We all remember the anxiety-filled first week of freshman year. But what if your dorm room happened to be in the chemistry building, and you woke up the first morning to find a botched science experiment had given you superpowers?
That's what happens to the new class at Freese College in Freshmen. The comic book follows a small group of students as they deal with fitting in, finding new friends and, of course, saving the world from supervillains. The second series of Freshmen hit stores yesterday. recess' Yoni Riemer spoke with co-creators Hugh Sterbakov and Seth Green about frat life and 15-foot schlongs.
recess: Where did you get the idea for Freshmen?
Hugh Sterbakov: One night we were playing pingpong in my garage. I had a bunch of bananas and they weren't ripe yet, and I said, "I wish I had some mutant power to ripen bananas." We laughed about that and started talking about ridiculous superpowers. The next morning when I woke up, I realized, "Wait, we've got some pretty funny characters here!"
Where did you go from there?
HS: At that point, I ran with it and created characters to go with the powers. Seth really liked it and we immediately tried to go sell it to some movie producers.
Seth Green: We met a lot of people and they all said the same thing. We were better to launch it in its intended medium. You can't make a comic book movie without a comic book.
What makes Freshmen different from other comics?
HS: This is a story set in the real world. It's not set in Metropolis. [The characters] have never seen anybody with superpowers before, and they're trying to adjust to having them. It's got a lot of comedy in it, more than your average book.
So this superpowered story is more realistic?
HS: In the first series, one of the major plots was based on Seductress. She's this overweight girl who didn't get asked to prom. Then she gets the ability to make anybody fall in love with her! What would a 16-year-old girl with this power do? And the answer is that she would find that hottest guy in school and make him fall in love with her.
Are there any characters that you feel personally connected to?
HS: I think almost all of them. The characters that aren't a part of me are the ones that are more distant in the comic, like the guy with the 15-foot schlong. You know, I've never identified with having a 15-foot schlong, so I'm having trouble figuring out what to do with the guy.
Basically, you cast the fraternity brothers as the supervillains. Did you get beat up by frat guys in college?
SG: It's an easy correlation to draw-the real life conflict between the outcast kids and the super-popular kids as heroes and villains. But it's also just in good fun. The tendency of collegiate fraternity, sports-associated people is one of discipline, not necessarily making your own decisions. We needed guys that would be easily seduced by power, and the frat guy football players seemed like the most likely choice.
So is the audience for this comic the college student?
SG: I don't know if that's necessarily true. We're telling a story that we feel is adult and mature and relatable, but also something that is relatable to younger kids. We're trying to make it the most authentically emotionally valid story we can.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.