I honestly believe that there is no better TV show right now than Adventure Time. Funny, vibrant, energetic, and somehow able to balance high philosophical and psychological concepts with unadulterated slapstick,nfart jokes, gross-out humor that’s never alienating, it’s not difficult to get swept up in its spell.
The comic series have also been strong as well and Boom! has handled the license for the Adventure Time series superbly, having the serialized ongoing, the short story backups, and these pocket-sized OGNs. They’ve consistently recruited a lot of fantastic talent, everyone from the old pros to emerging newcomers, and they’ve had the opportunity to give their own spin and take on the Land of Ooo.
The latest edition in the graphic novel series, “Graybles Schmaybles” in no exception. Written by Danielle Corsetto, who handled the first two entries in this series — “Playing with Fire” and “Pixel Princesses” — and who continues working on her long-running webcomic, “Girls with Slingshots”; and illustrated by Bridget Underwood, an animator, storyboard artist, and illustrator, “Graybles Schmaybles” features Finn and Jake stumbling on a mysterious box that transports them into all these various stories throughout all of Ooo.
I had an opportunity to chat with these wonderful creators about this latest entry in the Adventure Time graphic novel series and they were also kind enough to bring along a preview of the book. This is also the first time Danielle and Bridget were able to speak to each other about the book itself.
Danielle Corsetto: Hey y’all! I haven’t had a chance to reach out to Bridget yet, so if you’ll allow me to take a moment: GIRL WOW, this book looks INCREDIBLE!! Thank you so much for all of your hard work! You’re such a fantastic artist and storyteller!!
Bridget Underwood: Hey everyone! And Danielle, thank you so much: the script was amazing, and it was mad fun to draw! I feel super lucky to have had the opportunity to work on it and it’s so so great to hear that it fits your vision of the story.
What originally brought you two into the Land of Ooo? How familiar with the show or the monthly comic were you before you came aboard?
DC: Adventure Time is literally — I promise I know what that word means — literally the only TV show I watch. I’d been downloading and watching and re-watching episodes long before BOOM contacted me and asked if I’d like to write a few “Adventure Time” OGNs. If they’d asked me to write for any other show, I’d have had to decline; I don’t have time to watch shows, and the only exception I’ve made in over the last decade has been Adventure Time!
Danielle, I can understand where you’re coming from. I think Adventure Time is probably my only drop-everything-and-watch-immediately show.
BU: I’ve been watching the show for years now, and while I’ve often drifted away for a while, I always come back and am surprised by something new and amazing. The storytelling just gets better and better! I only recently picked up some of the comics, and was unsurprised that they were just as surprising, varied, and gorgeous. It keeps me coming back to Ooo – I know I’ll always leave inspired!
What facets of Ooo and Adventure Time have you found the most fun and exciting to explore? Which characters or settings do you especially look forward to writing or drawing?
BU: One of the things that was particularly awesome about working on this was the massive variety of characters and settings I got to play with. There are a ton of one- or two-time bits in the show that are so imaginative and funny: BMOs film noire chicken shack and Cuber in his space bungalow have always been some of my favorite parts of the show, and Danielle worked both in.
Those kind of referential moments really encourage some awesome exploration of style and mood. In general getting to draw a bunch of different settings was really exciting as well – the world around the characters is just as much of a character as they are, and getting to delve into the details of that was super fun.
I looked at a ton of layouts from the show, and every time was blown away by the amount of storytelling and detail in them.
Continued belowDC: I love that there are all of these barely-explored characters who are tossed in for a small joke, but have so much personality they could take over a full episode. I had wanted to play with Princess Princess Princess since I wrote “Pixel Princesses” (which led me to read the Wiki on ALL of the princesses in order to pick the few I wanted to play with in that book). She’s — they’re? — like five princesses in one! I usually wanna party with all of the Adventure Time characters who’ve had less than a page of lines, and listen to them talk about their lives, which is basically what writing these OGNs is like.
BU: I also have to say I had a blast getting to draw everyone in fancy dresses for the tea party scene. So far nothing has quite topped stuffing Finn, Jake, and BMO into those charming afternoon hats and gowns.
How do you approach working together? When you sat down to discuss the book inititally, what did you want to especially bring to this story?
DC: I didn’t even know Bridget was drawing this book until I saw the completed product, to be honest! Luckily her strong storytelling skills and my laissez-faire writing style must work together well, because what she did with the script was either exactly what I’d imagined in my head, or way better.
I also actually didn’t realize it was even going to be in color until I saw the book a few weeks ago, so it was a big surprise! Whitney Cogar did a truly A+ job on the coloring; there are a lot of tricky projected images and not-even-remotely-real technology in this book, and she masterfully used color to make some kind of magical sense of it all. The colors and art are so fluid I actually assumed they were both done by the same artist!
BU: We were kind of ghosts to each other during the process, ha ha. I got the script and one or two pages of visual notes referring to specific characters or panels, and from there it was just off to the races. Her script was the best guide I could have asked for! It was hilarious and also totally clear, while leaving room to really have fun visually.
Bridget, this is your first time working on an “Adventure Time” OGN. Your background is in animation and storyboarding: I was wondering if you could touch on how that influences your approach to the book? Also I was wondering if there were any techniques and tricks you picked up from the show’s style that you tried to incorporate in the comic? Or were you coming from a completely different place when you’re approaching a page?
BU: So one of the reasons I was so excited to pencil this story is that comics are what got me into animation and storyboarding in the first place. I feel like they’re all very much interconnected, and the more you explore any one of those avenues, the more you’ll be able to bring to the others. The core of all three, for me, is acting. Nothing is more fun or fascinating than figuring out the best way to get into a character’s head and really express what they feel. Animation and storyboarding have been huge for me in informing that kind of physical and emotional energy, and how to express it on paper.
From the flipside, comics is way more illustrative than the work I’ve done in animation/story, and looking at Adventure Time‘s style was a great way to learn more in that direction – especially from the show’s background art. Drawing sets like the different rooms of the treehouse, I learned a crazy amount from looking at how they designed those spaces on the show, the storytelling details they put in, the rules they broke and how that made it work.
