Hana

Not counting the JoshTierney.com site itself, The Untitled Saga of Hana was my first large project, begun in the summer of 2007 and brought to something resembling a conclusion in early 2009. Comprised of two whole volumes of episodes -- about 300 pages altogether --, The Untitled Saga of Hana concerns a young girl named Hana who is capable of making things out of her dandruff. This strange power comes in handy when Hana and her friends -- James and Henri -- are confronted by a barrage of bizarre creatures and foes in the form of a kappa, kidnapping lobsters, a giant chicken, a giant dandruff lizard, a boy made out of Brussels sprouts and many, many others.

Hana was my first project to involve a consistent illustrator in addition to a different featured artist for each episode. Alison Berry created an illustration for each episode of Volume 1 while Victoria Assanelli (aka Toia Bates) provided illustrations for the first half of Volume 2. The featured artists for the two volumes were (let's take a deep breath): Afu Chan, Timothy Weaver, Bettina M. George, Secil Cokan, Soe, Alice Zheng, Stephanie Holmes, Francesca C., Sarah Ferrick, Joan Casaramona, Ramon Sierra, Mel Stringer, Angie Hoffmeister, Basia Konczarek, Gabrielle Durán (now Gabrielle Rose), John Wilkins, Danielle 'Knee' Estefan, Maaike Verwijs, Nina Fides Garcia, Cinanti Astria Johansjah, Lo Ning Wong, Jake Hill and Olivier Pichard.

In 2008 Joel Hentges designed a Volume 1 book using Alison Berry's illustrations for the interior and one of Afu Chan's featured illustrations for the cover. Hana is the girl playing the Spera RPG in one of Afu Chan's pieces for Spera-Comic.com.

Hana was originally going to be a short story. The thought process during the brainstorming session went like this: what is the strangest thing I can possibly come up with? I scratched my head and the answer fell onto my lap. I figured the idea was worth about ten pages and opened up Word.

The Untitled Saga of Hana still holds a great, big, dandruffy place in my heart. I made many wonderful, true friends on it. Its story of friendship and long summer days is one I still very much believe in. I hope readers will continue to give it a chance.