About - Beyond the Mirage

Beyond the Mirage

Candid Art & Stories

「Beyond the Mirage」 is the umbrella name I use under which I write, draw and self-publish stories about the human condition and platonic relationships in modern day settings. The "company" was establised and registered as a self-owned business in November 2019

I’m Diana Alabbadi, widely known by my penname dee Juusan, a manga artist and a writer who uses different mediums to write stories about the human condition and platonic relationships in modern day settings.

My main body of work is the Drama/Psychological Manga Grey is… which has been ongoing since 2010 with 9 self-published volumes and two art books, as of 2023.

In 2018 I started collecting all the side stories and comic strips which I sketched next to the manga to enrich the universe, under the title “Grey is Clippings” in the style of a colored webtoon and in 2020, Clippings was selected by the Jury of the Japan Media Arts Festival as a notable work in its 23rd round.

Apart from these projects, I have a number of published and award-winning one-shots which are listed below.

I my work, I like to focus on friendship, family and other platonic bonds with their mundane but important interactions as well as writing about the duality of the human soul.
Usually, the tone in my work is realistic with its share of heartwarming, funny and realistically bittersweet depictions of life.
The stories show raw states of the human condition with visual narration and metaphors that makes it easy to relate to, in an attempt to deliver messages of hope and positivity to and audience of teens, older teens and grownups.