Model Sheets Concept for 2015-09-05 Badin and the Secret of the Saami

One of my wigged minor characters

I often wonder if—like the real Badin's diary—that this graphic novel Badin and the Secret of the Saami will become an antique on the shelf of some university library in Sweden a few hundred years from now. What good will it do? What purpose does such a story—moreover a historical fiction story—do for the evolution of humanity—or myself?

As I finished this model sheet at 2 in the morning, I felt the usual urge to give up hope as I face this steep climb of a creative mountain: A story about Swedish boy that resembles a young LeVar Burton for an American audience confounds the imagination. Of all the ideas of a monster-sized project I could do, why do I insist on making it a reality?

Simply put, my soul died after my journey to Sweden. It happened when I was assaulted by the vile words of racist and ignorant individuals, along with the pain of non-white Swedes who shared with me their struggle to achieve equality in a land which my great-great grandfather emigrated from many years ago.

A deep depression overcame my typically optimistic mind for many months. Then I learned more about Badin and connected with him. No he did not "look" Swedish. But he was, in many ways, more Swedish than those who appear as such. So I wrote this story called Badin and the Secret of the Saami to resurrect my soul—and hopefully heal others who share a similar experience.