''Pakkins' Land'' is an epic all-ages

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction involving Magic (supernatural), magical elements, typically set in a fictional universe and sometimes inspired by mythology and folklore. Its roots are in oral traditions, which then became fantasy ...

story created by husband and wife team, Gary and

Rhoda Shipman Rhoda Shipman (born January 30, 1968) is a comic book writer from the United States. Biography Shipman and her husband Gary Shipman created, wrote and edited the independent comic book series '' Pakkins' Land'', which tells the story of Paul, a y ...

. Originating as a critically hailed comic book series, the story was written by the pair with Gary Shipman illustrating the series. ''Pakkins’ Land'' tells the tale of Paul, a young boy who finds himself in a magical world filled with talking animals, mystery and excitement.

Publication history

1995 saw the first appearance of ''Pakkins' Land'' in the form of black & white

xerox Xerox Holdings Corporation (; also known simply as Xerox) is an American corporation that sells print and electronic document, digital document products and services in more than 160 countries. Xerox is headquartered in Norwalk, Connecticut (ha ...

ed copied issues called ashcans. Because of the nature of these first three issues being creator-produced, they were very low-edition, and as such have since become extremely rare. In October 1996 the independent comic book company,

Caliber Comics Caliber Comics or Caliber Press is an American comic book publisher founded in 1989 by Gary Reed. Featuring primarily creator-owned comics, Caliber published over 1,300 comics in the decade following its inception and is ranked as one of America ...

, began publishing the first of the six issue monthly series (including republishing the ashcan editions), ''Pakkins' Land: Paul's Adventure'', as its flagship title in launching an all-ages imprint, Tapestry. The issues consist of black & white interior pages with full-color covers that become the series published format for almost the entire next decade. In June 1997 Tapestry published the stand-alone ''Pakkins' Land'' Issue # 0, to serve as a prologue to the ''Pakkins' Land'' series. With the first six-issue story arc concluded, in August 1997 Caliber began publishing (under its own label after dissolving the Tapestry imprint) the second six-issue installment of the series, ''Pakkins' Land: Quest For Kings'', which continued the overall story. Issue # 1 was published with two variant covers, one which featured the art of Jeff Smith of ''

Bone A bone is a Stiffness, rigid Organ (biology), organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red blood cell, red and white blood cells, store minerals, provid ...

'' fame. Starting in September 1997 the ''Pakkins' Land'' saga was further serialized in 17 short offshoot stories as a full-color weekly

webcomic Webcomics (also known as online comics or Internet comics) are comics published on a website or mobile app. While many are published exclusively on the web, others are also published in magazines, newspapers, or comic books. Webcomics can be co ...

strip presented by online comics' retailer, mania.com. In October 1997 Caliber repackaged the entire six issues of ''Pakkins' Land: Paul's Adventure'' and the ''Pakkins' Land'' Issue # 0, publishing it as a trade paperback entitled: ''Pakkins' Land: Paul's Adventure''. In November 1997, with Issue # 3, ''Pakkins' Land: Quest For Kings'' began a bi-monthly publishing schedule. In April 1998 Caliber began publishing ''Pakkins' Land: Forgotten Dreams''. Caliber ultimately published only three issues of the four issue series. In December 1998 Caliber published ''A Caliber Christmas'' which featured a seven-page ''Pakkins' Land'' story, entitled: ''Pakkins' Land: Christmas Remembered''. In March 2000

Image Comics Image Comics is an American comic book publisher and is the third largest comic book and graphic novel publisher in the industry in both unit and market share. It was founded in 1992 by several high-profile illustrators as a venue for creator-ow ...

published a larger-sized Issue # 4, which wrapped up the ''Pakkins' Land: Forgotten Dreams'' story arc. In 2000 ''Pakkins' Land Volume One: Paul's Adventure, Revised Edition'' was published as a trade paperback by the Shipman's own

self-publishing Self-publishing is the publication of media by its author at their own cost, without the involvement of a publisher. The term usually refers to written media, such as books and magazines, either as an ebook or as a physical copy using POD (pr ...

imprint, Pakkins Presents. The graphic novel features a revised look at the first six-issue series, including additional new art and writing. In 2001 the trade paperbacks ''Pakkins' Land Volume Two: Quest For Kings'' and ''Pakkins' Land Volume Three: Forgotten Dreams'' were published by Pakkins Presents. In April 2003 the trade paperback ''Pakkins' Land Volume Four: Tavitah'' was published by Pakkins Presents. In May 2005, Pakkins' Land was realized for the first time in complete full-color as the independent comic book company,

Alias Enterprises Alias Enterprises is an American publishing company. Their main divisions are Alias Comics (all-ages comic books) and Cross Culture (Christian comic books). Based in San Diego, California, it was founded in January 2005 by Brett Burner and Mike S ...

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began publishing a newly revised edition of the series as a monthly title. In 2011, ''Pakkins' Land The Complete Series'': Volume 1 (of 5) Presented in the original black-and-white, includes a foreword by comic veteran

Jim Krueger Jim Krueger () is an American comic book writer, novelist, and filmmaker. Early life Jim Krueger and his brother grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He developed an interest in comic books and storytelling in his youth, and has described a fateful t ...

