PRESS RELEASE
ComiXology, Amazon’s premier digital comics service announces Field Tripping an all-new, creator owned mini-series by co-writers James Asmus and Jim Festante with art by José García and letters by Ryan Ferrier. This world-spanning, all-ages 5-issue comic book series is part of the comiXology Originals line of exclusive content. The debut issue of Field Tripping is available to read on September 11th at no additional cost for members of Amazon Prime via their Prime Reading benefit, Kindle Unlimited and comiXology Unlimited, and for purchase on Kindle and comiXology.
When a flighty teacher with a mysterious bus takes her young students on field trips into parallel dimensions to illustrate different lessons, she fails to realize that it’s a horribly dangerous idea and that children break everything they touch. The machine breaks and leaves them stranded, jumping between bizarre worlds but never seemingly able to go back to their own.
Seven years in the future the surviving kids are now teenagers – wildly transformed by the worlds they’ve visited but seemingly unable to grow up and take responsibility for themselves. That is, until a surprise vendetta upends their routine and forces the kids to step up and act like adults for the first time.
“Field Tripping is a candy-coated sugar-rush of innocent kids’ cartoons shoved into an adrenaline and anxiety-fueled life and death bender across everything your childhood self feared and fantasized about,” says writer James Asmus. “Space, unicorns, alternate dimensions, labyrinths, pirates, ghosts, crushes – it’s a world where anything is possible and everything is terrifying. Just like actual middle school.”
Asmus and Festante have worked together in numerous mediums, including comics like The End Times of Bram & Ben, and Rick and Morty Presents Mr. Meeseeks, animation development for Stoopid Buddy and Flying Rock Entertainment, and improv performances in Los Angeles and Las Vegas.
“The story involves a lot of jumping between dimensions, so it gives a lot of opportunity to see brand new worlds and explore some really wacky ideas,” says artist José García. “The art is super detailed and colorful so even if you only see just one glimpse of the world, looking at the details of the environment, the clothing and design of the characters in it, you know there’s so much story behind it.”
Field Tripping is a coming of age story full of nostalgia, heartfelt moments and characters with unique personalities that readers can empathize with, including the most carefree and the grumpiest of them all. So, buckle up and get ready to head back to school!
“The book is bonkers, subversive, sci-fi comedy,” said Asmus.
For more updates on comiXology Originals, check out http://comixologyoriginals.com.
About the Creators:
James Asmus is an award-winning writer with work in comics, theater, tv, film, video games and comedy. After growing up as a performer and getting a degree in Theater from Loyola University New Orleans, he spent several years in Chicago performing, teaching, and writing across half a dozen different high profile theaters.
The plays and musicals he wrote or co-wrote include the award-winners Hearts Full of Blood, Amelia Earhart: Jungle Princess, Sodomites!!!: A Musical of Biblical Proportions and Love Is Dead: A NecRomantic Musical Comedy. The last enjoyed New York performances which garnered the attention of Marvel Comics and opportunities to write various X-Men comics for the publisher. James has gone on to write for Captain America, Spider-Man, Deadpool, Inhumans, Runaways, and Gambit. He’s written several titles of other comics publishers, including Kong of Skull Island (BOOM Studios), Thief of Thieves (written in collaboration with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman) and Evolution (Skybound/Image Comics), his creator-owned series The End Times of Bram & Ben and the upcoming Teen/Aged (Image Comics), as well as Quantum & Woody (Valiant) for which he has been nominated for five Harvey Awards including Best Writer.
In other media, James worked with MAK Pictures as a writer and producer on Cryptid: The Swamp Beast (History Channel) and Treasure Quest: Snake Island (Discovery), wrote several episodes of Marvel Video Comics cartoons (DisneyXD), and served as the Marvel consultant and staff writer for the game X-Men: Battle Of the Atom (Aeria Games). He currently lives in Portland, OR with his wife and two awesome little kids.
Jim Festante is a TV and new media writer for various networks including NBC, Comedy Central, MTV, and Syfy, as well as media outlets including The Washington Post, NBC TODAY, Revision3/ Discovery Networks, and Slate Magazine (having authored their most-read article in 20 years). His recent episodic series Anti-Social, which he wrote and produced, was selected as a Sundance Lab finalist.
He also co-wrote a comic book mini-series, The End Times of Bram & Ben published by Image Comics, a Rick and Morty one-shot with Oni Press.
As an actor, Jim has starred in national commercials (including Microsoft, Ford, Denny’s, Ziplock, Wendy’s, promos for Comedy Central and MTV, among others), was a recurring sketch performer on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien, recurred on ABC’s General Hospital, and appeared on TV and original series for ABC, NBC, MTV, and Comedy Central. He’s been improvising for many years with various theaters (Upright Citizens Brigade, Improv Olympic, People’s Improv Theater) in venues throughout New York City, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas, as well as opening for “Weird Al” Yankovic.
Asmus and Festante are repped by APA, manager Stefanie Epstein, and Skrzyniarz & Mallean.
José García is a Mexican storyteller. Storyboard artist for animation and professional comic book artist.
His clients include, Dreamworks TV, Ankama Editions, comiXology Originals, Heavy Metal, First Second Books among others.
About comiXology
ComiXology, an Amazon.com, Inc. subsidiary (NASDAQ:AMZN), is a revolutionary, cloud-based digital comics service. With content from over 125 publishers as well as thousands of independent creators from around the world, comiXology provides an unrivaled library of comic books, graphic novels, manga and bandes dessinées. The company’s first-in-class innovations include the exclusive Guided View technology which provides an immersive and cinematic reading experience and a new monthly subscription service. ComiXology is based in New York City, with operations in Seattle and Los Angeles. For more information, visit comixology.com and follow the company on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr.
About Amazon
Amazon is guided by four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus, passion for invention, commitment to operational excellence, and long-term thinking. Customer reviews, 1-Click shopping, personalized recommendations, Prime, Fulfillment by Amazon, AWS, Kindle Direct Publishing, Kindle, Fire tablets, Fire TV, Amazon Echo, and Alexa are some of the products and services pioneered by Amazon. For more information, visit www.amazon.com/about and follow @AmazonNews.
