'Hooky', the Spanish manga inspired by Harry Potter and Ghibli that triumphs all over the world

Harry Potter already has successors: two young wizards who are twin brothers and who star in the comic Hooky (Martínez Roca), by the Barcelonan Míriam Bonastre (Pineda del Mar, 1994). An online manga that, after getting more than 95 million unique visits and appearing on The New York Times best-selling comics list, we can finally read on paper in Spain.

A successful adventure that began a few years ago, as Míriam tells us: “Hooky was born by chance. In 2014 he was doing the Inkoctober, a challenge that some cartoonists do, which consists of making an ink drawing every day during that month. I created two little witch brothers (Dorian and Dani), and I liked them so much that I kept drawing them and thinking up stories for them. And it so happened that the online comics platform Webtoon called an international contest. I introduced them and they accepted my project.”

But… Why is it called Hooky? “In English –Míriam tells us-, there is an expression, Play Hooky, whose translation would be “Play hooky”. And since the story begins with these two twin brothers who miss the bus that was supposed to take them to magic school, I thought it was a great title for a little witch story.

Inspired by Harry Potter and Ghibli

It is clear that Hooky is inspired by Harry Potter, as Míriam confesses to us: “Harry Potter was the first saga I read, when I was seven years old, just when the first film was released. And it accompanied me throughout my childhood and part of my entry into adolescence. I read the last book when I was 14 years old. And it has influenced me a lot in this manga.”

“I haven't dealt with magic very thoroughly in Hooky –continues Míriam-. There is not a very elaborate magic system, but rather it drinks directly from Harry Potter, Magica Doremi and similar works. It drinks directly from Harry Potter in the sense that magic is learned by studying the books. There are magic spells, brooms, potions, curses, fortune telling… all the classic elements of magic.”

The other big influence is Studio Ghibli. “Especially in the aesthetics of the characters and the settings –he confesses-. I love Ghibli's films and I think that something very beautiful about them is how magical and enchanting those cities are, the forests... That's what I think has more to do with my work: the aesthetic part”.

"Manga and anime influence me a lot because I've read a lot of manga since I was little," she adds. Color-wise, Hooky's world is very colorful, just like anime. And I've used some tricks from the anime, like putting a defining color on each character. I wanted to create a happy and colorful world that you want to explore.”

More than 95 million readers worldwide

Having 95 million readers around the world is something that many great authors would like. And Miriam is very grateful to Webtoon: “It was a gradual thing. When I started there were few readers on the platform. Although now it is very famous and there is even a part more aimed at the Latin and Spanish public. And it's very exciting to have a community of people who follow the story and make fan arts, fan videos... I like that a lot."

"Now it would be hard for me to give that up," she confesses. Since the format involves publishing a weekly episode on the Internet, it is a continuous contact with the reader. Every week I was getting hundreds or even thousands of comments from people, following the story and commenting on things. It is very cool to live the story at the same time as the readers”

“I read all the comments but I try not to let them influence my plans –continues Miriam-. But sometimes they have influenced me, especially at the beginning. There are two characters, who are Nico and Princess Monica, who started out as not antagonists but a bit repellent. And they even do a bit of bullying to the protagonists. My idea is that they have a narrative arc during which they become more likeable. But there were so many comments from people saying that they hated them, that I decided to accelerate the maturation process of both of them, and it is something that I regret a little bit. I wish they'd stayed a little silly for a little while longer."

The protagonists

Míriam introduces us to the protagonists, starting with the twins: “Dani and Dorian are 12-year-old twin witches. In the world in which witches have grown up they have to hide and go unnoticed because until recently they were burned at the stake. That is why they have grown up locked up in their house, where they were not in danger. And now, when they miss the bus to school, they will find themselves trapped in a hostile world where a war between the witches and the rest of the people is about to start.”

“The girl's name is Dani –adds Míriam- and she is very outgoing, very happy, very laid back”. But she is very bad with magic, very insecure with her powers. And Dorian is the opposite, he is like a bookworm and he is very good at magic naturally. But socially he is very inept, it is difficult for him to relate to people, he is very shy, he is a little weird... And in this adventure we will see how he begins to open up to the world. And all while lurking that war in which they will be involved.

Monica is a 14-year-old princess hell-bent on rescuing her prince, who has been kidnapped. “I imagined the princess as a girl who has always lived among cotton wool –confesses the author-. She is a rich, superficial and very romantic young lady, who likes novels a lot. But she also has sky-high self-esteem. That's why she has two faces: she's a cheesy girl, but she believes in herself a lot and she can do anything she sets her mind to. At first that works against her because she has the self-esteem, but she doesn't have the knowledge or the tools to do anything. And during the story she will grow up and she will learn to acquire the tools that she needs.”

She completes the protagonist quartet Nico, a young man who will guide the twins. “I wouldn't define him as a hooligan, but I would define him as a slightly outsider boy who lives on the street, with his friends, and who is a bit rough when he speaks. That is due to the lack of a caring father figure. Also, he can't do magic and the person who raised him is a warlock. Therefore, unlike Monica, he has a great lack of self-esteem and always seems angry with others. But as he accepts those insecurities he will become friends with the group and discover that he can contribute a lot despite not being a witch”.

A manga that triumphs among adolescents from 12 to 16 years old

Hooky triumphs among the young public (from 12 to 16 years old) which is when teenagers stop reading. That's why we asked Míriam what he thinks is the secret of his success: “I didn't start Hooky with the intention of reaching a specific audience, but I started drawing what he wanted. What is true is that I feel a lot of compatibility with that specific target, that time when we stopped being children and became teenagers. That time when many stop reading, but in which I kept reading”

"In fact -he adds-, many works that I read at that time are the ones that have influenced me the most and the ones that have made me continue reading today: like the ones mentioned, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Full Metal Alchemist... Works that They have scored a lot. And despite the fact that I currently read more adult things, I have not stopped consuming the content of that target. So this manga came quite naturally to me.”

The transition from digital to paper

Passing the manga from digital format to paper has not been easy, as Míriam tells us: “Especially because in Webtoon they are not webcomics to use, but they are designed to be read on the mobile, from top to bottom. One vignette below the other. They are like a very long comic strip, so that the reader does not have to constantly zoom in with his fingers, but instead scrolls down and reads quietly”.

Hooky originally ran for 222 weekly episodes for 4 1/2 years. “They were episodes of 40 to 60 vignettes – explains Míriam-. And in getting it down on paper, fortunately I haven't had to redraw many pages. Simply, I have laid it out and adapted it to the narrative of the comic. It has been a new challenge because in the digital version you do not have any space limitations and on paper you do. So I've had to synthesize and even cut out some panels because I tended to go on too long. I think it turned out very cool."

As for his projects, Míriam confesses that: “Now I haven't published weekly on the web for two years, although my intention is to get back to it right away. I don't know how I'm going to get up to speed again, but I'm working on it. They will not be new adventures for the protagonists of Hooky, because I left the story quite closed. But I'm working on another fantasy story also aimed at a teenage audience, maybe a little older. I really want to bring out new things, really”.