THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - The universe is in jeopardy, and all that stands between us and annihilation is a 12-year-old boy. Luckily for us, Michael Pewatualuk has everything under control.

Michael Pewatualuk, 12, displays a wooden model of a qamutiik he made at Aqsarniit School. The Grade 6 student said enjoys working with his hands. He is also a talented artist and storyteller who plans to publish his own graphic novel soon. - photo courtesy of Michael Pewatualuk

The Grade 6 student at Aqsarniit School is a budding graphic novelist with an imagination far too big for one planet. The self-taught cartoonist is working on a 17-page opus, titled Grunti and Friends, which he plans to publish later this year.

"It's kind of science fiction," Pewatualuk explained. "Little aliens try to save the universe."

The aliens, known as Grunts, wear triangular backpacks and breathe methane through a mask.

"They have grayish-black skin and they have three fingers and one thumb and they have three toes," Pewatualuk said.

The noxious virus transforms any living thing it infects into a monster with super strength.

"It came from the Milky Way and spread around the universe," Pewatualuk continued.

Heroic Grunts named Flap Yap, Snap Cap and Deacon pursue the virus from planet to planet.

"They just stole the human spaceships so they can travel anywhere around space," he said.

Pewatualuk weaves his interplanetary narrative using a combination of detailed pencil drawings, which include bizarre, cinematic perspectives such as overhead shots, close ups and wide pans. His dialogue is equally dramatic.

"To get rid of (the monsters) we have to starve them them to death," a robot exclaims.

"Is there another way instead of starving them to death," the hero replies.

"Well yes, but it is very risky," answers the robot. "It could ruin the whole galaxy if you're not careful."

"Well that's the risk I would take," the hero says. "It's for the universe."

Pewatualuk loves to read almost as much as he likes to write and draw, said Jane Tagak, student support teacher at Joamie School.

Tagak has known Pewatualuk since he moved to Iqaluit from Pond Inlet in Grade 1. He attended her school until transferring to Aqsarniit School at the beginning of the present school year.

"He creates very detailed drawings," Tagak said. "They are hand done but they look like a real comic strip. I find it confusing what he's doing, but that's because I'm not used to video games and the kinds of images that he's using."

The plot and characters developed in Grunti and Friends are loosely based on Pewatualuk's favourite video game, Halo, which he plays on computers or on the X-Box console. He is also inspired by some popular graphic novels, such as the Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Bone series.

Whether it is reading a graphic novel or drawing a page of his own book, when Pewatualuk is focused on one of his passions he is dedicated to completing his goal.

"He just sits there very quietly and intently," Tagak said. "When he has an idea, he puts it all down until he's finished."

His other creative outlets include botany, music and building. This winter he is nurturing some apple and green pepper seeds he planted and at school he recently enjoyed building a wooden ulu stand and a model of a qamutiik. He is also learning guitar as part of his school's guitar club.

Asked what he wants to be when he grows up, however, Pewatualuk answers "a drummer."

He enjoys listening to old-school heavy metal by artists like Metallica, Megadeth and Judas Priest.

He likes school, he said, but he has some ideas to improve the curriculum.

"I think more music-teaching and more art-teaching would be better," he said. "There should be more art in school."