SelfMadeHero will publish The Great Marc Evers by Gemma Plum, Ivo van Woerden and Marloes Dekkers in October, exploring the incredible story of the eponymous paralympian.
What if you stopped focusing on what’s impossible, and opened yourself up to what’s possible? Marc Evers is two years old and it’s impossible for anyone to get through to him. His parents are told by a psychiatrist he has Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), and that he’ll never be able to talk or function independently. For this reason, the psychiatrist recommends institutionalisation. Thankfully, they don’t listen.
Eighteen years later, Marc is preparing to compete in the 100-metre backstroke at the 2012 London Paralympics. He walks, talks, and rides his bike. He’s his own person, surrounded by a busy family – and he can swim like a torpedo. With five Paralympic medals and many world records, Marc Evers is the Netherlands’ greatest Paralympic swimming champion. How did he manage to beat the odds?
The Great Marc Evers by published by SelfMadeHero, due for release 1st October 2026, is a moving, intimate, inspiring, and above all optimistic coming-of-age portrait of Marc and his family. A beautifully drawn story about perseverance, hope, and strength, about trusting your intuition and daring to believe.
The release will see several special launch events, including Gemma Plum taking part in a panel about “Panels & Perspectives: Neurodiversity and Disability in Comics” at City University, 280 St John Street London EC1V 4PB, on launch day 1st October, alongside script writer Francisco de la Mora, Dr Ernesto Priego, a Senior Lecturer at the Centre for Human-Computer Interaction Design, and Zara Slattery, comic artist, illustrator and educator, and author of the award-winning graphic memoir COMA.
Gemma will also be at the Lakes International Comics Arts Festival in Kendal on a panel about “Neurodiversity and Disability” on 3rd October.
Marc Evers, born in 1991, is a Dutch Paralympic swimmer from Hillegom and one of the Netherlands’ most successful para-athletes. Competing in the S14 classification for swimmers with an intellectual impairment, he won Paralympic gold in the 100 metre backstroke at the London 2012 Games, setting a world record, and claimed a second Paralympic gold in the 200m individual medley at Rio 2016.
A multiple World and European champion, Evers is also an ambassador for autism awareness, inspiring others with his determination and belief in focusing on possibilities rather than limitations.
Gemma Plum is a Dutch artist with degrees in industrial design, graphic design, and graphic narrative. Previous projects have seen her work for public libraries, governmental health departments, children’s rights organisations and The City Archive of Rotterdam. Her work and stories have been published in Dutch and international magazines, newspapers and books, as well as featured in several galleries and museums around Europe.
Ivo van Woerden is a journalist and writer. He has authored various literary non-fiction books and has contributed to Dutch and international newspapers and magazines, and been nominated for several writing and journalism awards. He won a prize for his 2015 prose version of The Great Marc Evers.
Marloes Dekkers is a Dutch comic colourist specialised in the narrative possibilities of colour. She won the P. Hans Frankfurther Prize in 2022 and the Comic Medal for Production in 2008.
Michele Hutchison, translator of The Great Marc Evers, was born in the UK but has lived in the Netherlands since 2004. She translates literary fiction and non-fiction, poetry, graphic novels and children’s books. Her translations for SelfMadeHero include Aimée de Jongh’s The Return of the Honey Buzzard and the Sophie Castille Award-winning graphic novel The Philosopher, the Dog and the Wedding by Barbara Stok.
• The Great Marc Evers: The True Story of a Champion Against All Odds (AmazonUK Affiliate Link)|Author: Ivo van Woerden, Artist: Gemma Plum, Colourist: Marloes Dekkers | Translator: Michele Hutchison | Hardback / 192 pages / Colour / ISBN: 978-1914224515 | Out: 1st October 2026; US publication date: 10th November 2026
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
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