Vanessa and the Storm (2026)

The Storm - a band made up of Jaylin Rose, Irene Hernandez, Kenya Wright, Isaac O'Neil, Vanessa Her and Jade Gibson - performs, with the musicians jamming through the chorus of their song.
Vanessa belts out the lines of the chorus from their song "Wars": You got your wars/ But is the world a better place? / You got your wars / But are we losing face? / Land of the free, home of the brave / But all I can see is Freddie Gray!
Vanessa sings the bridge as the band surges behind her: The tension is building/ The tension is building / What are we going to do? / What are we going to do / The problem is far worse than I ever knew / We say "Never Forget" / But is this how we remember it?"
Vanessa closes out the song as all the musical surge dies down, re-singing the chorus with additional lines: But all I can see/ is Guantanamo Bay/ Freddie Gray/ the graves where Iranian schoolchildren lay/Vietnamese mothers giving their babies away/Hmong who couldn't escape the fray/Gazans who just want to live another day/ Is this the American . . . way?
The crowd cheers to Vanessa and the band's song, and the thanks them for all the love. Before heading off-stage, she shout-outs her other band members, starting with her best friend and lead guitarist, Jade Gibson, and violinist Kenya Wright the "’that girl’-iest girl I know"
Vanessa shouts out Jaylin Rose, bass player and her boyfriend, and Irene Hernandez who is their DJ and producer. Finally she shouts out Isaac O'Neil, their drummer, and then Jaylin shouts out Vanessa, before she forgets to shoutout herself.
Vanessa and her band bow after finishing their performance, and head off stage, but the crowd demands an encore.
Vanessa and her band discuss what song to play next. Vanessa feels nervous and put on the spot.
Jaylin suggests a song they can perform, but Vanessa rejects the proposal strongly. When Kenya shows interests, Vanessa pushes back hard - causing a comical mishap. The rest of the band agrees the song is good and worth performing, despite Vanessa's insecurities.
Vanessa is still quite terrified to perform the song. Jaylin reminds her this is her choice, but to consider whether there's "someone out there who may need to hear it". Vanessa considers his words.
Vanessa decides to try. Her and her band come back on stage, and she asks the audience to please be kind.
The band begins playing the intro to the song. However, when it comes Vanessa's turn to start the vocals, they come out strained and shaky - shocking everyone on stage.
Vanessa freezes, shaking in fear. She turns back to her band and tells them that she can't do this. No one is sure what to do. But suddenly, someone else starts singing the lyrics in Vanessa's place.
It is Jade. She sings Vanessa's line, and Vanessa is overwhelmed with emotion. Together, they get through the verse and then the whole band roars into the chorus.
Vanessa picks up steam and begins singing her woes into the microphone. She sings of spiritual struggle and feeling abandoned, weaving references to the Gospels in her lyrics, giving implications that she is wrestling with God, and Jesus in particular. The whole band follows her lead as she gets lost in the music.
The song crescendos and Vanessa ends with belting out soaring, soulful, powerful notes before running and jumping off of Isaac's drum kit as the song comes to a close.
Vanessa hits the final note as she lands on the ground. Disheveled and breathing hard, she is shocked when the crowd yells their approval for the song. Vanessa's friend all jump on her and tell her how proud they are of her.
Parvana appears as Vanessa is packing up her guitar. She introduces herself to Vanessa, and tells her about her background as an Afghan-American refugee and how heartbreaking the last few years have been.
Vanessa is truly touched by Parvana's vulnerability, as Parvana shares how Vanessa's music has touched her. Vanessa shares her own background as the granddaughter and daughter of refugees, telling the story of her Hmong grandma from Laos, her Hmong father and her Vietnamese-American mother.
Vanessa confesses that her father also served in the U.S. military in Afghanistan, and she understands if that changes the way Parvana sees her. She shares that poverty, Vanessa's upcoming birth and lack of resources for their young family drove her father to enlist - but that doesn't excuse the complicity. It is revealed that Vanessa's father died in Afghanistan. Parvana comforts a weeping Vanessa, holding her close and telling Vanessa that a part of her heart was left in Afghanistan, too.
Parvana and Vanessa make plans to hang out in the future, and wave goodbye as Parvana has to go. Jaylin comes by and asks if Vanessa is okay - understanding this must have been an intense experience. She is, and she holds him tight, thanking him for pushing her to sing her song - it found exactly who needed to hear it.

Vanessa and the Storm (2026)

Vanessa and The Storm is a one-shot comic about Vanessa Her: a young Hmong-American woman who makes a fateful choice while performing with her band, The Storm. When she pushes through her fears and performs a gripping, powerful song, it happens to deeply touche Parvana, an Afghan-American refugee who needs to hear it.

The main theme centers around the power of art/creativity to touch people, and the responsibility of artists/creative people to get out of the way and let that happen. It combines my love of music with my humanitarian concerns of the world, along with cool characters, great outfits, lots of guitars, and gorgeous, passionate bubbly girls who can truly saaaang!

The original script was developed along with my submission to the HBO Max X WBD Access Animated Shorts Program in 2021. Although Vanessa and the Storm wasn’t picked as a short, I kept the script and eventually made a shorter version for a class project: Vanessa (2024). You can read it here!

This year however, I made “Vanessa and the Storm” which fully realizes the original script. I hope you enjoyed it!

Musical, Character, Design & Comic Inspirations

On the comic side, Scott Pilgrim was a major inspiration for “Vanessa and the Storm.” I binged the whole comic series a few years ago, and it really brought to life my ideas of a music-driven comic.

I watched a LOT of live music performances as I developed “Vanessa and the Storm”. Vanessa and her band’s performance was truly inspired by my love of live music, so I hope the love for live music and the energy of live performances came through the comic. I pulled from my experiences attending concerts of personal favorites like Switchfoot and Jon Batiste, to live recordings of shows by Alicia Keys and Explosions in the Sky, and recorded performances of incredible artists like FKJ and Yussef Dayes. (They were on repeat while I made the comic!) I was also inspired by The Airborne Toxic Event, Funeral Party, Coldplay, Yndi Halda, Lecrae, Relient K, Cage the Elephant, The Black Keys, Tori Kelly, Jon Foreman and a ton of other artists.

Vanessa’s bubbly, passionate, and easygoing on-stage personality was inspired by Jon Foreman (frontman for Switchfoot) and Alicia Keys. Emi Meyer, FKJ, B.B. King, Funeral Party, The Black Keys, Yndi Halda, The Airborne Toxic Event, Emancipator and Explosions in the Sky provided inspiration for Vanessa and her band’s sound and musicality.

There are many things I am excited about regarding this comic: the story, the character designs, the clothing, the poses and expressiveness. Vanessa’s outfit (top) and hair (bangs) were partially inspired by the amazing salsa DJ and music producer, Gia Fu, as well as plus size model Sarah Kim.

I think “Vanessa and the Storm” is a very important story for the times we find ourselves globally, but especially in my country, the United States. I have more stories to tell with Vanessa and her friends, but until then, I’m very happy with the story I got to tell with “Vanessa and the Storm.”

If you want to support the comic on Webtoon, check it out here!

Thanks so much for reading!

Grace and peace!

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