Reynard City Featured Sponsor Guest Blog- Hurikana

I originally wrote this story aiming for a Shonen audienced (Teen/Young Adult), but I feel that anyone that enjoys a good old fashioned comic-book adventure will get a kick out of this one!

You talk about Hurikana being a comic focused on mental health issues. How does the comic represent mental health issues?

Speaking for myself, I have suffered from severe anxiety and depression for most of my life. I always imagined my own personal “demons” haunting me and driving my life in a negative way. This gave me an idea – what if we could visualise our own mental health issues as demons, and could that help us understand them in some way.

For the record, the demons do not cause mental health, but they are drawn to those with strong negative emotions. I wanted to do a different take on the demon idea, showing that demons aren’t necessarily evil spirits of legend, but rather our own projections of our own insecurities and fears. In some way, I also feel that through the characters journey in this story, it’s helping me cope with my own anxiety and help fighting against it.

What are your inspirations for Hurikana?

Hurikana is heavily inspired by a lot of 90’s shows I watched growing up – namely Mighty Morphin Power Rangers and Spider-Man – but also going back to the 80’s, She-Ra Princess of Power – one of the first superheroines I was a fan of. I also love manga and anime and wanted to capture some of that over-the-top fun that they are known for. Survival horror games like Silent Hill were also a partial inspiration. And whilst Hurikana is by no means a horror story, I always liked how Silent Hill used the monsters as representations of character’s past and inner trauma. There are plenty more inspirations I drew from, but it would take far too long to list them all!

Can you tell me a bit about the artist who worked on the comic with you?

Sure. The artist for the comic is called Kazelight. I met him on Deviantart a couple of years ago and he did a few anime based commissions for me (although they were a little more NSFW than Hurikana is!) After a while, I came up for the idea for Hurikana and wanted to find an artist that could bring it to life. Kazelight was my first choice and he has been dedicated to the project in a way I never could imagine! His artwork perfectly matches the colourful and action paced tone of the webcomic and is a real pleasure to work with.

What are your ambitions for Hurikana?

Giving the rise in popularity of shows like Demon Slayer and KPop Demon Hunters, it would be my dream if my story could come anywhere near them. I’d love for it to become an anime or possibly a TV show. And whilst I don’t think it will ever happen, it would be amazing if wrestler Jade Cargil could play Hurikana – as she would perfectly capture the character’s strength and determination. Plus she was a partial inspiration for Hurikana!

At some point, I would like to sell this comic as a graphic novel, but for the time being I’m glad for it to be in webcomic form so that it reaches a larger audience. Ultimately though, I hope that people can read this and relate to it in some way, and realise that no matter what they are going through, your demons don’t have to define you.

Do you have anything else you’d like to add?

I just want to give a huge thanks to everyone who has read it so far and commented. I really appreciate the support and comments, and I just want to say, in the words of Hurikana – You Matter!

Where can people find Hurikana?

Currently it is on Webtoon, though we do have plans to expand to other webcomic sights. We also have a Kofi page in case anyone wishes to leave a small tip for us, or see some sample art before it appears on Webtoon.

Webtoon link: https://www.webtoons.com/en/canvas/hurikana/list?title_no=1081896

Kofi link: https://ko-fi.com/dwalli

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