Darkness Calls [Video, Comic]

Darkness Calls is a story published in comic and video formats as a suicide prevention effort to raise awareness and spark conversation among Aboriginal young people living in Canada. It is the story of a teenager who is bullied at school, is misunderstood by his teacher, and feels socially isolated from his family. The story was focus group tested with Aboriginal youth and health professionals and for authentic characters, storyline, and language.

The story was written and illustrated by a professional Aboriginal cartoonist, First Nation comic book artist Steve Sanderson. Darkness Calls has also been released as a short video in a First Nations language (Gitxsan, from the Hazelton, British Columbia (BC), Canada area) for the additional benefit of language retention.  The short won an Honourable Mention in the Outstanding Canadian Short Film category at ReelWorld 2008 in Toronto.

Darkness Calls, which is loosely based on the author's own experiences, follows the story of Kyle, an overweight, artistic, punk-rock-listening, bullied First Nation kid with alcoholic parents. Similar to Sanderson's cousin at one point in his teenage years, Kyle loses hope and expresses a desire to kill himself. With the help of an Elder who is related to Kyle, he combats the evil urges threatening to destroy him by engaging in a symbolic battle for his soul between the shapeshifting "trickster" warrior hero Wesakechak, who teaches people lessons in Cree legends, and another re-imagined character of Cree mythology: the evil, cannibal spirit Weetigo.

It is a project carried out by the Vancouver, BC, Canada-based Healthy Aboriginal Network (HAN), a non-profit endeavour to the promote the health, literacy, and wellness of First Nations youth through the use of visual art as a medium to effect change. They have released  or have in production comics on diabetes prevention, gambling  addiction, staying in school, the residential school, pride in community, living with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), physical activity, and youth mental health. (Please see related summaries below and the Healthy Aboriginal Network website.)