C2E2 2011: PREVIEW Ray Fawkes Offers Up 18 Stories for the Price of ONE SOUL

Tons of exciting announcements out of C2E2 today, but one of our favorites is word of a new Oni OGN from cartoonist Ray Fawkes (Possessions, Apocalipstix)

The book is called One Soul, and it tells the story of 18 different people from throughout history in the course of 160+ pages. It goes beyond cradle to the grave too, starting at conception. We even seen these characters gestate, simultaneously, until they are born and develop into individuals in various times and places throughout the world. 

The publisher is calling it "the most ambitious book Oni has ever published."

How ambitious? Well, every page is part of a two page spread of 18 panels. Each of those panels is devoted to one of the 18 characters. It's sort of like the opening titles of the Brady Bunch with each person inhabiting their own section of the grid. But instead of that grid dissolving into a tradition ensemble sitcom, the grid is a permanent fixture. We watch these people develop simultaneously, regardless of their place in history, whether it's the stone age or the jazz age. 

Why these 18 lives in tandem? 

"They're all very different," Fawkes said of the characters in One Soul, who cover a spectrum of classes, religions, and careers. "You could read them separately, read their lives one panel at a time, but when you put them together and see their differences and their common points, you catch a glimpse of a greater scope. The characters, through their frustrations and triumphs, are asking and answering big questions and, in a way, in cartooning One Soul, I'm trying to do the same for myself."

Let's have a look to see what he's talking about:

Look for One Soul in July.