Graphic Medicine and Other Media

“Dana Walrath’s approach to memoir is unique in that she twists together multiple forms—the personal essay, drawings, collage. This approach, which offers the equivalent of memory snapshots presented from different angles, suggests value in appreciating the moment over the supposed stability of the traditional narrative trajectory of beginning, middle, end. Aliceheimer’s echoes the spots of memory that are part of the Alzheimer’s experience and presents end-of-life care in an original and ultimately comforting way.”
—Mita Mahato, University of Puget Sound

In many ways, Bechdel's memoir about her relationship with her mother is a companion to Fun Home. It includes more illuminating scenes of Bechdel's psychotherapy, the externalization of her process, and much reflection on Freudian theories of development.

At War with Yourself uses a novel and highly effective way through which to educate people with PTSD and their families, and those potentially at risk, about the nature, features, effects and consequences of PTSD. This short cartoon format book gets this message across in a captivating, unique, engaging and concise style and I commend it highly.
-- Professor Jamie Hacker Hughes, Military and Veteran Psychologist and Trauma Specialist

“Skillfully told, relentlessly honest, often funny, and painfully true . . . this is courageous work. It undercuts the accepted nonsense that doctors are—or should be expected to be—seraphic beings, exalted above the rest of humanity. It should be read by every student and practicing professional out there, and in the larger world as well. Ian Williams is my hero and I wish he were my doctor, too!” —David Small, author of Stitches

Bui's incredible graphic novel is part memoir and part family history. Her parents escaped South Vietnam in the 70's with their children and the pain of that forced immigration cast a long shadow over all their lives. Bui struggles with this inherited trauma as she becomes a mother herself. An essential read for anyone seeking to better understand refugee communities and/or Vietnamese-American culture.

‘This is a unique and moving memoir of what can’t be compared to anything else: the loss of one’s child. Going beyond the usual cliches about grief, it is not only harrowing and disturbing but acutely funny: the reader will laugh and cry, as Streeten teaches us more about loss than any of the standard textbooks on this subject. A brilliant and original book that deserves a wide audience.’
-- Darian Leader

Peeters' book is an amazingly tender and honest approach to falling in love and committing to a partner who is HIV+. After Frederik falls for Cati, she discloses her status to him. Together, they make decisions based on humiliating visits to physicians, calculated risks of infection, and the well-being of Cati's son, who is also seropositive.

Roz Chast's critically acclaimed memoir covers the years of her parents advanced age, their physical and mental declines, and finally their deaths. It's unsentimental without being cold, and honest without being cruel. It is excellent preparatory reading for anyone who might die, or who knows someone who might die, in the western world.

Engelberg was 43 and the mother of a 4-year-old when diagnosed with breast cancer. She underwent surgery, radiation, and chemotherapy in quick succession, and the cancer later metastasized to the brain. She lost her hair, experienced the seeming paradox of gaining weight on account of treatment, lost interest in sex, joined support groups in which she made new friends, and obsessed about what she might have done to bring on her illness or avoid it. She decided early on to make comics out of her travails, and if they are pretty rudimentary, they are very focused. Each one- to six-page helping of them centers tightly on a topic, incident, or such bits of fancy as an imaginary "Cancer Channel" and an infomercial for metastasis. Engelberg's daft sense of humor, never mean, gross, or flippant, serves readers, perhaps especially fellow cancer patients, as well as, maybe better than, it does her.
-Ray Olson

Marisa, self-described "terminal bachelorette", meets her Prince Charming in Silvano, owner of the chic downtown restaurant Da Silvano. Three weeks before their wedding, she receives her diagnosis. She wonders: How will he react to this news? How will my world change? Will I even survive? And... what about my hair? In vivid color and with a taboo-breaking sense of humor, Marisa Acocella Marchetto tells the story of her eleven-month, ultimately triumphant bout with breast cancer--from diagnosis to cure, and every challenging step in between.

