.
DF Interview: Ray Fawkes reflects on 10th anniversary of ‘One Soul’, talks about coming book ‘One Line’
By Byron Brewer
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the critically acclaimed One Soul written and illustrated by Ray Fawkes, Oni-Lion Forge has announced a commemorative edition of the moving graphic novel as well as Fawkes’ upcoming One Line, a brand-new book.
One Soul details the lives of eighteen individuals throughout history whose lives unfold simultaneously. Comprised entirely of double-page spreads split into eighteen panels, with each panel featuring one character's life, cartoonist Ray Fawkes uses an experimental narrative structure to artfully craft eighteen linear stories into one non-linear masterpiece.
As One Soul followed eighteen people from birth until death, showcasing their common joys and pains as well as their unique experiences, the coming One Line follows eighteen families through four centuries, showing how traditions, ethics and prejudices are handed down from generation to generation. Some families will interact, some will join together, some will remain alone. Some will persist, and some will die out.
It was my honor to speak with my old friend Ray Fawkes as these two works near their releases.
Dynamic Forces: Ray, my friend, One Soul was/is a masterpiece of rare meaning and depth, IMHO. I know the story – it’s almost comics lore, I would claim – but for those who do not, tell readers why you set out 10 years ago to write the One Soul graphic novel … or as I have always thought of it, a graphic album.
Ray Fawkes: This being retrospect, I’m either seeing what moved me back then more clearly now, or less so. How can I be sure? Still: there were two forces that came together in compelling me to create One Soul, as I recall.
The first was, noticing the unique way time and space worked on the comics page, I wanted to test the limits of simultaneous storytelling in a way that could only possibly work in the comic book form. I wanted to see if I could use the layout of repeating double-page spreads to create a mosaic of stories, all independent and interlinked, all unfolding at the same time, to tell eighteen interesting stories and use the synergy between them to create a single, overall story.
Second, I had experienced a deep personal loss, and I wanted to say something about it. One Soul was my place to say it.
DF: I know you have been moved over the years by the overwhelming response this tome must have brought you. But originally, One Soul came during a tumultuous time in your life when you were searching for answers to questions and this was your creative vehicle. Tell us, if you would: Did you get the answers you were seeking?
Ray Fawkes: Are there answers? I got something like satisfaction, and a sense of calm. I’d say rather than find the answers, I came to a decision, and that decision worked for me. A way to see my own life, and the range of sadnesses and joys in it, and a way to see and to say that none of us is alone.
DF: I do not know how you summarize a description for such a book, but please try to tell our readers about the overall storyline(s) of One Soul.
Ray Fawkes: One Soul is the story of eighteen different people’s entire lives, from birth ‘till death, throughout human history and around the world. All of the characters in One Soul are very different, and all of them are arguably connected. It is a book about asking why we live and why we die, and looking to the only person who can answer that question for each of us.
DF: Can you introduce readers to just a few of your primary protagonists in One Soul?
Ray Fawkes: I’ll take a sample of four of them. There is a prehistoric hunter in Northern Europe, who roams with his tribe. There is a wealthy silk maker in China who guards the secret of her craft. There is a slave in the American South who dreams of escape. There is a pilot in the First World War who loves nothing more than to fly.
All four of them, and all sixteen of the others, are the primary protagonists of the story. Nobody is secondary.
DF: For the new reader who has never set eyes on One Soul, what would you like each of them to come away with from the book?
Ray Fawkes: That’s a tough question. It’s not for me to say what anybody takes away from the work, and to lay my intent over it is to create an artificial expectation. It’s not as if I don’t have hopes or intentions - it’s that I have to train myself not to push them onto people.
I will allow myself this one: I think it’s pretty clear to anyone who reads this book, and several of my others, that I hope they’ll come away from it thinking that comics are an incredible and unique way to tell a story.
DF: Okay, time to talk about One Line. Is it a sequel, or just a natural follow-up? Are there any story threads at all connecting it to One Soul?
Ray Fawkes: One Line is a conceptual progression from One Soul. It’s not a sequel -- not in the sense that the story of One Soul continues in it -- it’s more like… the story expands outwards. You needn’t read one to understand the other, but reading them both is like looking at the same world through two different lenses. The language is similar, the storytelling style is similar, but the story and the thinking behind it is completely different.
Put another way: One Soul is about the birth and death of eighteen people. One Line is about the endurance and destruction of eighteen families and the evolution of their traditions and prejudices. Micro and macro, perhaps, or inward and outward.
There are a few threads connecting the two books, which I will leave to the readers to uncover.
DF: Tell us about what readers will find in One Line. What was the catalyst this time for its creation?
Ray Fawkes: With the exception of a short, prehistoric prologue, One Line follows eighteen families over the course of a few centuries, telling the story of the influence each generation exerts on the next, and how those influences play out when some of those families cross paths.
It is a book about prejudice and tradition, rebellion and ambition.
I think, whereas the story of One Soul was set in motion by a personal sadness, One Line was generated by my thoughts and worries about the turmoil in our world, the clash between people and the deep-seated reasons behind them.
DF: In your opinion, does the subject matter of One Line reflect at all the Covid-19 pandemic, and the struggles we have all been through?
Ray Fawkes: I think a lot of the differences between people leapt into stark relief during the pandemic -- between those with and without certain privilege, for instance, and those with opposing philosophical outlooks on all sorts of axes. Talk about turmoil -- all of it was obviously on my mind while I worked on this book, and it’s all reflected in the book.
DF: Can you whet our readers’ imaginations by introducing one or two of your families from One Line?
Ray Fawkes: I’ll do the same, picking four of them. Two of the families descend from a pair of mercenary brothers in the city-state of Venice, each taking paths on the opposite sides of fortune. One family descends from a Cheyenne warrior who faces the invasion of Colonial America. One family descends from a North African tribesman who escapes the enslavement of his village.
Each family – these four, and the other sixteen featured in the book – has the same needs, and similar desires. But each of them walks a completely different path, and sees the world in their own way. Some of them get everything they could dream of. Some of them suffer terribly. Some do both. All of them, together, tell a new story. One that I hope can reach as many people – or more – as One Soul did.
Dynamic Forces would like to thank Ray Fawkes for taking time out of his busy schedule to answer our questions. One Soul: Tenth Anniversary Edition will see release February 24th while One Line will be on sale July 21st. Both are from the Oni-Lion Forge Publishing Group.
For more news and up-to-date announcements, join us here at Dynamic Forces, www.dynamicforces.com/htmlfiles/, “LIKE” us on Facebook, www.facebook.com/dynamicforcesinc, and follow us on Twitter, www.twitter.com/dynamicforces.
PATHFINDER GOBLINS HC
PATHFINDER: GOBLINS! TRADE PAPERBACK
THE SOVEREIGNS: END OF THE GOLDEN AGE TRADE PAPERBACK
VAMPIRELLA VS. PURGATORI #1 - JOSEPH MICHAEL LINSNER CGC-GRADED COVER
VAMPIRELLA VS. PURGATORI #1 - DERRICK CHEW CGC-GRADED COVER
