Adora and the Distance

by Marc Bernardin, Ariela Kristantina (Artist), Jessica Kholinne (Colorist)

Adora and the Distance is a YA fantasy graphic novel following the epic adventures of Adora, a brave young woman of color who lives in a fantastical world with underground pirates, ghosts, and a mysterious force called "The Distance" which threatens to destroy it all.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Comics, Young Adult, Fiction, Adventure, Middle Grade

107 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2021

Reviews

[Tabitha · Rating 1 out of 5]

This isn’t inspirational, it’s problematic.

Honestly, I’m not even sure where to begin except to first say that if I read another review that uses the words inspirational or inspiring when describing this book, I might actually gag. While I am not autistic, I am disabled and this book is 100% an example of inspirational rhetoric. It's terrible and wrong, and certain communities are tired of seeing it pushed especially by people who have children that are considered part of those communities. I know autistic people, and have interacted in their communities, which is why I felt rage when I got to the end of this book. Autism is not something to be gotten through anymore than a disability is something to be overcome. And it most definitely is not a plot twist! That doesn’t even start to touch how awful the conversation is these adults are having while discussing this child.

Even before I got to the terrible reveal, I had almost DNFed this book cause the writing and plot wasn't good. It was rushed, there wasn’t any reaction to reveals like the character’s closest companion betraying her, they just moved on from character deaths like it was no big deal or made contradictory claims like acting upset people might die while going on about how people are going to die when others got upset as if they were being unreasonable, etc. but I’m glad I finished. Now I can tell people how awful this book is so they don’t read it to children - especially autistic children. There are better books out there for children regarding autism that aren’t insulting to autistic people. Some are even written by people who are actually autistic. I recommend checking those out instead.

[Carmen (TheReadingTrashQueen) · Rating 1 out of 5]

Autism is not a thing to get through, thanks. Nor is it 'stubborn', it just is.

It also isn't a plot twist.

Fuck you.

Sincerely,

An Autistic reader.

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

I certainly didn’t expect this to go where it did, but I had a good time getting there. It’s about a young princess in a fantasy world who is plagued by dreams of The Distance. No one knows what The Distance is but when it comes, it kills everyone around you. So Adora goes looking for The Distance with a small group of adventurers. Bernardin has spoken about his personal life many times in his podcasts and I thought this was a wonderful tribute to his daughter.

[bookish bailey · Rating 1 out of 5]

When the art is gorgeous but the story is??? MC doesn’t really do anything but be an extreme “chosen one” who doesn’t do anything for herself at all. Also the weird conversation between the adults at the end was so uncomfortable and sad. I do not at all understand how using autism as a plot twist was a good idea? Especially because no part of the novel showed the MC actually really doing anything to forward the plot, she was just there while everyone around her did the work.

“All I want is to hear her say ‘I love you’ and know she really means it”
This was so sweet and I thought it was going to be a story about a girl abandoned as a baby finding her way back to parents from another world that were forced to give her up for some reason but instead it’s just someone complaining about having a nonverbal child :) and then proceeding to talk about “brutal” therapy? It doesn’t sit right with me chief

[Bookishrealm]

Okay so after much thought and consideration. I’m going to leave this one unrated. There are reviews that give much better insight to this story than I ever could especially those reviewers who are autistic. While Marc was attempting to showcase his experience as a parent of an autistic child, there are those who find his method of doing this to be ableist and a misrepresentation of what it’s like to have autism. I am in neither position so I can’t speak to either experience. I did find the connection interesting but the overall story was difficult to follow in some places because it jumped around. I really also enjoyed the art and it’s complexity. This is one of those works that I think had good intentions because the execution caused varied feelings. That doesn’t mean that Marc’s expression or feelings as a parent should be diminished, but it definitely is something worth looking at closely.