"An awful lot of fun as it makes science into an action manga... Far more entertaining than it ought to be." -Anime News Network

This gem of a graphic novel is a case study of one year in therapy. The reader is privy to the thoughts of both Pat (the psychotherapist) and James (the patient). The effect is a crystal clear snapshot of how therapy works and how therapy is work.

Signature Wound: Rocking TBI completes a trilogy of Doonesbury books that examines the impact of combat on American soldiers in Iraq. A twist of fate brings B. D. to the bedside of SFC Leo Deluca (a.k.a. Toggle), a young HUMV driver and headbanger whose love of ear-bleed battle music had sonically distracted him enough to get his vehicle blown up. Missing an eye and suffering from aphasia, Toggle fights to recover from traumatic brain injury (TBI), a journey of recovery that brings out the best in B. D., his former commander. Toggle's tattooed, metalhead mom initially has reservations about his improbable Facebook romance with an MIT tech-head named Alex, but love blooms. As this engaging story unfolds, Toggle finds himself drawn toward a career in the recording industry, undaunted by the limitations of the New Normal that now defines his life. [Multiple copies available for book discussions!]

"On a road outside Fallujah, an RPG blows apart a Humvee and upends the life of a former football star. As a medevac chopper swoops down, the wounded Guardsman hears "Not your time, bro. Not today," and his remarkable healing journey begins...Deprived not only of leg but also his ubiquitous trademark helmet, B.D. survives first-response Baghdad triage, evacuation to Landstuhl's surgeon-rich environment, and visits by innumerable morale-boosting celebs, both red and blue in hue. He's awed in turn by morphine, take-no-guff nurses, his fellow amps, and his family, including the daughter who hand-delivers succor, one aspirin at a time."

As this powerful sequel shows, the "war within" can be a long and lonely struggle, hardly the life of a "glamorous amputee" imagined by his daughter's jealous classmate. With his coaching job at Walden re-secured and the marathon PT sessions paying off, B.D.'s return to normalcy seems to be progressing well. But those who love him see alarming signs of trouble. First there's the punching of an MP. Then there's the daily breakfast of beer, a subject not open for discussion even with a best-intentioned friend like Mike Doonesbury. And "the screaming at night isn't very Christmassy," Boopsie notes. As B.D. admits to his doctor, "I'd rather sleep with my weapon than my wife! How messed up is that?"

From the same team that created Oh Joy Sex Toy, this is a distilled collection of the essential sex ed concepts from middle school, updated for adults. It covers big concepts (consent, sex positivity), safe sex, the mechanics of different kinds of sex, and masturbation. The language is LGBTIA inclusive and approachable!

"This memoir is thus exceptionally informative and entertaining in relation to some aspects of deaf communication, but, most centrally and powerfully, it is exceptional for its perceptive, indomitable protagonist and complex story of friendship, growth, and classroom and family dynamics."
(Deirdre F. Baker The Horn Book Magazine 2014-11-01)

"David B...spent an idyllic early childhood playing with the neighborhood kids and, along with his older brother, Jean-Christophe, ganging up on his little sister, Florence. But their lives changed abruptly when Jean-Christophe was struck with epilepsy at age eleven. In search of a cure, their parents dragged the family to acupuncturists and magnetic therapists, to mediums and macrobiotic communes. But every new cure ended in disappointment as Jean-Christophe, after brief periods of remission, would only get worse. Angry at his brother for abandoning him and at all the quacks who offered them false hope, Pierre-Franois learned to cope by drawing fantastically elaborate battle scenes, creating images that provide a fascinating window into his interior life. An honest and horrifying portrait of the disease and of the pain and fear it sowed in the family, Epileptic is also a moving depiction of one family's intricate history."

On October 9, 2017, artist Brian Fries and his wife had just minutes' notice that California's Calistoga Fire was bearing down on their home. They packed their pets, some important documents, and their grown daughters' favorite stuffed animals. They survived, but their two story home was reduced to two feet of ash. An excellent read for anyone interested in trauma medicine, or who wants to know what helps, and what doesn't, in the wake of disaster.

