Colleen Doran has been working professionally since the age of 15.
Throughout her career she's worked for all the major publishers as either
an artist and/or writer. She has also worked for Lucas Film and Disney,
among other companies. These days she is mainly known for doing A
Distant Soil through Image Comics, a story she's been wanting to do since she
was a teenager. In this interview Colleen talks to us about A Distant Soil,
her success outside of the traditional comic industry and other topics.
Coville:
You have been doing A Distant Soil (a.k.a. ADS) for a number of years
now. How long do you see yourself going with the series?
Colleen Doran:
I started doing this book professionally when I was in high school, which
is hard for me to believe now! In fact, some of the pages in the current
edition are actually from the original pencils samples I was showing
publishers when I was a kid! It is very strange, I suppose, to be doing
the same book all these years, but I am determined, if nothing else. I
intend to go until the story is told and then it will be over. However
long it takes. I imagine another year or so.
Coville:
Do you have a definite end for it planned out?
Colleen Doran:
Oh, yes. The current storyline has about five issues left. I have two
other, much shorter, story arcs, but I know the ultimate ending of every
character and plotline. I have it all planned out.
Coville:
Among some creators there is a movement to do quick, cheap, thin
graphic novels. But when you collect ADS you do more issues than
usual, creating thick books. Why?
Colleen Doran:
As a reader, I am not satisfied with thin, expensive books. They look
cheap and cheesy. I hate them, always have. I want to give the reader real
value for their money and a sufficient chunk of story to give them hours
of entertainment. That is what I want as a reader, too.
From a purely commercial standpoint, a thin graphic novel disappears on
the stands when it is spine out. It doesn't have a satisfying heft and
feel and less perceived value.
Coville:
Have you considered going straight to graphic novel with ADS?
You've mentioned before that you lose money on the single issues and it's the
TPB royalty cheques that keep the series going.
Colleen Doran:
The comic books don't lose money, they just don't make any. If it takes
me two months to do an issue and I only earn $1,000, for all intents and
purposes, I have lost all the money it took me to live on for that time.
I am afraid of getting bogged down while working on a huge chunk of
story, so I would rather produce it in installments, even if it doesn't really
bring in any income. It is an enormous undertaking to do a 200 page book
and to work in a vacuum for all that time with no feedback. I would prefer
to just dole it out to those who want to see it. Those who don't can wait
for the trades.
Coville:
I recently bought a full color ADS graphic novel published by
StarBlaze Graphics, I also noticed they published some of Mat Wagner's Mage
books as well. What happened to them?
Colleen Doran:
Donning was a bit of a mess. They were having financial problems for
years before I signed on with them and had been bought out by their printer, so
they weren't an independent publisher like I thought when I went to them.
They were very badly managed. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or
reason to the books they were publishing. Some of them were very good, but
many were downright amateurish. Some of the books like Gate of Ivrel and later
volumes of the Thieves World graphic novels had terrible sales, only a
couple thousand each, and that was for color original graphic novels at a
time when the comic book market was doing very well. Many other
companies had GN's selling tens of thousands of copies.
Eventually, Donning decided to close its trade publishing division. They
sold our contracts to another publisher and there was a big class action
lawsuit. Many of the authors ended up suing them, including me. It was a
nightmare. We all settled out of court, but Donning has disappeared off
the radar for good, I think.
It's not uncommon for small publishers to be badly managed, particularly
when they start to get big and expand. They don't have the expertise to
handle it. Donning was yet another example of that. They just weren't
qualified to do the business they were doing and yet wouldn't go out of
their way to get people with real expertise in the market. They had very
limited knowledge of the direct market and they weren't too savvy in the
trades, either. In fact, their whole foray into graphic novels was
something of a fluke. Before Donning began publishing graphic novels,
they were really a kind of vanity press. They did subsidized books, pictorial
histories. Cities and towns paid Donning to publish these things. So,
when they did get the idea to begin publishing graphic novels and they sort of
took off, they weren't prepared to handle it, and they botched it pretty
badly. They lasted as a graphic novels publisher for only about seven or
eight years.
