It's Summer's Time to Shine in Rick and Morty: Lil Poopy Superstar

by Andrea Purcell

The runaway hit comic book series based on Dan Harmon and Justin Roiland's hilarious [adult swim] animated show Rick and Morty explores the complexities of friendship and fame in Lil' Poopy Superstar!

Mr. Poopybutthole is in trouble, and he turns to the one person he can trust: Summer Smith! She's more than willing to help, but is he telling her the whole truth? Summer will find out as she and Mr. Poopybutthole embark on their very own fantastic adventure across space, complete with jailbreaks, hijackings, and high school prom. Plus, backup comics featuring good ol' Rick and Morty!

Rick and Morty: Lil' Poopy Superstar #5 (SEP161836) is available now at your local comic shop!

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PREVIEWSworld: Mr. Poopybutthole is breaking out into his own series, and he’s taking Summer with him! What will Rick and Morty fans enjoy the most about this new adventure?

Sarah Graley: Oh man, where to start? ALL OF IT, obviously, I mean, I'm not biased or anything but it's hard to pinpoint one thing down. This mini-series is sparkly and focuses on Summer and Mr. Poopybutthole's great and supportive friendship, but also at least one person gets punched per issue and sometimes it gets a bit gory! If jail break and high school prom are your bag, then you're going to have a good time reading this mini-series.

PREVIEWSworld: The title characters of Rick and Morty take up most of the spotlight in the television show and ongoing comic series. What made you want to tell a story using the minor characters of Mr. Poopybutthole and Summer?

Sarah Graley:  When Oni Press reached out to me about this mini-series, they already had Summer and Mr. Poopybutthole in mind as the lead characters but I was on board with that immediately. Summer and Mr. Poopybutthole? Dream team, right there! Summer and Mr. Poopybutthole hold some of my favorite characteristics: Summer is a rad lady who does not take any BS, and Mr. Poopybutthole is kind of a chaotic good character. The two work together perfectly as a good unlikely team who have each other’s backs, and when forced into unexpected situations I can work with this pairing for some weird and (hopefully!) fun to read scenarios.

PREVIEWSworld: Your webcomic series, Our Super Adventure, is a fun auto-bio comic about everyday life. How did you get involved in writing and illustrating the wacky space hijinks of Lil’ Poopy Superstar?

Sarah Graley:  As well as drawing my diary comic, I've also written and drawn a bunch of short story webcomics. Although my partner and I get up to some regular Earth hijinks in my auto-bio series, prior to Lil’ Poopy Superstar I wrote comics about going on quests for rent money and being a pizza witch. Going from that to Lil’ Poopy Superstar didn’t seem too different. Having said that, my diary comic series has so many jokes about bodily functions in it that even if I was solely doing that I think I'd still be comfortable going from comics about tooting to comics about a character called Mr. Poopybutthole! In regards to getting started on this dream comic, my editor Ari Yarwood reached out to me about it. (Thanks Ari!)

PREVIEWSworld: Working on a licensed property, do you find it a challenge to make sure the characters stay true to the spirit of the original show; or were you able to explore the sandbox and make them your own?

Sarah Graley:  The fun thing about working on a licensed property that I love so much meant that I got to marathon Rick and Morty episodes and it was for work! Just rewatching the episodes and noting certain mannerisms helped, but with Mr. Poopybutthole he doesn't have much screen time. This originally felt like a bad thing but essentially left me with a nearly blank slate to play around with, letting me get creative with his backstory which was really fun!

It definitely felt like Mr. Poopybutthole and Summer were my children after doing this mini-series, even though they're not? But they totally also are now? I feel very attached to them either way.

PREVIEWSworld: Were you a fan of Rick and Morty before you started on this series? Do you have a favorite moment from the show or comic?

Sarah Graley: Yes! Rick and Morty is one of my favorite cartoons, up there with Clone High and Gravity Falls. Being asked to pitch for this was so exciting and also terrifying, because it was a total dream job for me!

There are a lot of great moments on Rick and Morty, but I'm gonna get depressing and say mine was the end of the “Auto Erotic Assimilation” episode when Rick is having a very low moment and “Do You Feel It” by Chaos Chaos plays over the scene. It was a pretty powerful and emotional moment, I love when cartoons deliver that.

In regards to the main comics series, I really enjoyed Zac Gorman's Christmas special issue. I love Zac's writing and artwork and it was really cool to see an issue with Rick and Morty drawn in Zac's style. I'm also really enjoying Kyle Stark's writing on the main series right now.

Read the complete adventures of Summer and Mr. Poopybutthole in Rick and Morty: Lil' Poopy Superstar Volume One (OCT161708), available for pre-order now!