[Sam Erin · Rating 1 out of 5]

What in the ableist NONSENSE did I just read? The story was going great at first, cool diverse cast, though everyone outside the MC was a bit under developed and then... SURPRISE! All this is going on inside an Autistic girl's head. None of what you just read was real! What a cool plot twist right? No. No it's not a cool twist. And a BUNCH of ableist nonsense is said about her and autism in general and I'm just.... stunned that the creative team really thought this was a good idea. This is just an example of why OwnVoices is so important, or heck, even just getting a sensitivity reader because it's clear to me that this was had neither. As an autistic person, all I can say is Oh. Boy. Howdy. This is not a good book

[Diz · Rating 2 out of 5]

The story here isn't that good. The main character doesn't actually do anything. Rather, she is helped by an endless parade of companions that pop in, introduce themselves, serve some function, and then leave the story. To make matters worse, it's never made clear what the main character's objective is. However, at the end of the book there is a twist that makes clear why the story is the way that it is. While it all makes sense in the end, I can't say that the reading experience was a pleasurable one.

[Reader of Books · Rating 1 out of 5]

Wow, here I was reading a nice fantasy story and, BOOM, suddenly I'm hit with all the ableism. Autism as a plot twist, how totally unwelcome. Apparently "autism can be stubborn" (autism is not a thing that can be stubborn! It's a type of brain!) and is something to "find [your] way through", and there's the desire of wanting "to hear her say 'I love you' and know she really means it", as if autistic people don't mean it when we say we love someone? What? Then you have these parents talking about the autistic child *in front of the autistic child* as if she can't hear them. Plus, the nice summing up of the therapies the kid has had, apparently "difficult", "encouraging", and "brutal". No child should have therapies that are "brutal". WTF.

I think I get where the author was going with this, and I did read his note at the end, but, wow, the language around autism in this book is so ableist. And, no, I don't consider revealing the plot twist a spoiler. I'm leaving a review about it so other autistic people aren't blindsided by this when they think they're just going to read a fantasy story, like I did.

[Frida · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 ⭐️

[Henry Washington · Rating 2 out of 5]

I went back and forth on if I should review this or not. But the twist ending upset me (not in a personal-taste-type-of-way but in a this-is-offensive-type-of-way).

Like:
1. I loved the art style and the fantasy world. I liked to pause and look at the background world and the clothes. Adora's design is great.

Dislike:
1. The story felt rushed. Maybe another 25 pages could have fleshed out the plot and characters. We rush through each plot beat and a few times I had to go back and make sure that I didn't miss something.
2. Some characters felt flat. When events sped up in the second half, I couldn't tell what happened to what character, and when I figured it out, I didn't really care.
3. The twist and the representation: I don't understand why this had to be the ending. It shouldn't be a spoiler because being blindsided by this hurt. Adora is non-verbal autistic in the real world and the entire fantasy land is all in her head. Every fantasy character encountered was a person that Adora knew in real life, like the Wizard of Oz. The distance that was chasing her throughout the story is the therapy she is doing to make her more conventionally functional. Adora's parents in real life "only want to hear Adora verbally say 'I love you' so they know she means it." This comes at the 95% mark. A page or two later, the story ends.
The ending focuses on Adora's NT parents and their difficulties and feelings and not Adora, the autistic child. We spend the entire story with Adora. It's her journey! We don't know how she feels. No thought bubble. Nothing. Just because she's non-verbal doesn't mean she doesn't think or have feelings. The adults talk about her while she is in the room like she isn't there or can't understand them.
Why? WHY couldn't she be autistic in a fantasy world? I would consider listening to other autistic people when thinking about the twist's effectiveness. It's not inspirational. It's offensive.

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a tale I think parents should, if not need to, read with their children. I mean with, and if the child is old enough, then both of you should read it and then talk about the messages in this story.

There is no way I can explain the above without spoilers. The topics about family, love, being different, how diversity can help enable a group to overcome. These are all topics EVERY family should talk about and help their children understand.

In many way this ends a little on the sad side, heartrending even.

But, oh so worth the read.

[Sara · Rating 1 out of 5]

uh… signed up for a diverse fantasy, not whatever ableist nonsense this was

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

I, honestly, don't know how to rate this one. The illustrations are beautiful, I enjoy a good fantasy world and this book does provide just that. However, the ending and twists are something I am really struggling with. I can understand someone escaping into their mind and fictional worlds on a regular basis because of things they face in their worlds - I was doing just that with this book before reaching the twist. That's something many of us, I think, can get behind. But, the twist ending makes me very uncomfortable and, in reading the reviews from others, it 100% makes others uncomfortable if not angry for the same reasons. My experiences with Autism are through conversations with those who have it or in readings I've done, so, I really don't have a say in this. I can understand now why the book is considered controversial.

