South Korea teaching English in his early 20s after graduating from the Memphis College of Art.

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It wasn’t until he landed back in Memphis after his time abroad that he began exploring street art and developing his own style.

“I don’t think I could have a career without Memphis,” he said. “I think there’s no better embryonic environment in the world for creatives. So I’m very grateful to Memphis for basically collaborating with me and letting me go on this kind of career journey.”

“The Grief Manuel” is almost a spoof on a how-to guide, with moments of deep reflection as well as humor. It’s organized as a collection of short stories or vignettes, and Roy said that allowed him to contradict himself, going from light and funny to morbid and dark throughout the pages. 

“Whenever my mom died, I remember Googling what to do,” Roy said. “And everything either felt anesthetic and scientific or it was extremely spiritual. It was either the hospital or the church.” 

He was looking for something that expressed sentimentality but was straightforward at the same time. That was what inspired him to write and illustrate the book, and he hopes that it finds its way to readers who appreciate his approach to processing grief. 

Next up for Roy is a show in Pompeii, Italy later this year and a large solo art show in Crosstown Arts next February.

The Crosstown show will be called “Iliumpta” and, in it, he will portray the story of the Iliad interwoven with portraits of what it means to be Southern, particularly for a man from the South.

But he also hopes to make more room for writing and graphic novels in the future.