Kids Comics Pitchfest Showcase

Thunder Dan & Friends: The Rainforest Spheres

Four third-grade kids meet and share their lives in the Central American tourist town of Buenaventura whose rainforest is under the menace of a millionaire, illegal development with the complicity of the Mayor. On a school field trip to this area, they get lost and find a playful, ancient spirit who reveals them the true treasures of the rainforest and appoints them as guardian keepers of the forest's Spheres of Life, unaware of the life-threatening challenges they will get themselves into to preserve them, their friendships — and their town. With elements familiar to fans of AVATAR and the character interplay of the HILO series, this action-packed GN brings in an urgent message on these times of climate change awareness.

My Why:

For a long time, I’ve always wanted to build a story universe with my own characters. The ones featured in this work have been created over the last 30 years (Daniel being the oldest) and felt it was about time to develop origins, personalities and a story of their own. While I love animation as a medium, I’m working on comics/GNs as they enable me to produce visual storytelling as a one-person team. And being a native from a region highly subject to the effects of climate change, I felt compelled to express my concerns on the matter and help spread awareness while also aiming to do it in an entertaining, engaging, non-preachy way to up-and-coming generations, and develop characters’ personalities and relationships at the same time.