A Distant Soil FAQ’s: How about those graphic novels? Future issues of the comic?
on August 28th, 2010For the many people who have inquired about the graphic novel collections.
The Image Comics collections are:
Volume 1: The Gathering (collects A Distant Soil #1-13, 240 pages, Image Comics, June 1999, ISBN 1887279512)
Volume 2: The Ascendant (collects A Distant Soil #13-25, 240 pages, Image Comics, November 1998, ISBN 1582400180)
Volume 3: The Aria (collects A Distant Soil #26-31, 164 pages, Image Comics, July 2001, ISBN 1582402019)
Volume 4: The Coda (collects A Distant Soil #32-38, 184 pages, Image Comics, softcover, March 2006, ISBN 158240478X, hardcover, November 2005, ISBN 1582405255)
The online comic is currently in the middle of issue 25, which ends at Volume II.
I am working on the final volume of A Distant Soil called Requiem. It’s going to take awhile to complete. YES, I will finish the series in print, in comics form, and it will be collected in a graphic novel edition from Image Comics. YES, I will serialize it online as well. I hope those of you who enjoy the book online will support it by also picking up a GN collection. If not, you have my sincere thanks for coming to my official website, and supporting me via my advertisers.
Issue #39 of A Distant Soil will be out from Image Comics early next year. No, really.
I have several major projects for other publishers on my plate right now, including multiple graphic novels for Vertigo, one with Warren Ellis, Gone to Amerikay with Derek McCulloch, and a graphic novel with Barry Lyga for Houghton Mifflin. The Barry Lyga book is due in a little over a month, so I am on lockdown.
Gone to Amerikay is due in March of next year, and then I should be finished with the Warren Ellis GN in June of 2011. I also have some random smaller works in play as well.
This may sound like a lot – and it is – but it is not impossible to fit in time for A Distant Soil in there, particularly after early October.
I announced that I would be going to live and work in Washington DC for several months this fall to pursue some of my creator rights advocate duties, but I’ve bowed out. I’ve sunk so much time and effort into activism, I need to do my own work for awhile. Congress can pass bad laws without me. I’ve probably devoted more than 6 months of full time effort to activism over the last few years, and that is an expensive investment, in more ways than one.
My work output lately has been excellent. I have not been this productive in years. I went through a terrific slump for awhile, which I guess had to do with the excess of advocacy, health issues and stress. But whatever the bad mojo is, it is gone. If I always worked this way, I’d be finished with everything on my plate right now.
I had a discussion with my beloveds about my farming duties, and all agree I need to cut back. WAY back, so my time is not eaten up by digging up grubs when I need to draw. So, next year there will be a lot less farm labor for me. Can’t say as I’m going to weep about that or anything.
My kitchen duties are rescinded: everyone loves my cooking. No one likes the mess I make.
Lots more time for me to draw. Which is fine by everybody.
I am going to step away from the computer and grab more of the Great Drawing Goodness while it is here. And hope it lasts and lasts and lasts.
The Facebook fan page is here.
I think it’s awesome that you “family conference” your evaluation of the future work schedule — AND that you get the co-operative support from them that you do. You have mighty terrific “beloveds”! And you can tell them I said so.
Wish I had that nurturing atmosphere. Looking forward to seeing the final works!
Well, it was very sweet. They approached me. I think they realize I have a habit of biting off more than I can chew, and they just needed to do an intervention.
We won’t starve if I don’t grow the food. I will have a garden, but it will be a fraction of the size and will take a fraction of the effort.
My eyesight is terrible, so if I spill oil or something, I can’t see it. My family considers my kitchen activity a safety hazard.
I doubt anyone can make the fried chicken as good as me. So there.
As you are on tight deadline, I do not expect a reply. I just wanted you to know I’m grateful for your presence in the comics world and delighted that a new issue of ADS is imminent.
I also want you to know that, as a former lobbyist on GLBT issues, I am very sympathetic to your hiatus on your advocacy issues. That stuff is vital too, but you deserve a creative life. Otherwise, what are you doing the lobbying for?
Good luck- oops, I mean break a pencil (artist’s version of “break a leg”)!
Thank you so much for your kind note.
I’ve had to face the fact that my advocacy is eating up my creative resources. A lot of things are eating up my creative resources.
Art is first kinda sorta first.
I know that thing of having activities eat up your creative resources. A year and a half ago, I joined a writers’ society – actually a good one – and soon became an officer (Secretary), and was saying “yes” to additional sundry duties. And this summer, I realized that one of them (overseeing the various critique groups) was a heck of a lot more time consuming that I could really give. Even right now, when I’m not answering to someone’s day-job requirements. I wasn’t getting enough of my own writing done. So I’ve had to cut back on that. And comparatively you were doing a heck of a lot more than I was!
Your self-reporting on your kitchen skills is very funny! So… you need a haz-mat team on hand when you decide to cook?
Pop corn and microwave for you!
I am allowed to bake and make spaghetti sauce. I am not allowed to fry. I set the kitchen on fire.
Tsk, like that’s a big deal.
At least you’re not setting fire to cover paintings while you’re doing it these days…
Hey, even my cat set fire to a cover painting. A whole stack of art, actually.
This is a great FAQ/update. It’s really great to know that my want for upcoming comics has gotten bigger.
I am glad you have been able to be so productive. That means more stuff for all of us to enjoy down the road. I have waited for many things, I will wait for your GN’s.
We are just the same in the kitchen. People tell my gravy and biscuits are to die for, but after they are full they have plenty of time to nag me to death about cleaning up the flour, or the frying pan which has some caked on gravy. The least they could do is clean up after me, I slaved over a hot stove for them.
My kitchen is immaculate. Should be… I haven’t used it since 1999.
I live by myself, so my cooking is limited to boiling pasta. Give me a recipe, and I can follow directions. I’ve have surprised female friends by baking a cake, even if all I did was follow the directions on the box.
When I’m back home, I defer to my German mother, both in cooking and management. I’ve learned that just offering to help earns easy brownie points.
Oh, and a point of clarification for your fans… when a book is due is much different than when a book goes on sale. I’m guessing that “Amerikay” will appear next Fall at the soonest.
Will you be doing any special promotions for #39? Pre-orders? Signed copies? A special ADS.com variant cover? A sketch cover for convention appearances?
My mom’s housekeeping skills make Martha Stewart look like a slacker. There is no way I could ever live up to her standard. And since I really don’t see very well, I have to admit I can be a hazard when it comes to fry-ups. I am still allowed to bake. Everyone loves my baking and I never set anything on fire when I bake.
I haven’t given any special ADS #39 promotions any thought at all. I suppose I ought to. Back from hiatus! De Profundis!