I want to give the book full stars for the art alone, and I can understand to an extent the author's intentions through the notes at the end. But, that twist and having that poor girl struggle at the end ruined the story for me.

[Thomas Quinn · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is not my kind of book. It was very hard to read on a Kindle.

[sparklemaia · Rating 1 out of 5]

This was a miss for me. I found the premise intriguing and a lot of the art is really beautifully rendered, but I just wasn't emotionally invested in the plot. The characters didn't really have enough time to establish much depth or to develop their relationships, and so the emotional plot points fell kind of flat. [Vague spoilers ahead:] I also didn't love the sudden surprise ending -- I get what the author was trying to do, but it just felt uncomfortably like a gotcha, with the added discomfort of realizing that the whole story was, in a way, a reimagining of a neurodivergent character as neurotypical, rather than just allowing her to be wholly neurodivergent from the beginning. I would be very curious to hear from autistic readers how they felt about this story.

[Dakota Morgan · Rating 2 out of 5]

What starts off as an intriguing fantasy ends in a metaphor-burdened slump. Adora is an orphan princess in a gorgeous kingdom who seems to have drawn the ire of "the Distance." What is "the Distance"? It's never quite explained, even when the metaphor is revealed.

Nonetheless, Adora gathers a band of protectors to travel to far distant lands to...get away from the Distance? Defeat the Distance? The plot grows murky. What could have been an intriguing, if familiar fantasy plotline becomes something blander when the twist is revealed (Adora is a young autistic child and the fantasy world is all in her head). Of course, the twist explains why some plot elements never quite matched up or came to fruition...but also, this could have been a much more enjoyable story without the metaphor?

Maybe for the right audience Adora and the Distance is an appealing read. I enjoyed it at first, but the surprise finale turned me off. Check out Joe the Barbarian for a much, much better take on a similar subject.

[Ronald · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marc Bernardin is an interesting person. I typically enjoy watching his podcasting with Kevin Smith. Marc has opinions and is not afraid to buck the trend about a book or movie or TV thing. He always seems to not worry if you agree with him or not. So I’m always a little worried when I read something he has created be it TV or comic or movie because what if I don’t like it (Looking at you Picard season 2). So I have been sitting on this comic he dedicated to his daughter? What if I don’t like Adora and the Distance? It got all the good reviews and good word of mouth even if it did not win all the awards. Which often means a movie/book is not actually good.
Thankfully for my mental health I actually liked the comic, because if I did not like it I would say I did not like a thing. The story is of a young lady going off to save her friends, her family and her world was a good read. It is a Hero’s Journey and one of the better stories on that path. A solid 4 stars maybe even 4.5. I don’t know where all those bad reviews are coming from, it is like they did not even read the comic and were just looking for an easy way to bash a Black guy but claim he is the bad guy in the story and knows nothing about what he writes. It is a quick read so maybe give it a chance.

[Connor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought it would be a nice, simple, young adult adventure. I did not expect the ending at all. The fantasy adventure part of this was fun. I think I would have preferred if the "twist" at the end was instead shown at the beginning so it wasn't such a surprise. Beautifully illustrated.

Read for the Geekery book club

[Ann Beej · Rating 2 out of 5]

The art is beautiful, the story falls flat after an intriguing beginning, the twist (as others have said) is jarring and upsetting.

[James Hoddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

Well done Marc and the team behind this, beautifully written and the art is spectacular, knowing people on the autism spectrum this is how I'm going to see them when they're on wild adventures in their imagination.

[Joanne Huber · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is a prime example of why parents of autistic children shouldn’t write autism narratives. It is so very offensive, relying on the dated and utterly refuted notions of there being a “real child” trapped within an autistic shell, that autistic people are unaware of the world around them (not reacting the way NTs expect and not being aware are different tyvm), and that children are not autistic before the autistic behaviours that parents tend to dislike begin. The parents are depicted in a way intended to elicit sympathy, while Adora, in the end, is not. She is the continuing source of her parents suffering - even in the uncertainty about whether the therapies “bringing her back” are causing her suffering it is her parents’ feelings that matter, not hers.

