Described as “an unrepentant action satire” the first Survival Street miniseries from Dark Horse Comics burst onto the scene in 2022 with a blistering mix of cutting social commentary, violent slapstick and puppet nostalgia. This year the creative team of Jim Festante, James Asmus, Abylay Kussainov, Ellie Wright and Taylor Esposito are back with the follow-up, Survival Street: The Radical Left. We caught up with writers Festante and Asmus to chat about the direction for the second series, childhood TV favourites, and living in a world beyond parody…
ANDY OLIVER: For those new to Survival Street could you sum up the premise of the book to date?
JIM FESTANTE: Sure! In the very near future, the American Supreme Court expands their (real) earlier decision to declare corporations have all the rights of people—including holding public office. So companies swiftly spend their way into taking over all levels of government, only to privatise, strip-mine, and monetize practically everything in our lives. Since they of course shut down public television, the very real creatures who made children’s television are out of a job – and one group has decided to become an A-(B-C-)TEAM travelling the country to save kids from evil ‘company towns.’
JAMES ASMUS: In the first miniseries, each issue was a different mission for the team, going up against different facets of our nightmare-Capitalism future. We also built character arcs and consequences across those issues, and continued that approach on the new miniseries—with a shifted focus and fresh targets this time around.
AO: You tackled a number of topical subjects taken to terrifying extremes in the first run including gun control, trafficking, the worst excesses of libertarianism, corporate greed and the tyranny of late stage capitalism. That’s quite a checklist. Can you give us some teasers as to what to expect in the second miniseries Survival Street: The Radical Left?
ASMUS: The series was born out of so many things giving us real anxiety about the future – especially as parents of young children – and where some of today’s dark or exploitative developments could lead. These upcoming adventures pit the team against generative AI, militant book bans, corporate invasion into early education, soulless kids’ entertainment and more!
But as we’re hinting at with the subtitle, we’re also expanding our scope to wrestle with some major issues within ‘the resistance’ of our world. You can find a hundred people willing to fight those in power, but what happens when you don’t agree on where to draw the line? Or whose help is too “problematic” to accept? Or even which battleground to fight hardest?
AO: This seems a particularly pertinent question for the reality we live in right now. How does a creator approach the concept of satire in a world that seems almost beyond parody?
FESTANTE It’s definitely been harder to keep ahead of it, that’s for sure. It’s… not a great feeling when reality outpaces satire. Even though increased political polarization is leading to more extreme rhetoric and actions, James and I have always focused on exploring the human elements behind the outrageous stories, rather than trying to top the headlines themselves. We also try to look at the overall state of affairs instead of addressing specific events. But I still feel that satire is a necessary tool for social commentary, it’s too bleak a discourse otherwise.
AO: Has it felt cathartic to have the opportunity to so savagely send up some of the worst societal excesses of the 21st century?
FESTANTE: A little? It’s pretty disheartening to see the gap between haves and have-nots grow into a chasm, especially over the last decade. You want to scream it from the rooftop but then you’re the oddball screaming on a rooftop instead of the oddball(s) turning it into something people can enjoy but also stop and think, ‘Well, that’s f****d up. Is there something I can do about it?’
AO: Moving to the cast themselves how much of a challenge was it to balance the good-natured nostalgia that surrounds the inspiration for the central characters with the bitingly cynical satire of the series?
ASMUS: Oh, keeping the core values and affection for childhood puppet icons was not only easy – it’s the whole inspiration and beating heart of why we wanted to do this book. When the idea struck to have ex-”edutainer” puppets as our heroes, we latched onto it because of the hope, comfort, nostalgia, and sincerity they represent and still provoke in us as adults. Survival Street has never been about the easy “joke” of just having puppets do dark or inappropriate things. They’re the heroes because they embody all the sharing, empathy, and constructive common good-ness that simply is the antidote to our hyper-Capitalist dystopia.
