Shigeru Mizuki
Carey has said the series was born out of his love for Japanese and Korean films, such as "My Beautiful Girl, Mari", and horror manga by creators such as Junji Ito, Hideshi Hino, and Shigeru Mizuki. Carey's version, however, is still intrinsically western. It is, he says, "Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen" set in Nagasaki."