The art is good. The writing is fine. But it’s all in service to an ableist storyline that can only cause harm to autistic people. That the protagonist is a black girl makes this worse because there are so few stories about black autistic girls that people are more likely to recommend this without having vetted it. I sincerely hope the author becomes more educated before his child is old enough to read this, and can apologize/prepare her.

[Adam Rodgers · Rating 2 out of 5]

Written like a Neverending Story pastiche, Adora inhabits a quasi-fantasy world and must combat 'The Distance', some unknowable phantom force that supposedly is bringing destruction to her world.

This is all well and good until the last few pages of the book reveal that this is fact an entirely different story that is being told. This 'twist' does nothing for the main narrative, brings no great revelation, other than a feeling of being lied to and short changed. Clearly some revelled in this grand charade - creators of note like Gaiman and Lindelof champion the book, but it was lost on me.

Aside from this fatal flaw Bernardin creates an intresting enough world, even if it feels more a mish-mash of other, better creations. Similarly the supporting characters are fantasy heroic stereotypes that form her 'magnificent seven' guardians. Kristantina's artwork is reasonable, but is frequently light on detail and drifts in quality, relying on Valenza's colouring work and effects to elevate it to the required level.

[Glen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Adora and the Distance is a mixed bag that I have frustratingly mixed feelings towards. It's done both beautifully and inconsistently, which is further complicated by its conclusion. If you're looking for an easygoing fantasy read, this book -- despite being a well-told fantasy in its first half -- probably isn't for you. If you're introspective and curious about the nature of how people perceive the world, you might like this book, despite its archetypical "hero's journey" trappings.

The storytelling is adequate, and somehow fragmented. Art is enchanting one moment and confusingly off-model the next. Main characters are given amazing backstories but figure little into the plot, yet the most intriguing visuals and concepts go unexplained. And by the time the ending rolls around, it's unclear whether these inconsistencies are intentional or not.

There's not much more that can be mentioned without giving away major plot points. I'd say give it a chance if you're curious, but don't expect it to be a carefree read.

[diana · Rating 1 out of 5]

the intentions behind this one made me want to love it. however, due to the unfortunate circumstances of the last several pages of my copy being stuck together, my initial last impression of this one--the heartfelt author's note at the end--was completely wrecked once i read the actual final pages. unfortunate because i really was willing to overlook how boring and rote the story and plotting of this one due to its emotional core, until it revealed itself to be impressively and unforgivingly ableist in regards to how it portrays autism. after that, everything else sunk even further in retrospect.

nice try, fellas. the world is learning, but not fast enough.

1/5 stars

[Chalupa Batman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bernardin is so good on the Fatman Beyond podcast and is such an excellent writer. Such a nice tale he wrote that he dedicated to his autistic daughter.

[Scotty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet book. What Marc wrote at the end gave even deeper meaning to an already excellent work of art. The rest of the team really contributed to making this book come alive. Great art!

[Jessica · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely story and I really enjoyed a second read through!

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I felt compelled to write a review after reading so many of the 1-2 star reviews. A lot of people were angry about the twist, the fact that the main character is autistic. People have labeled it “ableist” or stated that the verbiage used by her parents is “problematic.” Perhaps it’s because I myself am not autistic but I took everything a completely different way. I do have family members who are autistic but I’m not with them 24/7 so I can only imagine what struggles do exist on a day-to-day basis for both the child and the parents. (And let’s face it, ALL children and parents have struggles learning to communicate and work with each other. Autistic families just have a different set of challenges and ways to approach them.)

The parents describe the therapy as “brutal” and it seems many reviewers took that to be brutal for the child. But I took that as brutal for the parents. Seeing your child so frustrated or to literally be unable to communicate with your little one by traditional means? I think that WOULD be brutal. Especially at the start of learning how to navigate something you’ve never experienced before. Also, if you read the notes by the author his daughter turned 18 in 2020 so was going through therapy 10-15 years ago. We, as a society and in science, have come so far better understanding maybe not autism itself, but how to help people with autism survive splitting themselves between worlds.