Donning had had some mild success doing science fiction books for a
few years before they got into graphic novels. The Starblaze line was created
by science fiction artist Frank Kelly Freas. They published a few books
that did very well and that is how they got their feet wet in trade
publishing, but they were complete know-nothings when it came to the
direct market. They pretty much ignored it. It was weird.
Coville:
I understand you sell a lot of ADS books outside the traditional comic
bookstores. Can you give us a rough estimate, percentage wise, of where
your books get sold?
Colleen Doran:
My orders on the third graphic novel came in and showed that more than
50% of my sales on the new trade were outside the direct market. A big chunk
of those go to libraries, too. I wish I had more market penetration in
major bookstores, but that is slow in coming. However, libraries love my
books!
Coville:
You also attend Sci-Fi conventions and sell many books there do you
not?
Colleen Doran:
Yes, I do a number of them, though I have cut way back in the last couple
of years because my work schedule is really brutal and I am just not
doing many conventions anymore. I could expect to see much higher numbers
at the World Science Fiction Convention than I would at San Diego Comic
Con even though Worldcon would have only about 10% the attendance as
San Diego. My take would be 100% higher at Worldcon.
Coville:
There was a rumor that CrossGen was going to try and "poach" some
creators/books from Image Comics in order to grow their own creator
owned line. Have you been approached yet?
Colleen Doran:
Coville:
Once ADS is completed, will you put the whole thing on CD Rom and
sell it?
Colleen Doran:
I hadn't even thought about that! Maybe.
Coville:
You did a small web comic with Warren Ellis called SUPERIDOL for
Artbomb.net. What was it like working with Warren?
Colleen Doran:
I love working with Warren. I was thrilled when he chose me to do Super
Idol. He has such great ideas and he is an exciting writer. I am working
with Warren on a new graphic novel for Vertigo called Orbiter as well. I
am penciling and inking it and am painting the cover. I am almost
finished. I think I will be finished in a couple of weeks. It is 100
pages! I also worked with Warren on an animated project called
Distance. I was the principal conceptual designer. It was optioned by Sony, but they
shelved it after Final Fantasy tanked and the option has returned. I don't
know what's going on with it now.
Coville:
Did you do SUPERIDOL on paper or did you work on a computer?
Colleen Doran:
Oh, Super Idol is entirely hand painted. Each panel was a separate
painting.
Coville:
Was getting it scanned in and looking right a big pain?
Colleen Doran:
It really wasn't too much trouble. Looked pretty good to me right off.
Coville:
The art and storytelling style in SUPERIDOL was very different from
ADS. Had I not seen your name I would not have guessed it was you.
What influenced you to draw in that manner?
Colleen Doran:
I choose to do every project in a different style. I try to come up with
something that suits the book. I believe that a cartoonist's job is to
create a unique look for each book and do what is necessary to tell the
story in the manner that is most appropriate to the story, to the best of
their ability. I don't try to twist each project to suit me, I try to suit
the project. I approach my work in much the same manner that an actor
approaches a role. I want to disappear into the work. I don't want to
leave any stamp on the work except the stamp that gives the reader a
feeling of satisfaction that they have thoroughly entered the world of the
story. My job is world building. Some artists complain about having to
change their style to suit a project, but no one complains if an actor
changes his entire personality to fit a role. That is what I think I do
best with my work: I change to suit the role, and the role is the story.
Coville:
Do you see yourself doing more "freebee" webcomics in the future?
Colleen Doran:
Well, I didn't do it for free! I got paid. But if someone wants to pay me
to do another, sure!
Coville:
Do you see yourself trying to make a serious go at web comics like
some artists do?
Colleen Doran:
Not unless there is income to be derived from it, though I may do a
couple of comics for A Distant Soil on my own website, just for kicks. Unlike a
lot of artists, I am a pro and do this for a living, so the prospect of
making my web comic an expensive hobby has little appeal. Some web
comics pay, but most do not. If I want to do something for fun, my impulse is to
go skydiving, not drawing! I need to get away from the board once in
awhile!
