In my last newsletter, I plugged the upcoming middle grade graphic novel Ever Trip by A.C. Medina and Max Bare. Well, the final order cutoff for comic shops is coming up on September 14, so that means now is the time to get those orders in! (I myself just pre-ordered from Bookshop.org. The book is out on October 6.) To help spread the word, I wanted to talk to A.C. and Max for my A Lot to Process column where I speak to friends about their creative processes.

This marks a departure for A Lot to Process: the first time I’m speaking to two people, and the first time I’m talking to someone I don’t really know!

So who are A.C. and Max, and what is Ever Trip?

A.C. Medina has been writing comics of all genres professionally for 10 years but he’s been a fan his whole life. He’s known for works such as Hellicious, Dead Head, the Eisner Award winning anthology Puerto Rico Strong, and Elasticator. Along with writing comics and collecting old video games, A.C. can be found enjoying sunsets on his porch with his french bulldog, Rocco, or planning his next trip to Japan.

Max Bare loves comics more than road trips and video games combined. If he could do all three at once, he'd be pretty happy. He self-publishes his own comic HERO BEARDS and has created artwork for comic & role-playing game combos Rolled & Told and We Can Be Heroes. Max lives in Chicago with his wife Melissa where they sometimes make comics together but mostly dream of road trips with their stinky dog, who is also named Rocko.

Max, as I’ve mentioned before, is the artist for my upcoming comic, which like Ever Trip is also a middle grade fantasy graphic novel coming from Papercutz. All that aside, the books are wildly different, and it’s amazing to see Max stretch his artistic wings in different ways on each book. A.C. is the one who I don’t know, but I was trying to figure out what it makes us that we both work with Max. Cousins? In-laws? There’s not really a neat categorization. Comics is weird.

And what’s Ever Trip?

It’s about two brothers, Nedd and Karter, who set out on a madcap road-trip adventure to collect the seven pieces of the Ever Star, discovering wild worlds, unforgettable friends, and the power of chasing your one true wish.

Justin: I saw from the original announcement that this is an idea you originally had a long time ago, A.C. Can you talk about how you had the original idea, and then how you decided to turn it into a graphic novel more recently?

A.C. Medina: Ever Trip is the story I’ve carried with me the longest, as it was the first story I told long ago as a child playing with toys. From there my journey as a storyteller continued to find me until ultimately ending up a writer. As my career has taken shape I’ve wanted to go back to this time where I went on the ultimate adventure with — at the time — my best pals, those pals being my toys. 

The Ever Trip today stands as my favorite memories of childhood, the endless adventure and wonder, all of which really comes to light when going on road trips. So when Covid happened, a time where I most longed for the early days of telling stories and going on a road trip, it was natural that the story I’d outline would be Ever Trip. 

Finding Max made it all the more real, and since then our trips taken many turns and has grown into something I’m quite grateful for.

Justin: Without getting into too many spoilers, are there specific elements of the story you remember creating back then with your toys? Or is it more the general spirit of adventure?

A.C.: It’s the spirit of adventure.

Ever Trip as a book very much became as much Max’s as it is mine. I approached Max with the idea of bringing the spirit of adventure through the lenses of a classic 16-bit role playing game, but in the form of a graphic novel. 

From there what followed is a world that we’re both immensely proud of, rooted by a cast of characters we adore and hope our readers will too. Ever Trip at its core is a book for readers of any age looking for some new best friends to go on the greatest road trip of all time with, and I couldn’t have gotten luckier to have the collaborator I have in Max to share this journey.

Justin: How did Max get involved? And Max, what drew you to the project?

Max Bare: When A.C. first pitched me this fast-paced romp through a wide variety of lands and creatures, my imagination went into overload. I love variety in comics and A.C. is hitting me with mechanical monks, a giant tree you can see from space, a princess made of star dust who loves pro wrestling… It all sounded pretty awesome. The through-line was the most epic of road trips with a story structured similarly to the JRPGs I would play as a kid. I love old video games. And as a Midwestern boy, I get romantic about road trips. So I was in! There’s also a key character who’s a tough lady bear. And I love bears. It’s in the name.