I haven’t read any of the 4-5 star reviews but apparently people are praising it as “inspirational.” I didn’t. I thought it was tragic. For the parents. Who WOULDN’T want to HEAR their child say, “I love you”? And when they say to MEAN IT, it’s because many nonverbal autistic kids who do talk at all are typically just repeating what is said to them. Especially at a young age. It was not meant to say autistic people cannot mean what they say, as one reviewer put it. At least, that’s not how I interpreted it.

All of that aside, I spent the entire book thinking it was about a 3-star story. I thought the art was beautiful and I loved the IDEA of the story and all the characters. I wish it had been better fleshed out. It was too fast paced and the characters came and went so quickly it was hard to care. But I was intrigued. Perhaps with a longer time to explore the world and the challenges and allowing Adora to be a true player instead of a pawn, it would have allowed for her autistic reveal to not be so jarring or upsetting.

Let’s face it. We have NO idea what’s going on in the head of someone who is autistic and nonverbal. What ARE they experiencing? Why do they experience such fierce emotions seemingly out of the blue? I think the idea that they are in a different world facing challenges and experiencing joy and living life without any “hindrances” to be an intriguing one.

The concept was there. It just wasn’t executed the way I wished it had been. The art and uniqueness of the story saved it from a lesser star review for me.

[Ramon]

This is a real tough one. I picked this up on remainder at the bookstore, thinking it would be something my kid might be into. I'm glad I read it first, so I can come with a conversation if she actually ever does read it.

This book, for everything but the last three pages, is so close to being great. It suffers from a problem I see in a lot of one off graphic novels or comics, where action happens between panels, so you have to look at a before and an after and read the before and after text bubbles to determine what happened in between. I can't really fault it that too much, because it's not a novel and it's not a movie, and in a book like this, you can't always budget the time it would take to add some space like you can in any other medium. Completing three more panels in a comic is a lot more challenging than writing a paragraph or keeping three seconds of film in.

What we have here is a great hero's journey, about a girl who is doomed and who dooms everyone around her, so she leaves with a party to face the doom. It's a well told tale, familiar enough to be comforting but different enough to be engaging and exciting.

And then the last three pages happen and it feels really ucky. As it was happening, I felt my heart drop, because it could literally have been anything. It could have been a coma, it could have been moments before death and resurrection. It also could have just been the actual ending before the epilogue.

The afterword added some context and let me give the book a little grace, but still. It could have ended with Adora entering the distance and still could have been about a parent grappling with their kid's autism. The last three pages were wholly unneeded and they do the book a disservice, which is a damn shame.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just finished reading “Adora and the Distance”, a graphic novel written by Marc Bernardin, with art by Ariela Kristantina, colors by Bryan Valenza, and letters by Bernardo Brice. Originally released digitally by ComiXology (a “ComiXology Original”) in 2021. Softcover print trade paperback published by Dark Horse Books in March 2022.

A beautifully drawn graphic novel about a nine-year-old girl living as a princess in a fantasy kingdom who has frightening dreams. The dreams are said to foreshadow the coming of “the Darkness”, a mysterious malevolent force coming for her that will destroy all around her. Once she discovers this, she elects to go on the hero’s journey (with her best friend and a small group of protectors) to confront the Darkness.

I won’t go into the ending (which anyone who has heard or read of Marc Bernardin’s comments on why he wrote this story in the first place), other than to say that it comes from a very personal place for the author.

I enjoy Bernardin’s writing (having listened to him as co-host of the Kevin Smith “Fatman on Batman”/“Fatman Beyond” podcast). But I even more enjoyed the beautiful art of Ariela Kristantina’s art and Bryan Valenza’s colors.

It is a very slim graphic novel, one I intentionally read slowly to prolong enjoying it. I read a few reviews that passionately did *not* like it (in particular it’s ending). I can’t argue with those whose personal experiences feel like Bernardin treated a serious issue in a trivial or inaccurate way if that’s their genuine reactions. However, I very much enjoyed “Adora and the Distance”, and gave it five out of five stars on GoodReads.