AO: That visual evocation and juxtaposition of the cute and the horrifying is such a huge part of the book’s appeal. What has artist Abylay Kussainov brought to the table in terms of both character design and sequentials?
FESTANTE: Everything. His art is entertaining, emotive, and easy to follow, whether it’s the team planning an intricate heist of orphaned children about to be auctioned for parts to rich people or frantically (and delicately) fighting a group of raging toddlers hypnotized by the power of AI-written children’s entertainment. It’s outlandish and fun, and I genuinely hope he’s snatched out from under us and gets a ton of work (once we’ve completed the series, of course).
AO: Similarly, how have colourist Ellie Wright and letterer Taylor Esposito’s creative choices helped to enhance the mood and themes of Survival Street?
ASMUS: Ellie and Taylor are both such skilled and talented (Ringo Award-winning!) collaborators that Survival Street wouldn’t sing the way it does without them. Ellie has totally mastered the tonal balance between the vibrant, candy-colored reality of our puppets with the harsher, decaying world where every penny of improvement is funnelled up to the top. She’s such a fully tuned-in storyteller that she knows when to emphasise the horror and when to deliver the fun – while making it all feel like one complete world. And Taylor so expertly weaves the lettering through genuinely packed issues that the fluid and immersive reading experience is really thanks to him. He also has such a deft hand and excellent eye for subtle changes and designs across the series that enriches the world and diversity of the series without ever becoming overdesigned or distracting.
AO: People can be… shall we say… very protective of their favourite childhood properties. Some years ago, for example, the Broken Frontier social media accounts were blocked by a now defunct UK micropublisher unhappy that we’d promoted a comics parody of Sesame Street characters. So, with that in mind, what has reaction been like to the first run of Survival Street? How have readers taken to this playful blend of childhood innocence and robust social commentary?
ASMUS: Folks who hold their puppet favorites near-and-dear have been pretty consistently enthusiastic and positive! Those fans in particular appreciate the love and investment Survival Street has for all the shows, movies, and characters whose DNA inspired our puppets — or at least, that’s the response from people who actually read the book. We have seen plenty of people dismiss us because they assume it’s just a cheap “foul puppet” joke. Some of our characters are more hardened or affected by the world of the series, of course – but most puppet-fans have appreciated having friendly faces grapple with the anxieties, horrors, and rage they’re going through as adults.
AO: And, finally, what else are you working on right now? What upcoming projects can we expect to see from you, both in and out of comics?
ASMUS: Together, we’ve gotten to write some more Rick And Morty this year for Oni Press – including an annual-sized Super Spring Break Special that’s out now, and a cathartic politics pinata pitting President Curtis vs. Rick (and Doofus Rick!) in Contested Convention coming out in August. (Preorder now!)
Horror fans can also pre-order Headless Horseman, an extra-sized Halloween anthology from Dark Horse riding your way this October. I wrote a fun and creepy tale for artist Chris Panda (Archie’s Chock’lit Shoppe Of Horrors). It’s also packed with great creators and friends like Lukas Ketner, Francesco Francavilla, Matt Smith, David Dastmalchian and more. And if you love warm-hearted, superhero origin hijinks, I’ve been writing The Somewhat Incredible Jackie-Boy Man in collaboration with YouTube/Twitch/the internet’s favorite Irishman Jacksepticeye. That’s been a fun and funny blast with wonderful artist Megan Huang (The Scale Trade).
FESTANTE: Genre cookbooks and cocktail books! I wrote the ‘flavor text’ for BioWare’s official Mass Effect Cocktail Book (available October 2024) and recently turned in a manuscript for Bethesda’s official Starfield Cookbook (available 2025), both published by Insight Editions and featuring fantastic recipes by Cassandra Reeder (The Geeky Chef). When you live in a world that seems almost beyond parody, sometimes you need a stiff drink at the end of the day—why not make it video game-themed?
Interior pages above are from the first Survival Street series
Survival Street: the Radical Left will be published in September and is available to pre-order from your local comic shop
Interview by Andy Oliver
