Inspiration
In 2019 the commercial space race really began to heat up. I wondered what space travel could look like in 100 years for my descendants.
This led me to draw my first web comic in 2020 about a family preparing for a space flight in the same way a family prepares for a plane ride. I imagine the kids and adults would take for granted the idea that they will be leaving earth to float among the stars.
The story centered around the pioneering Jones family, who are selected to be one of the first families to make the trip to Mars, but after a freak accident their trip is going to be anything but direct.
Stuck at home, I imagined what it must be like to make the 195 million mile trip to Mars with my wife and 4 kids. With the extra time on my hands due to the pandemic I set a goal to produce one webcomic each week for 52 weeks. Originally called Moonshot based on a short I created for a 3 day film festival, the title was updated to From A Distance. It referenced our reality in 2020 of living and working on Zoom, and led me to also think about how as families we can be close physically, but so very distant in our day to day lives.
Prologue
The Jones family’s trip is sponsored by the Recycled Rocket company. Recycled Rocket company is a subsidiary of Rocket Renewals, a global corporation responsible for 25 percent of the ecological restoration effort after the Great Spill. A major part of their restoration effort is removing humans from the ecological equation by depopulating the earth. Initially done by consolidating humans into mega city towers, then to floating cities, and eventually off planet.
After being selected to captain a ship to Mars, Commander Zena Jones and her son Ace, were paired with Dr. Nathan Milos. During their 10 year preflight preparation Zena and Nate had Milo and Audra.
Ace Stratos, a rescue from the streets of Big City, makes sure that his aloof, uber positive younger brother Milo doesn’t fly off into trouble, and his sheltered little sister Audra can hold her own.
Zena’s focused but loving demeanor keeps the family on target while Nate spends his time nose deep in his interest, continually over explaining everything. Join the Jones family as they figure out their roles in the universe and in their own family.
You can read the entire first chapter of From A Distance on Instagram.
