Sevara

by Damian Wampler, Andre Siregar (Illustrator), Anang Setyawan (Colorist)

In a future so distant it looks like our past, Sevara has seen centuries come and go like so many sunrises and sunsets. After Sevara and a group of shapeshifting immortals guide humanity to peace, one final task remains - to give up their memories, and their immortality, and live one last life. All they have to do is sleep for ten thousands years, and forget. All the immortals keep their promise and give up their powers. Everyone that is, except Sevara. Sevara awakens to find that suffering and cruelty returned to the world, while all her friends have had their memories wiped clean. You'd think that being the only shapeshifting immortal would be a good thing. But Sevara soon finds that the memories of her mortal life infected humanity while she slept, and her very own past may destroy the future.

Genres: Comics

132 pages, Paperback

First published March 12, 2015

About the author

Damian is a lifelong documentary photographer who originally hails from Newark, Delaware. Damian earned a bachelor’s degree in English and Anthropology from Boston University and boarded a place bound for Kyrgyzstan shortly after, where he taught English for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer. Later, he earned a Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in Russian, Eastern Europe and Central Asian Studies, and returned to the Kyrgyz republic as a Fulbright researcher. He returned to the United States to study digital photography at the School of Visual Arts in New York City. He also wrote and produced a full-length play which premiered June, 2009. Damian is the writer and creator of the Sevara graphic novel. He is currently a Foreign Service Officer in the U.S. State Department, and lives most of his days overseas with his wife, son, and toy poodle.

Reviews

[Moriah · Rating 4 out of 5]

When Mr. Wampler Offered a physical copy of this beautiful Graphic Novel in exchange for an honest review, I was both honored and privileged to get to do it. When the novel arrived, I was first and foremost blown away by the art. The artwork is visually stunning and beautifully done; it brought the whole world to life.
I thoroughly enjoyed this work of fiction. I've noticed that in sci-fi or fantasy comic, the writers usually throws a garbage pile of references and new vocabulary at you to help learn of its universe. This luckily, is not the case here. It gives you the space to grasp what is going on.

There’s something incredible, I believe, in finding art that stands out from the page without any barriers. Each page featured colorful, detailed, mini-masterpieces.

[Donnielle Tyner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a big fan of graphic novels and usually stay within the superhero genre and don't really read many science fiction graphic novels. My preference is such because science fiction GN tend to be a little overly complicated and confusing. Sevara started off that way, but once I pushed through I really started to enjoy the story.

Mr. Wampler is an imaginative story-teller. I absolutely loved the prequel novel that gives more background to Sevara and when Damian approached me to review the GN, I wholeheartedly agreed.

When the novel arrived, I was first and foremost blown away by the art. It is beautifully done and brought to life Sevara's character and her powers.

Once I started reading it, I struggled for a while to understand what exactly was going on, but well into chapter two, I caught on, but still had one issue. For me, there wasn't any significant break when the story jumped from past to present. In the first chapter, the story jumps back to a scene in the Sevara: Dawn of Hope novel. The colors were dulled in that panel compared to the other and I thought it brilliant that they would differentiate the past in such a way, but later in the story they jumped back again to a storyline in Sevara: Dawn of Hope without any noticeable change. If I hadn't read the novel first, I don't think I would have understood the reference.

Other than that, the story in this GN is on point and I just love how Mr. Wampler's mind works. The cultural parallels are brilliant and the religious aspects are thought-inducing.

I would absolutely recommend this graphic novel, but I would highly suggest reading Sevara: Dawn of Hope first. (Oh and definitely check out the extras in the back - that timeline really brought the story into perspective)