In this week's edition of Endnotes, we take a look at Rick Remender, Brian Posehn, and Brett Parson's Grommets, a sweet and raunchy 1980s California skate-punk slice of life comic. In its review, PW says "This throwback gem offers rewards for readers."

Here's how the book came together:

Brian Posehn

Author

“During Covid, I was driving my wife nuts and knew I needed to generate a writing project. One morning I woke up with the name Grommets in my head and I called Rick. The early writing process was super fun. We just brainstormed through all these ideas and stories from when we were into skating as kids. Once Rick suggested we set it in the mid-’80s I knew we had something cool.”

Rick Remender

Author

“We did a number of Zoom sessions and talked up a whole bunch of our childhood stories and stitched it together into a narrative. I then took that and scripted it. All of the stories in it were taken directly out of our actual lives. Brian and I didn’t grow up together, but we shared so many similar types of events in our lives.”

Eric Stephenson

Publisher, Image

“Since we’d already been working with Rick for years, and had done a hilarious series called The Last Christmas with Brian, I knew they were going to make this something both special and fun. Everything we publish is creator driven, so the writers and artists are coming up with characters and concepts that are uniquely specific and personal to them.”

Brett Parson

Artist

“I knew Rick and Brian really wanted the book to capture the look and feel of the 1980s as authentically as possible. Rather than using ’80s movies as a starting point, I tried to find as many real-life references as possible. I collected late ’70s and early ’80s California yearbooks, vintage Sears catalogs, and old Thrasher magazines on eBay to help get ideas for characters and background images.”