Before there were 196 pages of creatively drawn pictures and storyline, and before there was a year of research and two years of work, there was a simple suggestion.

Why not do something with Lewis and Clark?

The suggestion from Washburn sculptor Tom Neary has blossomed into the aforementioned work, an epic-length comic book by writer-designer Orville Evjen, of Turtle Lake. "Jefferson's Lewis & Clark Expedition: Heroes Unlimited" was printed in August, three years after Evjen started the project. It's for sale now at the University of Mary during the Circle of Cultures bicentennial event.

"Research was the hardest part," Evjen said. "There was so much. When we started, we thought (the comic book) would be about 100 pages."

Evjen, 30, lives with his cousin, Diane Evjen Schell. She helped create the book and edited the copy. Whenever Evjen's plot or drawings became too fantasy-based - as had been his comics background - Schell would reel him in.

"I'm a little impatient, and she's not," Evjen said. "It was a very slow process."

Schell said the comic book reads fast. It takes about an hour and a half to get through, she said. It covers the expedition from start to finish and goes on to tell what happened to the main characters in the rest of their lives.

"It's been done according to the (Lewis and Clark) journals," Evjen said. "… It gives you a great history lesson on the expedition, along with emotions on their accomplishments and failures."

When he started the project, Evjen thought it would be boring. Instead, he became enthralled with it. He said he felt for Sakakawea throughout the story. That's depicted in scenes in the book where the Shoshone woman is kidnapped and in hardships she faces along the journey.

Evjen is half Sioux and half Norwegian. His parents died in a car accident when he was 18. He said he has battled bouts of depression in his life and can relate in part to the depression felt by Meriwether Lewis.

Evjen and Schell took some artistic liberty in the comic book, creating dialogue and images where there were gaps in the journals. But the book is derived almost entirely from quotes and facts relayed by the Corps of Discovery in their writings.

The comic book was printed in Bismarck by United Printing/Spit'N Image. It is the main title in the cousins' recently created BraveCrow Comics. More information is available online at http://www.lewisandclarkcomics.com.

The two have set up shop inside the Leach Fieldhouse at U-Mary. They'll be there through Sunday, happy to sign copies of their comic book and discuss it with anyone who's interested.

One interested party has already stopped by their booth. Scholar and North Dakota native Clay S. Jenkinson, who portrays Thomas Jefferson and Meriwether Lewis, has picked up a copy. Schell said she hopes Jenkinson likes the comic book and will write a praising blurb to be included on future copies.

The comic book sells for $17.95. It also can be ordered by writing to BraveCrow Comics, 128 19th Ave. N.W., Turtle Lake, N.D. 58575.