In this widely lauded memoir, Alison Bechdel begins at the end, with her father's suicide. In restrained shades, Bechdel recounts the way in which her father's closeted life impacted her entire family, even before she knew his secret. Along the way, she wrestles with her own sexual identity and the canon of English Literature.

A unique mash-up of medical education and comic book-style illustration, Graphic Guide to Infectious Diseases uses memorable art and humorous text to provide a seriously effective way to enhance your knowledge of complex medical conditions and diseases. Emergency medicine physician Dr. Brian Kloss and illustrator Travis Bruce use pop culture references, nostalgia, and unconventional humor to bridge the gap between challenging microbiology content and clinical knowledge of infectious diseases

“Graphic Medicine Manifesto draws its strength from the way the individual voices coalesce to confirm not only the ability of comics to unravel medical culture and the pedagogical possibilities of graphic medicine but the transformative and community-building competence of graphic pathographies. In short, Graphic Medicine Manifesto is an essential read for scholars in comics studies, cultural studies, medical humanities, bicultural studies and visual studies, and to any reader who values the intersection of literature and medicine.”
—Sathyaraj Venkatesan, Journal of Graphic Novels and Comics

“Using textual and visual means, Graphic Reproduction not only documents reproduction in new ways but also forwards new conceptualizations of the range of activities, behaviors, and experiences within the idea of ‘reproduction.’ This is a rich contribution to the areas of the humanities, health and medicine, and reproduction.”
—Erin Heidt-Forsythe, Penn State University

"The story both normalizes therapy and shows a child developing useful coping mechanisms for anxiety in a way that will reassure, even inspire, readers."
-- Publishers Weekly, starred review

Jarrett Krosoczko, author of the wildly popular Jedi Academy and Lunch Lady series, was a national book award finalist for this graphic memoir. Krosoczka was a small child when his mother, a heroin user, gave up custody to her parents. The book follows his life as a child and young adult and portrays how addiction plagues entire families and how that legacy follows its survivors forever.

From Matthew Inman, the creator of the web comic The Oatmeal, this is a concise book that directly confronts the way we talk about happiness, and that it's just as valid to seek meaning in life as it is to chase Western notions of sunshine and rainbows happiness.

If you've been on the internet, you've seen at least one illustration by the highly meme-able Allie Brosh. With exuberant and hilarious MS Paint illustrations, Brosh covers a variety of topics from her needy pets (simple dog and helper dog) to her experiences with anxiety and depression.

“Ink in Water is the candid and harrowing story of how young punk-feminist Lacy Davis won her life back from the jaws of an eating disorder. Artist Jim Kettner imbues each page with rich graytones, beautiful compositions, and characters so vivid, you could swear they were breathing. I recommend this to anyone with a body. It is a brave, beautiful, and important book.”
—Nicole J. Georges, author of the graphic novels Calling Dr. Laura and Fetch

Set in a Welsh genitourinary practice, this addition to the Graphic Medicine book follows Dr. Lois Pritchard. Dr. Pritchard is a smoker who urges her patients to quit. Her patients are urging her to try psychedelic mushrooms. And her estranged mother wants just a little piece of her liver. Fantastic.

"Dennis Ouyang’s destiny, as decreed by his late, Chinese-immigrant father, is to become a gastroenterologist...." This is an excellent book about what it takes to become a doctor, the kind of pressure families can exert on students, and how difficult it is to stay on track without losing sight of your self. [Multiple copies available for book discussions!]

From the outside, eating disorders can appear baffling, frustrating, and deceptively 'simple.' But they are the most lethal of psychiatric disorders, four times more lethal than major depressive disorder. Katie Green writes and illustrates her own story in a way that translates to readers without firsthand experience.

Follow along in The Manga Guide to Biochemistry as Kumi explores the mysteries of her body's inner workings. With the help of RoboCat, the professor's friendly endoscopic robot, you'll soar through the incredible chemical machinery that keeps us alive and get an up-close look at biopolymers like DNA and proteins, the metabolic processes that turn our food into energy, and the enzymes that fuel our bodies' chemical reactions.