Justin: I want to get into process a bit. A.C., once you had the idea to capture this vibe in a graphic novel, where did you start? Are you a writer who starts with characters, with world building, with the high concept...?

A.C.: I start with character and then I build a world around them. With a story like Ever Trip where both elements work so close together, it felt like as we build our party, we build our world.

It’s a synergy that I think — once paired with our pace and sense of wonder — really all paid off in a way we’re super proud of. One second our book is exploring ancient lost tree roots, the next it’s a kung fu epic. That connection between character and world is what carried us.

Justin: As you noted, this is a book that wears its 16-bit inspiration on its sleeve. But at the same time, the world is so eclectic and varied, and so are the characters. Max, how do you approach designing and creating art for a book like that, where you want everything to feel varied but also part of a cohesive whole?

Max: I approached character designs first, sharing versions with A.C. slowly over time which allowed for us to fine tune, discuss and discover additional aspects to each character. I entered that phase with a general style in mind, something whimsical yet simplified, not just for the reader level, but to allow each wild environment to sing. This approach was likley influenced by sprites from 90’s JRPG as well. Simple shapes not only made these characters feel iconic and allow for action or emotion but, as an added bonus, made things easier when a certain environment may change their physical appearance.

Justin: A.C. i don't usually ask this of writers, but given that a major plot point involves a map, it seems appropriate: are you a pantser or a plotter? How much of the journey did you know before you sat down to write?

A.C.: I’m very much a plotter until whatever I’m working on asks me to be a pantser. I love to plot my journey as much as possible and set forth on its course, but eventually the journey starts its own plotting. From there it’s about making sure the scales don’t tip over.

With Ever Trip, this adventure mindset to narrative was very much a literal thing. We were very fortunate to originally pitch a much smaller page count than Papercutz was generous enough to give us. This gave us a lot more time to live in our world and the journey we’re going with our characters.

This made it so — while still crucial to it all — our initial plans had to change, and for the better.

Max: When we started pitching, on the visual side, we had our core characters designed and an idea sketched of what some of the environments could be and a general idea for the van. But that was pretty much it. For much of the supporting cast and the lands they visit, I defined those visuals in step with A.C outlining the story, or later when we dove into the pages themselves. This became a trip in itself and allowed for a lot of discovery along the way. It also confirmed that we didn’t need to have the world 100% visualized to get started!

Justin: What's the collaborative process like between the two of you? For instance, how much detail is in the scripts? What's the process like of going from script to page, and did it change over the course of the book?

Max: A.C. allows for a lot of freedom for me in world-building page to page. One good example is Macha’s crew. A.C. had the names Jet and Brinker, their personalities and that they made up a tough roller derby crew. The crew grew up together in the Inifinitree, a giant tree you can see from space. So I picked an appropriate animal for each: a serval, which is a large cat that likes trees, for Jet, and a cricket/grasshopper for Brinker. A.C. wanted one that was fast and I wanted one that hopped. Similarly, I designed the supporting villains and their habitats for this environment to be inspired by common tree parasites and invasive species. Our editor Stephanie Brooks brought researched ideas to this section as well. It made for a lush thoughtful world, with some educational aspects too.

Justin: A.C. can you talk a little bit about Nedd and Karter? What made them the perfect characters to set off on this road trip?

A.C.: Nedd and Karter are characters defined by their bond; one cannot exist without the other. It’s not so much about dependency as it is purpose. Both of them live for adventure and for their Ever Trip, and they live for it together. It’s not something either can remotely imagine happening without one another, and for me I think that bond carries our two brothers through out our journey. 

Everywhere they go they make a new friend, and I believe this happens because that spirit of adventuring together follows them with every step. It’s as motivating as their belief they are the ones destined to find the Ever Star and be granted their wishes.

Justin: Finally, any advice for folks who are considering creating a graphic novel? What’s the most important thing to have?

A.C. Time, definitely. Consider time both literally and as a concept, because of the many things you have to give when working in comics, time is the thing I’ve reflected on most. I’m very proud of the time we’ve given Ever Trip and hope readers are too once we hit shelves!

Speaking of time, my thanks to A.C. and Max for theirs! You can and should pre-order Ever Trip now from your local comic or book shop, but if you’ve gotta resort to Amazon that’s okay too.