, an all-new original painted cover and special features inside. Volume One was released by the publishing company, Lamp Post Inc. In 2012, ''Pakkins' Land The Complete Series'': Volume 2 (of 5) Presented in the original black-and-white, includes a foreword by comic creator Gary Shipman, an all-new original painted cover and special features inside. Volume Two was released by the publishing company, Lamp Post Inc. In 2013, ''Pakkins' Land The Complete Series'': Volume 3 (of 5) Presented in the original black-and-white, includes a foreword by writer James Pruett, an all-new original painted cover and special features inside. Volume Three was released by the publishing company, Lamp Post Inc. In July 2018, ''Pakkins Land'' creator

Gary Shipman Gary Lee Shipman (born March 16, 1966) is an American artist, comic book illustrator and writer of ''Pakkins' Land''. He is father to three children. Biography Shipman grew up in Salinas, California and is a self-taught artist. His interest in ...

, in a live stream on his YouTube channel, announced he was working on new material to continue the series. By December 2018, Shipman had announced during his live streams that he was working on an

Omnibus edition An omnibus edition or omnibus is a creative work containing one or more works by the same or, more rarely, different authors. Commonly two or more components have been previously published as books but a collection of shorter works, or shorter wor ...

of the series which would feature over 400 pages of art, and began drawing new story art for it during those streams.

Reception

Receiving accolades from both fans and critics alike, the series has been compared to '' The Wizard of Oz'' and ''

The Chronicles of Narnia ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' is a series of seven high fantasy novels by British author C. S. Lewis. Illustrated by Pauline Baynes and originally published between 1950 and 1956, ''The Chronicles of Narnia'' has been adapted for radio, telev ...

'', and garnered award recognition. (See also:

Awards An award, sometimes called a distinction, is something given to a recipient as a token of recognition of excellence in a certain field. When the token is a medal, ribbon or other item designed for wearing, it is known as a decoration. An award ...

) Cold Cut Distribution called ''Pakkins' Land'' "A charming fantasy full of childlike wonder" and wrote: "'There aren't enough comics out there for younger readers,' say some shop owners. 'Or for the child in all of us,' I agree. Luckily, here's one more."

Characters

* Paul - Human * Mr. Brambles - Bear * Gus - Jackal * Tikvah - Flying Squirrel * Aryah - Lion (The King) * Rahsha - Human (The Evil King) * Sedek - Human (The King) * Shani - Wolf * Hazak - Gorilla * Lila - Racoon * Jeremiah - Elephant * Nahmer - Tiger * Sampson - Killer Whale * Twila - Dolphin * Kafatz - Kangaroo * Tamarah - Elephant * Tavitah - Human (Princess) * Pip - Bat (Dark Flyer) * Adelbert - Rabbit

Books

The work is (thus far) composed of 4 volumes:

Pakkins' Land Volume One: Paul's Adventure

Novel

published 2000 * Chapter 1: ''My Adventure'' * Chapter 2: ''The Long Way!'' * Chapter 3: ''Cliff Hanger'' * Chapter 4: ''The Awakening'' * Chapter 5: ''Death Ridge''

Comic Book

* Issue # 1: ''Paul's Adventure'' * Issue # 2: ''The Long Way!'' * Issue # 3: ''Cliff Hanger'' * Issue # 4: ''Death Ridge'' * Issue # 5: ''Stranger In A Strange Land'' * Issue # 6: ''The Gathering''

Pakkins' Land Volume Two: Quest For Kings

Novel

published 2001 * Chapter 1: ''Quest For Kings'' * Chapter 2: ''The Gathering'' * Chapter 3: ''The Captive'' * Chapter 4: ''...And A Little Child Shall Lead Them'' * Chapter 5: ''Forbidden City''

Comic Book

* Issue # 1: ''Quest For Kings'' * Issue # 2: ''...And A Little Child Shall Lead Them'' * Issue # 3: ''Forbidden City'' * Issue # 4: ''The Rescuers'' * Issue # 5: ''The Confrontation'' * Issue # 6: ''Stand Off!''

Pakkins' Land Volume Three: Forgotten Dreams

Novel

published 2001 * Chapter 1: ''Cave In'' * Chapter 2: ''The Symbol'' * Chapter 3: ''Rasha's Dungeon'' * Chapter 4: ''The Confrontation'' * Chapter 5: ''The Healer''

Comic Book

* Issue # 1: ''Forgotten Dreams'' * Issue # 2: ''Awake Sleeper!'' * Issue # 3: ''Strange Dreams'' * Issue # 4: ''These Dreams'' (published by

)

Pakkins' Land Volume Four: Tavitah

Novel

published April 2003 * Chapter 1: ''The Change'' * Chapter 2: ''Awake Sleeper!'' * Chapter 3: ''Strange Dreams'' * Chapter 4: ''These Dreams''

Awards

* 1997

Harvey Award The Harvey Awards are given for achievement in comic books. Named for writer-artist Harvey Kurtzman, the Harvey Awards were founded by Gary Groth in 1988, president of the publisher Fantagraphics, to be the successor to the Kirby Awards that were ...

Nominee in the category of ''Best New Talent ''. * 1997

Russ Manning Award The Russ Manning Most Promising Newcomer Award is an American award presented to a comic book artist whose first professional work appeared within the previous two years. It was named after comic book artist Russ Manning. The winner is chosen from ...

Nominee for ''Most Promising Newcomer''. * 1998

Eisner Award The Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards, commonly shortened to the Eisner Awards, are prizes given for creative achievement in American comic books, sometimes referred to as the comics industry's equivalent of the Academy Awards. They are named in ...

Nominee in the category of ''Talent Deserving Of Wider Recognition''.1998 Will Eisner Comic Industry Award Nominees
the Comic Book Awards Almanac

External links

Coverbrowser.com - Pakkins Land

References

{{Authority control Caliber Comics titles Image Comics titles Alias Enterprises titles American graphic novels Christian comics Fantasy comics 1995 comics debuts Comics characters introduced in 1995