Caroline Elizabeth Pietsch (born November 11, 1988), known professionally as Carey Pietsch, is an American

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

and artist. She is best known for her work on several

webcomics Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be ...

and on ''The Adventure Zone'' series of graphic novels. Her father, Michael Pietsch, is the CEO of

Hachette Book Group Hachette Book Group (HBG) is a publishing company owned by Hachette Livre, the largest publishing company in France, and the third largest trade and educational publisher in the world. Hachette Livre is a wholly owned subsidiary of Lagardère Grou ...

Early life and career

Pietsch grew up in

Ossining, New York Ossining may refer to: * Ossining (town), New York, a town in Westchester County, New York state *Ossining (village), New York, a village in the town of Ossining * Ossining High School, a comprehensive public high school in Ossining village * Ossi ...

and graduated from

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the earliest coeduca ...

in 2010. She worked on several webcomics like the

Mages of Mystralia ''Mages of Mystralia'' is an action-adventure video game by Borealys Games. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One in 2017, and for the Nintendo Switch in 2019. Plot The game is set in the land of Mystralia and follows ...

Webcomic,

Lumberjanes ''Lumberjanes'' is a comic book series created by Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Gus Allen, and ND Stevenson and published via the ''Boom Box!'' imprint of Boom! Studios. The story follows a group of girls named Mal, Ripley, Molly, April, and Jo s ...

Issues 29–32,

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward for Cartoon Network and distributed by Warner Bros. Domestic Television. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn (Jeremy Shada) and ...

: Marceline Gone Adrift, as well as original, self published work.

''The Adventure Zone'' graphic novels

In 2015, Carey started drawing fan art of the popular

Dungeons and Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (RPG) originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. (TSR). ...

Podcast

The Adventure Zone ''The Adventure Zone'' is a weekly comedy and adventure actual play podcast based loosely upon the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' game series, along with other role-playing games. The show is distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brother ...

Justin Justin may refer to: People * Justin (name), including a list of persons with the given name Justin * Justin (historian), a Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527), or ''Flavius Iustinius Augustus'', Eastern Rom ...

, Travis and

Griffin McElroy Griffin Andrew McElroy ( , born April 17, 1987) is an American podcaster, actor, writer, composer, and former video game journalist. He is known for his work on podcasts such as ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'' and ''The Adventure Zone'', as we ...

, and their father

Clint McElroy Clinton Emil "Clint" McElroy, Jr. ( , born August 10, 1955) is an American podcaster, comic book writer and former radio personality. He is known for his work on the podcast ''The Adventure Zone'', as well as for hosting several FM radio shows i ...

. When the idea came up of turning the successful story into a graphic novel, the McElroy family approached Pietsch for the artwork. She had previously collaborated with them to design a poster for their live shows of ''The Adventure Zone'' as well as ''

My Brother, My Brother and Me ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'' (often abbreviated as ''MBMBaM'', pronounced ) is a weekly comedy advice podcast distributed by the Maximum Fun network and hosted by brothers Justin, Travis, and Griffin McElroy. Regular episodes of the p ...

''. ''"We were spending so much time sending each other links to her stuff we figured it would be easier to just collaborate with her. We realized she "gets it"..."'' The first part of the graphic novel series, ''The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins'', written by the McElroys and illustrated by Pietsch, was released in July 2018 and published by

First Second Books First Second Books is an American publisher of graphic novels. An imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual essays, and comics journalism. It als ...

. It quickly topped the New York Times' Paperback Trade Fiction Best-Sellers list, and came third overall in the Combined Print and E-Book Fiction list, the highest placement for a graphic novel on the fiction list to date. The second part, ''The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited!'' was released in July 2019. It also reached the number 1 spot on the New York Times' Paperback Trade Fiction Best-Seller list, and number 4 on the Combined Print & E-Book Fiction list. The third part, ''The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal'', was released in July 2020. It reached number 1 on the New York Times Bestseller list. The fourth installment, ''The Adventure Zone: Crystal Kingdom'', is set to be released July 13, 2021. Carey was involved in
New York Comic Con panel
in September 2020 to discuss ''Crystal Kingdom'' along with adapting ''The Adventure Zone'' into a graphic novel series.

Bibliography

''Oath Anthology of New (Queer) Heroes''
(contributor, 2016)
''Adventure Time: Marceline Gone Adrift''
(with Meredith Gran, 2015) *''

Vol. 6: Sink or Swim'' (with

ND Stevenson Nate Diana Stevenson or simply ND "Indy" Stevenson (formerly Noelle Diana Stevenson; born December 31, 1991) is an American cartoonist and animation producer. He is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the animated television seri ...

, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen, Kat Leyh, Maarta Laiho, 2017) *''Lumberjanes Vol. 7: A Bird's-Eye View'' (ND Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen, Kat Leyh, Maarta Laiho, Ayme Sotuyo, 2017) *''Lumberjanes Vol. 8: Stone Cold'' (with ND Stevenson, Shannon Watters, Grace Ellis, Brooklyn A. Allen, Kat Leyh, Maarta Laiho, 2017) *
Mages of Mystralia
' (with Brian Clevinger, 2018)
''The Adventure Zone: Here There Be Gerblins''
(with

Justin McElroy Justin Tyler McElroy ( , born November 8, 1980) is an American podcaster, comedian, and former video game journalist. He is known for his work on podcasts (such as ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'', ''The Adventure Zone'', and ''Sawbones'') and ...

Travis McElroy Travis Patrick McElroy ( , born November 8, 1983) is an American podcaster, writer, and comedian. He is known for his work on podcasts such as ''My Brother, My Brother and Me'', '' Shmanners'', '' The Adventure Zone'', and '' Can I Pet Your Dog? ...

, 2018)
''The Adventure Zone: Murder on the Rockport Limited!''
(With Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy, 2019) *''The Adventure Zone: Petals to the Metal'' (With Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy, 2020) *''The Adventure Zone: The Crystal Kingdom'' (With Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy, 2021) *''The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour'' (With Clint McElroy, Justin McElroy, Travis McElroy, Griffin McElroy, 2023)

References

1988 births Living people American women cartoonists Swarthmore College alumni American women illustrators 20th-century American women artists 20th-century American artists 21st-century American women artists 21st-century American artists American cartoonists {{US-artist-stub