Doctors treating Bipolar Type I in patients may see their patients for an hour every month, if they're extremely lucky. This is a book about what happens the rest of the time. Forney also lays out the dilemmas that all patients face at some point: Am I still me on mood stabilizers? Are my meds killing my personality? My creativity? Why does it take years to find a cocktail that works?

A collection of 260 witty and humorous cartoons depicting the lighter side of medicine.

"Most of us carry some form of mental load--about our work, household responsibilities, financial obligations and personal life; but what makes up that burden and how it's distributed within households and understood in offices is not always equal or fair. In her strips Emma deals with themes ranging from maternity leave (it is not a vacation!), domestic violence, the clitoris, the violence of the medical world on women during childbirth, and other feminist issues, and she does so in a straightforward way that is both hilarious and deadly serious."

Fies began sketching soon after his mother's diagnosis of Stage 4 lung cancer, that had already spread to her brain. What follows is an incisive narrative about doctor-patient relations, the torturous uncertainty of treatment, and family dynamics. The lines of Fies' illustrations are as clear as his understanding of what is happening to him, his mother, and his family.

"This remarkable collaboration between Dr. Hana Roš (and dog knows I love few things more than a female neuroscientist) and neuroscience-PhD-turned-illustrator Dr. Matteo Farinella, with support from the Wellcome Trust, explains the inner workings of the brain in delightful and illuminating black-and-white illustrations, covering everything from perception and hallucinations to memory and emotional recall to consciousness and the difference between the mind and the brain."
—Brain Pickings

“[Starred Review] The sketchy, loose illustrations, lacking realism but heavy with feeling, help soften the serious topic. Lots of text, slanted and personal, provides explanation, and Hayes also offers quiet spreads with opportunity for reflection. ... As the subtitle implies, this 'handbook' could be a useful companion for women in the protagonists’ situation: it’s full of reminders to keep breathing, be calm, and call a friend, and of what to expect. ...[F]or those readers open, curious, or seeking some guidance, it’s deeply empathetic, uniquely unflinching, and unlike any book on the topic, particularly with regards to its gentle presentation.”
- Annie Bostrom, Booklist

If you've ever wished there were decent sex ed for adults, Oh Joy Sex Toy is for you. Wife and husband team Erika and Matthew write medically accurate, sex-positive, body-positive, LGBT-inclusive, non-judgmental comics that cover everything. If you are wondering how to explain a concept, how to approach sensitive subjects appropriately, or you're looking for unbiased reviews of books and products, this series is for you.

Vol. 2 includes more product reviews, judgment free health information, and the real reason Fifty Shades of Grey is so terrible. (Hint: It's the domestic violence.)

Vol. 3 includes information on UTIs, HPV, hook-up apps, and the neurology of orgasm.

Vol. 4 includes pelvic exams, kink etiquette, and how to have difficult conversations with your partner.

Cunningham's excellent book was inspired by the years he worked on a hospital psychiatric ward. His drawing style is extremely versatile, moving easily between cartoon like depictions and detailed line drawings of patients. One particularly affecting chapter is on a man with anti-social personality disorder, including Cunningham's depiction of the patient's remote and shifting eyes.

"[Queer] succeeds in opening its rarified subject matter to nonacademic audiences and disrupting assumptions and preconceptions about gender and sexuality, not to mention race, class, and the idea of 'normal.'. . . .Former undergrads will wish they had such resources when they were hacking through this difficult material."
— Library Journal

This is a unique and excellent book aimed not at families or providers, but the people diagnosed with bipolar disorder. Forney, after all, has been living with it for years. Her book is frank, accurate, and reflects best psychiatric practices and the real day-to-day reality of living with a profound brain disorder.

