Cousins Mariko and Jillian Tamaki delighted readers with their 2014 Young Adult graphic novel This One Summer. Now, the two prolific creators are reuniting for a new book, Roaming, published by Drawn & Quarterly. The new book follows two old friends, Zoe and Dani, as they reunite for a trip to New York with Dani's new friend, Fiona. While the three friends explore the city, they see new sides of each other and test the strength of their friendship.
In an interview with CBR, Markio and Jillian Tamaki discussed how their collaboration has developed over the years, the appeal of revisiting 2009 New York City, and what fans can expect from Zoe, Dani, and Fiona's adventure in the big city. Drawn & Quarterly also shared a look at some from Roaming.
CBR: Can you talk a bit about the origins of Roaming?
Jillian Tamaki: I had the idea for the story in 2019. Basically, I wanted to make a book about traveling as a young person. More than anything, I knew what kind of book I wanted to be immersed in: fun, funny, energetic, playful. After I drew up the characters and basic premise, I realized it was a book I could work on with Mariko. So, I asked if she was down to collaborate.
What made you want to have the story take place in 2009, specifically? How do you think a more current version of New York would impact the book?
Jillian: 2009 was smack in the middle of my time living in NYC. So it's the NY that I'm most familiar with and remember. It's a time before online maps, Google reviews, and Instagram destinations. No one knew how International Data Plans worked. Those technological limitations shaped the nature and texture of traveling. It's different now. You probably couldn't lose someone in a city if you all had working cell phones.
How has your collaborative process developed since your work on Skim and This One Summer?
Mariko Tamaki: Our process is always developing, in part because, for our first book, Skim, neither of us had a lot of experience with comics (I, Mariko, had none). We've moved from a kind of shot-in-the-dark place of me sending Jillian what amounted to a theater script with acts and scenes, dialogue, and captions. With This One Summer, I tried to move away from the captions I relied on in the script for Skim and tell a more complex story with more characters. And then, with Roaming, we really wanted to work on a script together.
Roaming was a story that started with Jillian that she sent to me, and then we passed back and forth over the next few months until the lines between who wrote what had sufficiently blurred. So that was a new element of the process for us, and I think we're both super happy with the results.
Roaming feels like it's geared toward an older audience than your previous collaborations. Was that a conscious decision or something that happened organically as you were working on the book?
Jillian: We set out knowing we were not going to make a YA book. Not that I think we have been very deliberate about demographics ever.
How did you settle on the color palette for Roaming?
Jillian: Not too much thought, to be honest. I think it's more important to choose a palette that has a useful tonal range.
What can you tell readers about Zoe, Dani, and Fiona?
Mariko: Dani and Zoe are friends for whom this trip to New York is their first time hanging out since they graduated high school a few months ago. They're two people who know each other very well [and] are, at the same time, disconnected from the people each has become since they went to university. Fiona is the new friend, someone Dani met at school, a kind of "woman of mystery," who is more sophisticated than the other two by merit of the fact that she's been to New York before.
What made you want to explore Zoe and Dani's friendship through the lens of this trip?
Jillian: So many friends you have in life are actually situational because you are in the same class, work together, or live in the same city. And once the context changes (like you go to different colleges), the equilibrium is irrevocably altered. It's a trip to try to recapture the magic. Also, friendship is one thing. Traveling with someone is quite another. I think you see everyone's good, bad, and ugly sides over the course of a trip. It's pretty juicy.
What are you most excited for readers to discover as they read Roaming?
Mariko: I think it's an interesting time in life to revisit if you're someone who has to dig into their brain to remember what it was like to be nineteen. I'm very curious what people will take from it. I guess we'll see!
Roaming is on sale now from Drawn & Quarterly.