Coville:
You were a frequent visitor to the Warren Ellis Forum. Has it's demise
affected you the same way it affected other people?
Colleen Doran:
I don't know how it affected other people because I am rarely online
anymore. I didn't really spend much time online before the forum and
even before the forum went down, I drastically cut my online time. I am
naturally introverted and while I enjoy communicating with other people,
my desire to do so has a limit. Too much makes me nervous and upset. I
have been very hermetic of late.
Coville:
These days it's popular for some creators to say enough with the work
for hire superhero comics! What do you think of them?
Colleen Doran:
Well, whatever they want to do. But I don't have any problem with it. I
think about the project first. If it is a project I want to do, I will do
it. I like superheroes and would gladly do them again.
Coville:
Legion fans tell me you had an Element Lad story done 10 years ago.
Today the character is dead. Can you tell us about that story?
Colleen Doran:
You know, I was a big Legion fan for many years. Everyone knew that.
But the last Legion editor flatly informed me that anyone who had been part
of the previous Legion mythos was not welcome back on the book. In fact, I
was slated to write and draw an issue of the Legion with Element Lad as
the main character! My script had been approved by then editor KC
Carlson, right before he left DC Comics, but when the new editor came along, he
refused to go forward with the story and I didn't get paid for my work. He
wouldn't even return my phone calls. I was very upset by that, so I
stopped reading the Legion entirely. I didn't even know Element Lad was
dead until now! I guess I should be really upset! He was my favorite
character!
The last time I was up at DC, I did show the Legion editor my new work
on Orbiter and he completely changed his mind about me and asked if I
might want to do some Legion work again sometime. However, he didn't last
another week at the company.
Anyway, that Legion story I did was written by Keith Giffen. I will never
forget it. It was important to me in a lot of ways. It wasn't my first
Legion work, but it was my last. When I was in high school, Keith Giffen
had seen my work in a fanzine and called to offer me a job on the Legion!
I really wasn't ready for it, but a few years later, I did get some small
Legion jobs. Keith Giffen has always been very important to me. He was
one of the first professionals to see my potential and he always treated me
with absolute fairness and honesty. So, to get to work with him on a
Legion tale with my favorite character Element Lad, was a real treat.
The story concerned Element Lad's girlfriend Shvaughn Erin, who
actually turns out to be a guy who has had a sex change! The fans went wild!
Some of them really hated it! Politically correct gays got up in arms about it.
Others were cool. I thought it was audacious and I loved it! However,
there are about four pages in it that were drawn by Curt Swan. I became
so sick with pnuemonia while working on that book I almost died. I'll never
forget it! I couldn't even hold a pencil or speak. So, Curt finished the
job. In a way, it was good, because I got to collaborate with Curt who was
always one of my big heroes. Every year for Christmas and my birthday
he would draw me a little picture of Element Lad with hearts and flowers or
something. My agent would get him to do them for me. I loved Curt and I
miss him terribly.
Coville:
What are you doing in the future?
Colleen Doran:
Well, I am working on Orbiter as I said before. It is a science fiction
tale about the space shuttle. The shuttle went on a mission and
disappeared. Ten years later, it returns! Mayhem ensues. As a total space
program geek, this is a dream project for me and I went gonzo on it. Frank
Miller told me I was outdoing Geoff Darrow! The detail is out of control.
I am loving it.
Also, I am doing a new series for DC with Keith Giffen. It is called Epoch
of Zodiac or Zodiac for short. I am penciling and Bob Wiacek is inking,
which is a blessing because I am very hard to ink and Wiacek is one of
about three people who can pull it off. Zodiac is an epic fantasy about
the warring houses of the Zodiac. It is very dramatic and political and
is, in my humble opinion, Keith Giffen's best work. People are going to go
ape over this book. It is one of the most difficult things I have ever
drawn in my life because each house of the Zodiac must have distinct
looks, styles of architecture, clothing and props. Nothing can look
comic-bookish or costumey. It is a monster task. The goal is to have the
styles so distinctive that one look will tell you with which house someone
is associated. That's not at all easy. However, I think I am up to it
because I am notoriously detail obsessed. Keith says I am the most fun
he has ever had working with an obsessive compulsive!
