When his teenage daughter faced a crisis, comic book writer Ethan Sacks created a hero to inspire her. Together, they finished the story, hoping it would help others.
In March 2019, Ethan Sacks found himself overwhelmed with guilt and fear while sitting in the cafeteria at New York City’s Bellevue Hospital. His 15-year-old daughter, Naomi, was hospitalized in the children's psychiatric ward for major depression and suicidal ideation. He spiraled into self-blame, thinking, “Maybe if I had been a better parent, I would’ve caught this earlier and helped her.” Both he and his wife, Masako, were deeply unsettled and uncertain about the future.
During visiting hours, the comic book writer and former Daily News journalist pulled out an old reporter’s notebook, determined to create a story that would inspire Naomi to live. He wrote: “A girl who doesn’t know if she wants to live is the only one who can save all life on Earth.”
Over the next few years, this initial idea evolved into a labor of love for both Ethan and Naomi, now 20. The result is "A Haunted Girl", a comic co-written by the father-daughter team with art by Sacks’s collaborator Marco Lorenzana. The supernatural horror tale follows teen heroine Cleo as she navigates life after a suicide attempt while battling a demon apocalypse.
The four-part series, now available as a book with a mental health guide and resources, aims to empower Naomi and others. Ethan, who has written several Marvel and Star Wars comics, hopes the book will help those in need.
"The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention’s" Brett Wean, who consulted on the comic, said, "A Haunted Girl involves the supernatural, but there’s also a real-life story many kids go through. It feels authentic—and positive.”
Cleo’s story mirrors Naomi's experience when she was a freshman at Stuyvesant High School in New York City. After years of struggling with anxiety, Naomi began to experience depression. "Everything felt gray, and it was hard to visualize the future," she recalled. "It didn’t feel like things could get better."
When Naomi shared a suicide “daydream” with a friend, a school social worker alerted her parents. “They said, ‘You need to pick up your daughter. We can’t let her leave by herself. She’s suicidal,’ ” Ethan remembered. This marked the beginning of several hospital stays, totaling over five weeks, followed by months of outpatient treatment.
As Naomi began to recover with therapy and medication, Ethan realized he wanted her to help tell the story. “I thought it would offer some catharsis for her, but also, she has an authenticity I don’t,” Ethan said. “Together we could create something better to help others.”
Naomi's input made Cleo a more realistic hero. “I wanted her to be a little bit miserable because I had felt miserable,” Naomi explained. “We wanted her to be relatable and to show that it can get better.”
Dr. Vasilis Pozios of the American Psychiatric Association, another consultant for the book, emphasized the importance of this message. "The story treats mental illness like a physical health condition that is controllable with proper treatment, allowing people to live their lives as they wish," he said.
Naomi contributed real-life details to the story, such as the centering techniques Cleo uses, which Naomi learned in dialectical behavior therapy, and quirks from the psych ward. “In my second hospitalization, someone tried to self-harm with plastic utensils, so we only had paper spoons. That did not go well—a lot of us gave up and ate with our hands!” she recalled.
Naomi also depicted the challenges of returning to school after hospitalization. “It was like I fell off the planet,” she said. “And when I came back, I didn’t know what to do socially. It was intimidating.”
The climactic battle between Cleo and the demon felt familiar to Naomi. “In the book, there’s an external demon saying things like, ‘Wouldn’t it be easier to give up?’ but it does feel like voices in your internal thoughts, and it’s hard to fight.”
Writing together helped Ethan understand his daughter's experience better. For Naomi, who recently finished her sophomore year in environmental studies at McGill University, the book has provided a measure of her progress. “I can see how far I’ve come, and that’s reassuring,” she said.
Naomi hopes the story offers a sense of possibility to readers: “I want people to know it may not be as smooth as you hope, but there’s a path to feeling happy and content in life.”
The Quran - Chapter Ar-Rahman : 11
In it are fruit, palm trees with date stalks,
فِيهَا فَاكِهَةٌ (in which there are fruits ....55:11). The word فَاكِهَةٌ fakihah refers to fruits that are normally eaten after food for pleasure.
وَالنَّخْلُ ذَاتُ الْأَكْمَامِ (...and the date-palms having sheaths...55:11). The word أَكْمَامِ akmam is the plural of کِمّ kimm, and refers to 'the cover that surrounds and protects dates and other fruits in the beginning'
