| SYNOPSIS:
Jason and Liana are the children of Aeren, a fugitive from the planet Ovanan, a world of powerful,
beautiful and ageless psionics. Both children possess extraordinary powers.
Jason, only 17 years old, is a disrupter,
capable of short circuiting the energy systems in machines as well as in living beings. Liana,
15 years old, is the most powerful form of psionic in the known universe: she is an Avatar, a being
who can draw on the life force of all the Ovanan people and wield that force as a weapon. Avatars
are the religious leaders and protectors of Ovanan, but only one Avatar can exist at a time, and
as long as Liana lives, she is a threat to Ovanan which has sent its massive warship the Siovansin
to assassinate her.
Rieken, the leader of the Ovanan Resistance movement, and his bodyguard D'mer have also come to
Earth in human guise to save her. They gather a brave team of human men and women to travel to
the Siovansin to destroy the Hierarchy, the center of Ovanan's corrupt government. Antonio Minetti,
a policeman; Brent Donewitz, a teen gang member; Serezha Kirov, a Russian dissident; Corrine Brenegar,
a clothing designer; Dunstan Achenlock, a magician whose powers are real; Christopher D'Errico,
a medical student; Reynaldo Cabrera, a homeless boy;
Bast, an Ovanan living in exile on Earth; and the legendary Sir Galahad from the other-dimensional
world of Avalon, all join forces to protect Liana and Earth. Reserved Rieken, however, has a terrible
secret he is hiding from his champions, a secret that will test the loyalties of his followers,
and challenge everything they believe and, ultimately, the fate of the world will rest on the slender
shoulders of the fledgling Avatar Liana. Warring factions within the Resistance threaten everything
Rieken fights for and threaten the future of Earth and Ovanan alike.
A Distant Soil is considered a classic of graphic novel art and has been profiled in books,
magazines and
documentaries. It's themes
and style predate the now common manga influence in American art, and it's epic scope, a story
of more than 1,000 pages, was almost unprecedented when first published. It is one of the first,
true American graphic novels, perhaps the first to be solely created by a woman in the USA.
Rich characterization, complex, intense plot threads, and passionate romance are the hallmarks
of this critically acclaimed series, a story that has taken creator Colleen Doran more than a decade
to tell. At this writing, the story is nearly 1,000 pages long, and now collected in four trade
paperback editions: A Distant Soil: The Gathering, A Distant Soil: The Ascendant, A Distant Soil:
The Aria, and A Distant Soil: Coda. Nearly 40 comics are now in publication, many of which went
through multiple printings, and the trade paperback editions are also in multiple printings. The
series has also seen print in Spanish and Italian language editions in 2001. For information about
how to get your own copy of A Distant Soil, either in comics or trade paperback format, please
click on the SHOP link at left.
Want to know how all this came about? Keep reading!
PUBLISHING HISTORY:
Colleen Doran created A Distant Soil when she was twelve years while bedridden with a long bout
of pneumonia. A family friend delivered a box of comics to cheer her while she was sick and she
immediately began weaving her own tales and creating her own art.
By the age of fifteen, Colleen was showing her work at comic and science fiction conventions, landing
her first commercial art gigs. Her drawings for A Distant Soil caught the eye of several small
press publishers, and she signed her first contract while still in school.
Things didn't work out for her right away.
An early publisher wanted to own all rights to Colleen's creation and heavily rewrote her scripts.
After only nine issues with the company, Colleen found the situation intolerable and left. She
then found a new publisher who gave her the opportunity to completely rewrite and redraw her story.
Unfortunately, this publisher was on rocky financial ground, and after producing two A Distant
Soil graphic novels with them, Colleen was left with unpaid royalties and a bleak outlook for ever
having the chance to finish her epic tale.
In 1991, Colleen Doran began self publishing A Distant Soil through her own company Aria Press.
The self publishing movement
in comics was groundbreaking and
caused a sea change in the way comics were created and marketed in the USA. A core part of the
movement that included creators Jeff Smith, Terry Moore, Dave Sim, Steve Bissette, Rick Veitch
and others, the intrepid artists often traveled together across the USA and Canada. Hundreds of
young artists and writers also began to produce their own comics and conventions sprang up for
the sole purpose of supporting this Outsider Artist movement.
Colleen produced 14 issues of her series with Aria Press. Her assistant was her mother, Anita Doran.
She kept things organized and also contributed to the book production, "spotting blacks" and
doing cut and paste work. The word "Aria" means "solo, with accompaniment" as
Colleen always considered her friends and family an integral part of her success.
However, beginning in 1995, the comic book market took a sharp downturn when distributor bankruptcies
and the Marvel Comics bankruptcy shook the industry and sent many publishers and comic retail shops
out of business. The effect on the self publishing movement was devastating and fatal for many
companies. Creators like Jeff Smith, Terry Moore and others sought shelter by bringing their books
to major publishers like Image. Colleen followed suit in 1996, thanks to a kind invitation from
Eric Larsen, co-founder of Image Comics and creator of The Savage Dragon.
Colleen published the A Distant Soil comic series with Image beginning with her 15th issue and
has now gone on to produce four major graphic novels with them as well.
Though Colleen had never seen
manga when she first created A Distant Soil (manga would not begin being imported to the USA for
some years), her linework and epic, character-oriented storylines are often compared to the Japanese
style of comics. She produces all of her art by hand, but has now adapted some Japanese style art
techniques such as imported pens and tone sheets. Her original art is also quite small, in the
Japanese style, less than 8"x12" high.
Colleen also produces major works for a number of other publishers, such as Marvel Comics, DC Comics
and Image. Go to COLLEEN DORAN.com for
more information.
An early, now-discarded version of A Distant Soil was published by a company called WaRP Graphics.
They are no longer in print, WaRP is also no longer a publisher. 9 issues were created but the
series was not completed. None of the art or writing from this edition will ever see print again.
Colleen has completely rewritten and redrawn her work.
The Donning Company Publishers allowed Colleen to start fresh with her series. She produced the
graphic novels A Distant Soil: Immigrant Song at 64 pages and A Distant Soil: Knights of the Angel
at 124 pages with all new art and writing. She even made a brief attempt to work with a background
art assistant, but abandoned the idea quickly. She prefers to draw every line of her own work.
In 1991, Colleen started fresh again, taking all of the material from A Distant Soil: Immigrant
Song and A Distant Soil: Knights of the Angel, reworking the art, adding new pages and publishing
them as a comic series beginning with issue #1 at her company Aria Press. She also included the
beginning of a prequel, A Distant Soil: Seasons of Spring, including installments as a back up
tale to the main series.
The series went into new territory with issue 12, the first all new art and story for A Distant
Soil in years. However, the industry downturn caused Colleen to seek calmer waters for her company.
After producing issue 14, a book entirely devoted to sketches and background work on the series,
she moved to Image Comics and has to date produced four, major graphic novels.
To discuss the work, read
what other people or saying, or ask questions, please click on our message board link in the
Blog section. It will take you to our community and Colleen Doran personally answers fan questions.
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