John Kovalic is an award-winning cartoonist, game designer and writer. His work has appeared everywhere from the New York Times to Rolling Stone and Dragon magazine. He is best known for his Dork Tower comic book, comic strip, and webcomic, (celebrating its 30th Anniversary this year) and other humorous work set in and about the fantasy role-playing game genre, such as The Unspeakable Oaf. His world of geeky goodies also includes the hit card game Munchkin (celebrating its 25th, with a second edition).
John was a co-founder of Out of the Box Games, and was a co-creator of the revolutionary party game Apples to Apples. He has illustrated a large number of board and card games for several companies, including Steve Jackson Games (notably the Munchkin card game plus its many expansions and derivatives—for which John has drawn more than 8,000 cards, and wouldn’t mind a spot of whiskey now, thanks—and Chez Geek and its derivatives), Cumberland Games & Diversions (Pokéthulhu), and the third edition of Fantasy Flight Games’ Mag Blast. He was also the sole illustrator for the “Super Deluxx” edition of Kobolds Ate My Baby! and has subsequently occasionally featured supplemental KAMB material in the Dork Tower comic book.
Most recently, John returns as illustrator on Munchkin Second Edition (all cards feature new John Kovalic art, plus fresh box and gameboard designs for a modern look) and the Warhammer 40,000: Grudges and Gore expansion for Munchkin.
John was inducted into the Games Manufacturers Hall of Fame in 2004.
For the past 13 years, John has participated in his “Insane Charity Bike Rides” to raise money for a Wisconsin charity helping organic farmers as well as low-income families experiencing food insecurity, recently riding with a duck on his head. In 2022, John created and sold original art and prints to raise funds for Ukrainian relief charities.
In his spare time, John searches for spare time.
Click here for John Kovalic’s CONvergence 2026 schedule.
You can learn more about John Kovalic on his website, dorktower.com, and follow him on Bluesky as @muskratjohn.bsky.social, Instagram as @muskrat_john, or on his Facebook page.
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