INTERVIEW: ‘Field Tripping’ finds students taking wild bus ride into different dimensions
Image courtesy of comiXology / Provided by Superfan Promotions with permission.
Field Tripping, the new original comic from comiXology, details the adventures of a teacher and the young students in her charge as they journey through different dimensions on a mysterious bus. Not everything works as planned, and the students find themselves stuck between bizarre worlds with no way to find home.
The all-ages miniseries, which will include five issues, is the brainchild of co-writers James Asmus and Jim Festante. They are joined by artist José García and letterer Ryan Ferrier. Issue #2 is set for release Wednesday, Oct. 9.
In the comic, the plot jumps ahead seven years, and these schoolchildren find themselves as teenagers but still struggling to grow up. But that makes sense given their fantastical adventures as children. How do they move on with their lives after visiting so many strange and interesting worlds?
Asmus and Festante have worked together on such projects as The End Times of Bram & Ben and Rick and Morty Presents Mr. Meeseeks. They also perform improv in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, and develop animation projects for Stoopid Buddy and Flying Rock Entertainment.
Recently the two creators exchanged emails with Hollywood Soapbox about their new comiXology miniseries. Questions and answers have been slightly edited for style.
How did the collaboration work between the two of you? How did you share writing duties?
Our writing grew out of performing improv comedy together, and we’ve tried to make that full, in-the-moment, give-and-take discovery part of our writing process. So as much as we can, we plot, explore and even spark dialogue through real conversation.
It would probably be easier or more traditional if we divvied things up and mostly passed scenes back and forth, but then we wouldn’t wind up in the more interesting and surprising places we find by building on and reacting to this other person’s different perspective.
Were there any influences for this original story?
We love exploring impossible situations and deeply flawed people struggling against insane twists of fate. And we love digging into places everyone thinks they know, but where we’ve all just kind of glossed over the logic or complications that would actually be involved. So when we were tossing around ideas for a next world to explore, as soon as ‘something like the Magic School Bus’ came up, we were unpacking and turning that kind of optimistic kids’ fantasy inside out with a mix of glee and terror that we knew we had to keep exploring.
Everything we’ve written for it was actually just born out of that deconstruction and the darkly comic emotional realities we thought spilled out. Some people have compared it to Rick and Morty (which we do love, and even recently got to write for in comics), but we originally built out the concept for Field Tripping a few months before it aired. Our dimension-hopping reference point was actually just the few episodes we’d ever seen of Sliders as kids.
How would you describe the central character of the teacher?
Mrs. Flubbins is denial in human form. No amount of disaster, horror or disruption stops her from trying to put on a smiling face for the kids as she tries to act like they’re all just on an extended field trip.
Of course, it’s absolutely cracked her on the inside, and she isn’t fooling anyone.
Did you rely on your memories of being a younger student when considering the different scenes?
Absolutely. Each of the kids capture a different aspect of us when we were growing up. And you’re such a raw emotional nerve around the middle school years, that it’s really easy to conjure up a thousand moments, memories and feelings.
And with big, alien concepts like this, it comes alive for people in the little moments that echo a relatable type of embarrassment or posturing or rejection most of us experienced at that age.
Why are stories about the struggles of growing up so fascinating to readers?
Because of that raw nerve we just mentioned. On one hand, those experiences burned into as some of our most formative. But also, most adults don’t ‘feel’ quite as much emotion now as we did back then. So the stakes are so much higher when you know the emotional fallout is going to be so much more devastating, or that a victory can totally transform how you see yourself.
What was it like to work with artist José García?
José is pretty much the idea co-creator and collaborator for Field Tripping! He’s endlessly inventive, pumps boundless energy and emotion into his art, and manages to balance a kind of animated innocence with complications and dark twists that echo our themes.
Throughout the process, I feel lucky that we have him now because I wouldn’t be surprised if he gets swept up to heights beyond what we could afford as soon as the world sees what he’s done on this book.
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Field Tripping issue #2 is available from comiXology Wednesday, Oct. 9. Click here for more information.