I am also working on future issues of A Distant Soil. A Distant Soil is
the story of a young girl who is born the heir to an alien religious
dynasty. She is the center of a conflict between rival factions fighting
for control of their world. It is extremely complex and highly character
oriented. I adore working on this book. It is nearing the end of the
principal story arc and we finally get to see who wins. But good guys are
not always good guys in this story and things really don't go in any one
direction, so I am keeping people guessing. No one has correctly pegged
the ending.
I have only told one person what happens: Jeff Smith. I was pulling a
marathon session on A Distant Soil one night and he was going berserk
on Bone and we both just said "I'll tell you mine if you tell me yours!"
During this eight hour phone call that went until about 5 AM one day, we
both told each other everything about our books and where they were
going and he had exactly the kind of reaction every author hopes for when he
heard what I was up to, so now I am moving toward the end with
confidence. If Jeff says it's good, I'm okay!
I am also working on The Six Swans for Image. It is an adaptation of the
old Brother's Grimm tale of six brothers who were changed by their wicked
stepmother into Swans, and the trials their sister must endure to save
them. It is a very straightforward telling, but I have added some elements
of my own. It will be a combination of illustration and graphic
storytelling, much like Stardust, I imagine.
Coville:
Do you have any work lined up outside of the comic industry?
Colleen Doran:
Actually, until this year, I have been doing a lot of illustration outside
of comics, but this year I have so much comics work, I have cut back.
however, I have been speaking to a major film studio for a few weeks
about doing conceptual work on a feature film. It is up in the air. I am excited
about it, but would have to live out of the country for awhile. I do not
know if I will take it or not. It all depends.
Coville:
You have told a wide variety of interesting stories about your
experiences in the comic industry, with crazy fans, bad publishers and
other creators. Have you considered doing an autobiography comic?
Colleen Doran:
I have thought about it, but actually, I have been working on an
autobiographical screenplay with Keith Giffen. A publisher got buzz
about the project and has approached us about doing it as a graphic novel first.
We haven't decided. The buzz on the screenplay is incredibly good.
People who have read parts of it have laughed their heads off. Some of my
experiences were horrific, but we have turned them into comedy gold. It's
the best revenge, really.
Coville:
I know in the past you had problems with crazy fans trying to break
your hand and stalking you. Do you still have these problems today?
Colleen Doran:
Very rarely. When I went pro, I was a very young girl. I was fifteen. I
weighed 95 lbs and looked 12. Every creepy old pervert from coast to coast
was chafing my trail. I got older, I got wiser and I learned to fight
back. It has slowed down considerably.
Actually, Harlan Ellison took care of the stalker. This guy began creeping
around when I was a teen. He used to write me letters saying I looked like
a "little English schoolgirl". He was in his thirties, I think, when he
started, and here I was, a teenage girl. He would send me resumes and
newspaper articles about him with his age scratched out so I wouldn't know
he was a middle aged perv. The guy was a total creep. This went on for a
decade. One day I was boo-hooing to Harlan and he just said "Give me his
number. I'll take care of it." Apparently, he made a phone call to this
freak that scared the bejeezus out of him. We didn't hear from him for two
solid years. Then he started back up again and I went right to the police.
Stalking laws have come a long way in the last decade and I think he
finally got he message that if he didn't stop his nonsense, he was going
to end up in jail.
Coville:
Do you think the comic industry has matured since you began working in
it?
Colleen Doran:
Hell, yes. To be perfectly frank, I would like to blot out all of my early
experiences and pretend they never happened. I am so enjoying my life in
comics today, it is hard to believe it is the same business. My life now
is the way I always dreamed it would be.
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