And you thought your freshman year in college was tough?

The kids in "Freshmen," a six-issue comic-book miniseries from Top Cow Productions, had to deal with newfound freedom and temptations, self-esteem issues, an evil genius, super-powered threats, and a snooty talking beaver. And that was just the beginning. A new nemesis and a team-splintering romantic conflict await them in a second miniseries planned for late this year.

Top Cow recently announced plans for "Freshmen II" after the success of a trade paperback released in April collecting the first series.

Expect the second series to have a much darker tone, says Hugh Sterbakov, a writer who created "Freshmen" with his longtime pal, actor Seth Green. It will pick up some loose threads from the first series while pitting the team against a new villain, Mr. Fiddlesticks.

"There’s not a lot we can say because there are some earth-shattering revelations," says Green, known as Dr. Evil’s son in the "Austin Powers" movies and for roles on TV shows including "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Four Kings."

The first "Freshmen" miniseries mixed drama and goofy humor in telling the story of a group of college freshmen who gained superpowers from the explosion of a machine called the Ax-Cell-Erator. The powers aren’t exactly of Superman caliber. Elwood Johns can make others become intoxicated through his burps, as long as he’s under the influence himself. Charles Levy can talk to plants. One character is given a power - a bodily attribute, actually - that can’t be discussed in a family newspaper.

Other powers are of greater use. Paula Pophouse, with the ability to make anyone fall in love with her, becomes the Seductress. Annalee Rogers, the Puppeteer, can jump into people’s minds for brief periods and control their bodies.

Those and others in the group are led by Kenneth Weismeyer, a comic-book fanatic who, to his total dismay, was away when the Ax-Cell-Erator exploded and thus is left without powers. Also in the cast: that snooty beaver, a school mascot transformed by the explosion into a highly intelligent, talking animal - but one that still longs to build dams.

The idea for "Freshmen" was born during an evening of ping-pong, pizza and brainstorming by Green, Sterbakov and Dan Milano, the creator of TV’s "Greg the Bunny," and his writing partner, Matthew Huffman.

A bowl of unripened fruit provided a key creative spark.

"He (Hugh) had some bananas that weren’t quite ripe yet and he wished he had a mutant power to speed the ripening of bananas," Green says. That started them dreaming up not-so valuable superpowers.

The two initially conceived "Freshmen" as a movie. "And then as we started pitching it around places, the consensus was that it’s hard to launch a comic-book movie without a comic book attached to it," Green says.

The pair found a publishing partner in Top Cow. Green and Sterbakov have abandoned the idea of a movie, but are looking at developing the comic into a TV series.

Green and Sterbakov, friends since kindergarten, are trumpeted as the co-creators of "Freshmen," with Green’s celebrity status no doubt giving the project a higher profile. Sterbakov is the series’ writer, with Green serving as a sounding board.

"He encourages me, he’s the biggest fan, and that can’t be understated," says Sterbakov, a longtime comic-book fan whose dream is to write one of Marvel’s Spider-Man titles. He already has his foot in the door, having written a story for Marvel’s "X-Men Unlimited."

For "Freshmen II," the pair will have to find a new artist. Leonard Kirk, the artist on the first miniseries, now works exclusively for Marvel.

"Leonard’s got a great ability to both make characters dynamic and emotional," Green says. "He can draw an exciting fight scene, but he can also draw a simple panel with people and, without dialogue, you know what they’re feeling."