There was a lot on his mind.
His and Travis wives were expecting.Pokemon GOhad just been released.
And they were about to embark on a thrilling new journey.
Credit: Macmillan Children’s Publishing Group
We were distracted from the meeting with all of our new virtual pets!
Id even say she got it before we got it.
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Carey Pietsch / First Second
The same goes with their publisher, First Second.
They came in knowing what was good about it.
That made it a slam dunk.
Carey Pietsch / First Second
We were worried we wouldnt have the time to work on it, with our offspring impending.
It wasnt even a matter of whether theywantedto do the project.
It was about time.
Carey Pietsch / First Second
I just didnt know how much I as one person could be involved, says Griffin.
Clint agrees he did the grunt work, but there was plenty of collaboration, too.
(That was a 45-minute conversation, cracks Clint.)
Carey Pietsch/First Second
After all, its a family business.
Its always been the five of us collaborating on this together, explains Clint.
That material was created by all of us.
Carey Pietsch / First Second
Not to mention that jokes were made both inandout of character.
But is that a joke we wanted to keep?
The joke about Kenny Chesney, for instance, made it into both books.
Carey Pietsch / First Second
There are moments when Merle says something and Magnus and Taako make eye contact or roll their eyes.
Thats just something we couldnt do with the podcast.
Oh my god, every face [he] makes!
Carey Pietsch / First Second
Jenkins looks so perfectly like the st-eating voice I did for him.
Especially his bigger reactions to things I just think theyre absolutely hysterical.
As to how Pietsch nailed it?
Carey Pietsch / First Second
and then translating that onto the page, she explains, laughing.
Theres a lot in tone and feeling that comes through in the acting on theAdventure Zoneshow.
This also, naturally, leads to unique character development.
[Below: A sneak peek at Pietschs process.
Griffin especially wanted to put more heart and nuance into her character than they did in the podcast.
Even larger player characters like Taako benefitted from that hindsight.
But he would show me the transcript of the show where Taako said exactly that.
We agreed that would be too weird, but it was my favorite idea that was scrapped.
Including Griffin was also a matter of including D&D mechanics.
As Travis explains it: Dice rolls?
The same reasoning applied to why Justin, Travis, and Clint werenotincluded as characters in the adaptation.
The story is Merle, Magnus, Taako, and the world.
But then came time for theGerblinsbook to actually reach the public an equally nerve-wracking moment.
I was terrified, Pietsch admits.
Griffin and Travis share that same sentiment.
Going into the next adaptation, Griffin is more confident.
Now weve done it two times and are really happy with the results, he says.
But if you give 100 percent to something, its terrifying.
Because if people dont like it, you were giving your best and they still didnt like it.
All of us, every person that worked on the graphic novel, put 100 percent into it.
So it was pretty terrifying.