“Tom Hart's black-and-white "RL,"... recounts the loss of his 2-year-old daughter Rosalie by building a hill of fragile, elegantly drawn memories around it. It's a bleak and devastating work that shows comics' ability to convey emotion as effectively as any short fiction or literature.” ―Denver Post
"Anyone coping with such loss―meaning a vast readership―will find Hart’s expression of pain and heartache to be entirely understandable and entirely appropriate. A bracing, deeply saddening journey into death and loss whose wryly affirmative resolution, 'joy breaking through the storm clouds,' is nothing but hard won." ―Kirkus Reviews

After being diagnosed early with Bipolar Type I at age nineteen, Rachel Lindsay adjusted her whole life around one principle: Staying Sane. In this memoir, she tries to communicate her experience and consuming frustration with a system that only sees her as her diagnosis, even when she's an absolutely compliant patient. Hospitalized during a manic episode, she rages against the feeling of being isolated, without allies. "It's easier to be angry than sad. That first morning, I awoke into a nightmare that had less to do with my surroundings than the complete failure of the system I had been led to believe would protect me from this fate."

"...incredibly informative and obviously expertly presented. Its two young creators --- she earned her Ph.D. in 2007, he obtained his in 2013 --- lend expertise and authenticity to the project, which was no doubt a labor of love for them both. The comics format allows them to have a great deal of fun with the material, which is enjoyable for the reader as such heady topics as "Is my mind something else than the brain? Or is the mind just a product of my brain?" are covered. If you’re at all interested in the question of what makes you truly you, this is the comic to help you better understand both the answer and the question."
—Graphic Novel Reporter

"A diverse cast of cartoon kids-in terms of appearance, ability, and point of view-explore the multiple meanings of the word sex with their teacher, friends, and family members. There is a heavy emphasis on the importance of thinking for oneself and developing one's own opinions. The language is conversational and accessible, as well as direct, fastidiously accurate, and entirely gender-neutral. Each section ends with conversation-provoking questions, reinforcing the suggestion that the book be read and shared in conversation with a trusted adult. What makes this volume exceptional is its introduction of the subjects of transgender identity, intersex conditions, and masturbation. The quality text is enhanced and brought to life by comics drawn with bold lines on bright, full-bleed pages. Smyth's illustrations are interactive, fun, and edifying, presenting a range of body types and diversity. Despite the title, the topic of sexual intercourse is not covered; but Silverberg prepares readers for this information by introducing concepts such as respect, trust, and joy. VERDICT Exciting, enlightening, and innovative, this book addresses timeless questions about sex for a new generation of kids who are increasingly aware of the broad spectrum of gender and sexual identities." -Clara Hendricks, Cambridge Public Library

When Raina Telgemeier was in sixth grade, she was horsing around after girl scouts when she tripped, fell, and broke her two front teeth. What followed was an orthodontic journey involving painful procedures, bridges, multiple sets of braces, and of course headgear. For anyone who might have been, might have, or might work with tweens and teens.

"Who would like this book? People have asked me this question several times. The people who most would enjoy and benefit from reading Sobriety: A Graphic Novel are parents and friends of alcoholics and addicts, and also people seeking to understand the principles of Twelve Step recovery. In addition, counselors and staff will find that the comic format of this work allows readers to grasp concepts in the books simple-without being-simplistic format." -Daniel R. Maurer

Solutions and Other Problems includes humorous stories from Allie Brosh's childhood; the adventures of her very bad animals; merciless dissection of her own character flaws; incisive essays on grief, loneliness, and powerlessness; as well as reflections on the absurdity of modern life.

This graphic adaptation of Laurie Hale Anderson's novel Speak is a gut punch of a book about what trauma looks like from the inside out. Before the school year started, Melinda called the cops to a party she was attending. The cops crashed the party, Melinda lost all her friends, and she never once spoke about what happened. In fact, she doesn't really say much at all anymore.

Farmer's portrayal of her parents' end of life care is detailed, unsentimental, and touching. Particularly poignant are her interactions with hospice care, as they prepare her (and the reader) for the quotidian realities of dying.

