“Power Up” is a brand new series from Boom! Studios, written by Kate Leth (“Kate or Die,” “Adventure Time: Seeing Red”) and illustrated by Matt Cummings (“Adventure Time”) about a group of people endowed with super mystical magical powers. Except that these aren’t the types of people who are generally granted super mystical magical powers. Continuing with the Boom! trend of animation-inspired vibrant stories, “Power Up” is a fun, bizarre, and colorful comic.
I recently had the opportunity to chat with Kate and Matt, and their excitement for this series is contagious.
POWER UP #1 (of 6)
Retail Price: $3.99
Author: Kate Leth
Artist: Matt Cummings
Cover Artists:
Main Cover: Matt Cummings
BOOM! 10 Years Incentive Cover: Lucy Knisley
Incentive Cover: Babs Tarr
What’s To Love: New York Times bestselling author Kate Leth (Bravest Warriors, Adventure Time: Seeing Red) and artist Matt Cummings (Adventure Time) create a new, original series that takes the magical girl story where it’s never, ever been before. Combining a deep love of Sailor Moon with the tongue-in-cheek humor of Scott Pilgrim, Power Up is the story of the most unlikely people (and goldfish) taking on the roles of Magical Girl, whether they want it or not.
What It Is: It has been foretold that four noble warriors of incredible strength would be gifted with cosmic abilities at a moment of planetary alignment…which, yeah, something definitely went wrong here. Amie is a disaffected twentysomething with a lot of attitude, Kevin is a washed-up athlete way past his prime, Sandy’s a mother of two teenagers, and Silas…is a goldfish. Just a normal goldfish. Are we sure we read that prophecy right?
First of all, congratulations on the new series. It was definitely fun and I’m stoked to see where it’s going. How did the two of you meet and what made you want to work together?
Kate Leth: Thank you, and thank you again! Matt and I met, as most comics people do, through the internet. We actually live in the same province in Canada, about 40 minutes apart. I’d wanted to work with Matt pretty much right away – his art is so, so good.
Matt Cummings: It was immediately apparent that we’d be working together on something, once we started talking. We click very effortlessly on a creative level! We are sworn enemies on a personal level.
Right on. How did the idea for “Power Up” come about?
KL: Over a Google Hangout! We wanted to work on a project together and started with our love of magical girl/magical team stories, trying to figure out what hadn’t been done.
MC: The entire build-up of the series was very conversational. Kate threw out “magical girls” as a starting point and it morphed into something very different over time.
KL: It actually came together pretty quickly, but we spent a long time building up the world.
One of the aspects that make this book so enjoyable is that you two are obviously having a blast playing with the “chosen one” fantasy tropes. What’s the process like for developing and building this world and messing around with all the conventions?
KL: It’s really fun. All my best ideas come from conversations with Matt. I think we build and play off each other, and every time we talk the world and concepts get better. There were ideas, logical structures, sort of, to how all the powers worked that we spent ages perfecting. It’s been a lot of fun.
So many stories of Chosen Ones – Buffy, Harry Potter, Sailor Moon – while the characters may not be great at their powers at first, they do kind of fit the part. Our characters don’t, really, and they’re not kids or teenagers either. Amie is in her early twenties, just a little older than Kevin, and Sandy is in her 40’s. Amie’s an art school grad working retail, Kevin’s a high school has-been, Sandy is trying to balance her home life and her personal goals. Playing with how these sorts of people would react to suddenly becoming superheroes is a blast. We’re not poking fun at them, though – we love these characters, we want you to root for them!
Continued belowYeah, I definitely dug the kind of average person characteristic.
So this is a miniseries: what are some of the challenges you’re finding with only a handful of issues to work with? Also, what are some of the advantages you see to working on a mini over an ongoing?
MC: Yeah! The universe is extremely large for this series – too large to ever show in 6 issues! We decided that the best thing to do would be to focus on the characters more than a lot of bonkers space exposition, to ease everyone into what’s about to come. It’s a very strong arc on its own, but there’s also a lot happening on top!
KL: It’s a miniseries, but you never know with these things. We have a plan if it does become an ongoing. It’s a much larger world than you’ll see in these 6 issues, but we have a story to tell either way. I think if we do end at 6, there will be a lot of room for fans to imagine what comes after, where these heroes go. So, you know… Pick up the issues and pre-order! 🙂
Matt, I’m always curious about this, but what’s your process like? Do you work digitally or old school (ink and paper, yo)? You’re coloring the book too, if I’m not mistaken, so you have a lot of control over the look and feel of this thing. What else are you looking at when you’re working on this to help create the world and story?
MC: I’ve been 100% a digital artist for the better part of 10 years now. Recently, I’ve been inspired/encouraged to pick up some traditional drawing and I’m really enjoying it! I totally feel like a beginner when I draw that way, though. I’m in my stick figures stage on paper, still.
As for the look and feel of the book, Kate and the team at BOOM! put a lot of faith in me because I feel like we’re all kinda on the same page about the feel we want for the series. Kate is also a very visual writer, which helps me tremendously!!
I’ve been synergizing from all sorts of 90’s anime for this book, which is a road I’ve not walked down for many many many years. Mostly early Sailor Moon stuff. The look of that show, especially the backgrounds, I think may be under-appreciated for their artistry and simplicity. They do a lot of suggesting but not much showing and that is a very hard thing to capture. I love it.
Kate, sort of the same question: but how do you approach writing for an artist? Have there been times when you’re composing the thing and think, “I am so glad I don’t have to draw this?” How much of the story do you have locked down right now vs how much will be, “Let’s see how this goes?”
KL: Haha, I’m glad I don’t have to draw it when I write in things like a minivan or a crowd. You should see my scripts, they’re full of apologies! “Sorry for all the cars! Sorry for the background characters!” I’m like that with everyone. I have very Canadian scripts.
I swear, though, Matt drew this bus in issue 1 that’ll knock your socks off.
With Matt, my scripts are very conversational. I leave a lot up to him, in terms of character design, buildings, scenery. I trust him implicitly, and will only get very detail-specific if something is integral to the plot. That way, every time I get the finished pages it’s a total surprise, and I’m always giddy the whole way through. Matt’s art for Power Up is incredible.
MC: I am important and a treasure!
What are you most excited about “Power Up” to share with readers. What have been some of your favorite parts to write and/or draw and is there anything you’re just like, “Oh I cannot wait till you people see this!”
KL: Oh, gosh! Kevin’s powers! Amie’s outfits! Sandy’s kids! Silas the goldfish! It’s so hard to choose. It’s difficult not to show all of it online; I know Matt has the same problem. We’re just so excited for everyone to see this world, these monster battles, and how it all fits together. “Power Up” is a funny sort of story, because it doesn’t hit you right away with all the information. You figure out what’s happening as the characters do, so it’s a bit like you’re on the journey with them. A very, very pretty journey.
MC: Usually while I illustrate, I love to show off in-progress things on Twitter. It helps to keep spirits high during looming deadlines the work day, knowing someone is seeing and enjoying your stuff. With “Power Up,” I can’t really do that. I have to sit on a mountain of cool screenshots and snippets and WAIT, like some sort of industry pro! Let me tell you: it is perhaps the worst part of a very nice job. When the time comes for me to reveal things officially, I’ve got a massive wave of drawings buckling the flood gate.
“Power Up” hits comic shops July 22nd.
