by Colleen Doran
Rating: Young adult.
Genre / themes: Fantasy, science fiction, some yaoi, rebellion
Art level: Good. Detailed inking - all black and white, Western comics style.
Star Rating: 4/5
Best Other Work in the Gaylactic Spectrum Awards 2001
Number of Books: Four, completed.
Other notes: Being released as a webcomic by the author.
Distant Soil Vol. 1: Amazon Blurb
The story of a young girl who is born the heir to an alien religious dynasty, is one of comics most lavish and romantic sagas, listed as one of the five best books for teenage girls by Sassy Magazine. A never-before-published A Distant Soil short story and the first 11 chapters of the science/fantasy series are collected in this 240 page trade.
My Review
A Distant Soil is the story of two children with telepathic powers who are rescued/recruited by aliens, in a complicated and desperate game of politics. It will probably appeal more to girls initially, unless you are buying it for the art - and the art is very pretty, so if you're artistically inclined I do recommend it. It's a little old-fashioned in style, particularly the way Liana is drawn (and by old-fashioned, I mean '80-90's comics). You can actually check it out here on Colleen Doran's site, as she's uploading it slowly as a webcomic. Of course, like almost all such stories, it's much easier to read in print. Colleen Doran has also illustrated for Marvel and DC.
It starts with two children - Liana and Jason - running away from an institute, who are mysteriously rescued by a pair of aliens (who basically look like humans... ). turns out their father wasn't human, Liana is an Avatar, and the current Avatar is trying desperately to both protect her, and use her to help break the hold of the current selfish, cruel and hedonistic Hiercracy, who intend to kill her - because she's preventing their Avatar using his power by existing. The children (well, young adults) get separated and Jason is enlisted into a rebellion, while Liana and and some hand-picked humans are taken back and snuck into the top level of government. among these humans is a random knight - the Arthurian Sir Galahad, plucked by chance and magic into the modern world.
The people and the backgrounds are beautifully drawn, and the book feels like a real work of love (I say 'book', rather than 'books' because only the first one ever made it into a library in New Zealand near me - there are four volumes. But I think they would all be similar). Recommended for readers of Mercedes Lackey and Marion Zimmer Bradley.
The complete series of A Distant Soil
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