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 comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

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 complicate ...

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

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on the internet, such as on a website or a mobile app. While many webcomics are published exclusively online, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or ...

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

Hachette Book Group Hachette Book Group, Inc. (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 Lagard� ...

Early life and career

Pietsch grew up in

Ossining, New York Ossining ( ) is a town located along the Hudson River in Westchester County, New York. The population was 40,061 at the time of the 2020 census. It contains two villages, the Village of Ossining and part of Briarcliff Manor, the rest of which ...

, 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, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

in 2010. She worked on several webcomics like the Mages of Mystralia 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 spending summer at a scout camp, and th ...

Issues 29–32,

Adventure Time ''Adventure Time'' is an American fantasy animated television series created by Pendleton Ward and co-produced by Frederator Studios for Cartoon Network. The series follows the adventures of a boy named Finn the Human, 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 & Dragons ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (commonly abbreviated as ''D&D'' or ''DnD'') is a fantasy tabletop role-playing game (TTRPG) originally created and designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson. The game was first published in 1974 by TSR (company)#Tactical ...

'' Podcast

The Adventure Zone ''The Adventure Zone'' is a weekly comedy and adventure actual play podcast, in which the McElroy family play ''Dungeons & Dragons'' 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 and fictional characters * Justin (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Justin (historian), Latin historian who lived under the Roman Empire * Justin I (c. 450–527) ...

Travis Travis may refer to: People and fictional characters *Travis (given name), a list of people and fictional characters *Travis (surname), a list of people Places in the United States *Travis, Staten Island, a neighborhood *Travis Air Force Base, a ...

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 in ...

. 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 pod ...

''. ''"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 (trade name), imprint of Roaring Brook Press, part of Holtzbrinck, Holtzbrinck Publishers, First Second publishes fiction, biographies, personal memoirs, history, visual e ...

. 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'', was 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. The fifth graphic novel, ''The Adventure Zone: The Eleventh Hour'', was released in February 2023, followed by ''The Adventure Zone: The Suffering Game'' in July 2024.

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 "Indy" Stevenson (born Noelle Diana Stevenson, December 31, 1991), known professionally as ND Stevenson, is an American cartoonist and animation producer. He is the creator, showrunner, and executive producer of the animated televis ...

, 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

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pietsch, Carey 1988 births Living people American graphic novelists 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 webcomic creators American female comics writers American female comics artists