My biggest influence for This Was Our Pact came from a story I’ve loved since I was a child. Will any of them be willing to go all the way? But now that they’re on their way, the reality of the situation sinks in, and one by one they flee for the familiar comforts of home. Our group of friends made their pact to follow the lanterns down the river, and have set off on the journey of a lifetime.

This Was Our Pact Cartoonist Ryan Andrews: This Was Our Pact Cover Art by Ryan Andrews Paste is delighted to host an excerpt of This Was Our Pact, along with a statement from Andrews explaining its origins. Of course, these rules are almost immediately broken, especially as Ben’s small town begins to magically shift around the riders. The two rules of the titular pact: no one turns for home and no one looks back. Legend has it that once the lanterns drift out of sight, they soar off to the Milky Way and turn into stars. Published this month by First Second, one of the premiere homes for thoughtful, boundary-pushing middle-grade and Young Adult graphic novels, This Was Our Pact follows Ben and his classmates as they race after paper lanterns released during a town festival. For This Was Out Pact cartoonist Ryan Andrews, though, the inspiration for his central journey owes as much to a nearly century-old Japanese novel as it does to any Western influences, as he explains below. From Stand By Me to Paper Girls, the image of suburban teens out on a group bike ride is a highly mythologized piece of American iconography.

This is our pact book