Across the comic book industry, countless creators pull double duty as both a writer and an artist. One such creator is one of only two people to be listed on the top 25 female comic creators of all-time in both the writer and artist categories. As July 24 marks her 54th birthday, now is the perfect time to trace the history of this prolific creator.
Colleen Doran was born on July 24, 1964 and immediately began leaving her mark on the art world. At the young age of five she won an art contest sponsored by the Walt Disney Company, before branching into superhero art at the age of 10. Just two short years later, Doran created her very first comic book series, A Distant Soil. This series would go on to be published by Image Comics and declared a “groundbreaking science fiction comics…ahead of its time,” by the Journal of the British Science Fiction Association.
After attending the Christopher Newport University and the Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Doran apprenticed under science fiction artist Frank Kelly Freas throughout the early 1980s. When she was still just a teenager, Doran broke into the comic book industry working for Tom Long’s fanzine Graphic Showcase. Despite being hired to draw a revival of Miss Fury, the young Doran later quit over the series adult content. Around this time she also contributed illustrations to the fanzine Lan’s Lantern.
As early as 1979, A Distant Soil was being published in various fanzines and eventually drew the attention of WaRP Graphics. However, following a dispute with the company, Doran left WaRP and discarded the 300 pages of work she did. She then rewrote and redrew the entire A Distant Soil story from scratch. Since 1996, A Distant Soil has been published by Image and has sold more than 700,000 copies in multiple printings.
Her work on the Legion of Superheroes fanzine Interlac later drew the attention of DC Comics’ Keith Giffen. Since then she has frequently collaborated with DC on The Legion of Superheroes projects, Justice League 3001, and Reign of the Zodiac. She also provided art for Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld, Who’s Who in the DC Universe, Who’s Who in the Legion of Superheroes, Superman: Man of Steel Gallery, Christmas with the DC Superheroes, Captain Atom, Star Trek, Hawkman Annual, Teen Titans, and Wonder Woman. Doran has also illustrated portions of story arcs in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman series, in which the character Thessaly is based on Doran.
Outside of DC and Vertigo, Doran had worked on such Marvel titles as Swords of the Swashbucklers, The Guardians of the Galaxy Annual, The Silver Surfer, Marvel Fanfare, Excalibur, Captain America: Drug Wars, Amazing Spider-Man, Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man, a Power Pack miniseries, Handbook of the Marvel Universe, Mutant X, X-Factor, Marvel Girl Comics, and X-Men Millennial Visions.
Her work in Marvel’s Special Projects Department allowed her to work directly with the legendary Stan Lee. Which is why it’s no surprise that in 2015 she used this newfound knowledge of Lee to pen the bestselling graphic memoir Amazing Fantastic Incredible Stan Lee with Lee and Peter David (The Incredible Hulk).
More recently, Doran provided art for an adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s short story “Troll Bridge” as a graphic novel for Dark Horse Comics. She has also worked on issues of Faith and X-O Manowar for Valiant Comics. Currently, Doran is working as an artists on an upcoming comic adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s American Gods as well as the series Finality via Line Webtoon.
Given the amount of accolades and prominence Doran has acquired over the years, and the fact that she launched her career at age 5, this powerhouse creator shows no signs of slowing down. There is no telling what she will accomplish given another 50 years, but one thing is for sure – fans will be eagerly standing by.