Stitches is not an easy memoir to read, but it is a powerful one. David Small grew up in a tense, angry household. His mother alternated between silence and rage. His father, a radiologist, treated David's frequent sinus infections with lengthy exposure to x-rays. He developed what the adults in his life referred to as a benign cyst, which no one treated. Eventually, Small was brought to the hospital for an operation to remove it, assured it would be a relatively painless procedure. Small, a doctor's son, trusted and believed his father's friends and colleagues. David woke up with no thyroid, only one vocal cord, and "a crusted black track of stitches, my smooth young throat slashed and laced back up like a bloody boot."

Marc Schultz and the Cannons have fit an astonishing amount of scientific detail into this graphic novel. It includes the history of the science from Mendel to Michurinism, as well as molecular level detail of reproduction. The black and white illustrations are clear and helpful. The authors also include important bioethical principles and modest conjecture about the future of genetic science.

Powell tells the story of two step-siblings, each troubled, who are trying to navigate adolescence with their burdens. He does an excellent job of explaining what it feels like when the adults in your life fail you, like when Perry works up the courage to tell his doctor about the visual and auditory hallucinations he's been having for years. The doctor tells him, and his father, that it's just stress and that "a few problems are always normal. Where would we be without them?"

This near-perfect book covers life in the HIV ward during a particular period of time: after the public acknowledgement of the epidemic, but before the drug advances that stop or even slow the progression of the virus. In real time, the staff of Unit 371 were building a new model of care to make patients who had been treated as pariahs feel like people again. MK Czerwiec is a nurse and an artist who was part of that process.

Inman, creator of the massively popular web comic The Oatmeal, has written a hilarious book about a terrible exercise: long-distance running. Inman is frank about it: he runs because it makes life bearable. Along the way, he talks about motivation, body issues, and why not everything has to be sunshine and rainbows.

Randall Munroe has a gift for breaking big ideas down into accurate and digestible pieces. This book. Standouts in this book include a breakdown of hospitals (Room for Helping People), organs (Bags of Stuff Inside You) and the periodic table (The Pieces Everything is Made Of.) This librarian's favorite is Fear Water, aka adrenaline.

It would seem impossible that the weighty subject of trauma could be explored so thoroughly in a comic book format. Yet this pairing of text and image so perfectly balances academic rigor, whimsical design, and engaging little narratives. At its heart, this book beautifully inspires the reader to see personal trauma as an opportunity for healing and growth.
-- Nkem Ndefo, Certified Nurse Midwife, Founder of TRE Los Angeles, speaker, and trauma educator

Not everyone can be as dedicated a reader of comics and graphic novels as your librarians. Scott McCloud nimbly breaks down the visual shorthand of comics with an incisive examination of symbology, visual processing, and history. In his words: "There's only one power that can break through the wall which separates all artists from their audience--the power of understanding. Understanding comics is serious business."

There are few figures in the history of medicine who loom as large as Margaret Sanger. At a time when it was illegal to explain human reproduction publicly, she wrote pamphlets so accurate that the Postmaster General refused to mail them. Bagge doesn't avoid the more contrary parts of Sanger's life such as her anti-abortion sentiments, marital infidelity, and addiction. She once accepted an invitation to speak about contraception tot he Women's Auxiliary of the Klu Klux Klan because she believed that even racists deserved to know and understand their own bodies. Regardless of what you think you know about her, there is more to that story.

Harmony plays a big part both in Chinese Medicine and cartooning. Not only must the cartoonist produce amusing drawings, but each drawing also needs to clearly communicate its concept, whether serious or funny. Cartoons which are intended as aids to understanding and memory introduce one more vital requirement to the harmony - a deep knowledge and affinity with the concepts being conveyed. Spencer Hill's cartoons harmonise these ingredients beautifully and, coupled with Damo Mitchell's expertly and clearly written text, will enable any reader to balance laughter and learning with the greatest of ease.
-- John Byrne, Cartoon Tutor, The London Art College