Graphic Medicine
Home / Latest

Latest

Things to Do in Toronto When You're Alive (not to be confused with Things to Do in Denver When You're Dead)

by

Guest blogger and conference presenter Steven Bergson gives us a rundown of Toronto’s finest. Some of you may be arriving in Toronto before the conference begins, while others may be staying along after the conference ends.   Either way, you’ve probably got plans in mind for what to do while you’re here (besides attending our wonderful conference!).   For those with no plans – or who might be looking for alternate options – I’ve prepared a small list of events, websites, and attractions to help you plan your itinerary.   Toronto Websites   Toronto Tourism http://www.seetorontonow.com   Blog TO http://www.blogto.com/… Read More

Tweeting the Comics & Medicine conference

by

For any participants and followers who might be Twitter users, we are planning to use the hashtag #comicsmedicinetoronto. We encourage live tweeting of the sessions as many people will be unable to be in Toronto but still interested in following the proceedings. And for those of us who are able to attend, there are, by necessity, concurrent sessions from which we’d love updates. All conference tweeting is greatly appreciated!

Joyce Farmer: sex, politics and aging parents

by

Outside the world of underground comix enthusiasts, Joyce Farmer is probably best known for her latest work, Special Exits (Fantagraphics 2010), a memoir (though the names are changed) of her experience caring for her parents during the last few years of their lives. Special Exits is Farmer’s first book-length comic, famously praised by Robert Crumb, but Farmer has been an important figure in comics since the 1970s. I’ll get back to Special Exits in a minute, but first I want to make sure to tell you about her work from the 70s. I wish I’d been more familiar with it… Read More

Joyce Brabner: Giving Voice through Words and Pictures

by

Joyce Brabner will be the first keynote speaker at the upcoming Comics and Medicine conference.  Guest blogger Mita Mahato looks at the overlapping commitment to comics and activism that characterizes Brabner’s life. Perhaps the most apparent link that joins Joyce Brabner to Graphic Medicine is Our Cancer Year (1994), the comics memoir she wrote with her late husband, Harvey Pekar.   Blending the perspectives of caregiver Brabner and patient Pekar, the book (illustrated by Frank Stack) not only highlights the gritty realities of cancer, chemotherapy, and the effects both have on mind and body, but also positions that illness within the… Read More

A Conversation with Shelley Wall

by

Shelley Wall is an artist and illustrator, and a professor of biomedical communications University of Toronto medical school. She is also the on-the-ground organizer of the 2012 Comics & Medicine conference, which will take place in less than a month! In this conversation with MK, Shelley talks about how her degree in literature, medicine, illustration, and comics came together in her career. She also discusses what she’s excited about for the upcoming conference. It’s become dramatically clear that the Graphic Medicine Podcast needs a theme song, so I’m asking our listeners for submissions and suggestions! Email me directly, comicnurse@mac.com. Enjoy!

A Conversation with Neil Phillips

by

Use the Quicktime player above to view images along with the audio. If you don’t have Quicktime, you can listen to the audio-only version below. Neil Phillips is a psychiatrist based in Melbourne, Australia. He is also a comics artist and publisher. MK spoke to Neil across the international date line via Skype. In this podcast, he discusses his unique origins in comics and medicine, comics and the brain, and he gives us a preview of his presentations in Toronto next month.

A Conversation with Brian Fies

by

Use the Quicktime player above to view images along with the audio. If you don’t have Quicktime, you can listen to the audio-only version below. The tales we tell are just as important as the facts and figures we learn. Stories help us try on different possibilities to see how they fit. They tell us where we came from and how we got here. They tell us what to appreciate, what to avoid, and what aspire to. The best stories pass on yesterday’s truths and take on new meanings for today.” -Brian Fies, in Whatever Happened to the World of… Read More

Comics & Parkinson's

by

 In anticipation of this week’s upcoming podcast conversation with Mom’s Cancer creator Brian Fies, here’s news about a project Brian participated in to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease research. “Inspired by “Cul de Sac” comic strip creator Richard Thompson, Team Cul de Sac is an effort organized by Chris Sparks to raise funds for researching Parkinson’s Disease, which Richard has. Working with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Team Cul de Sac had the idea of asking other cartoonists, illustrators, animators and artists to donate art for a book and auction. What kind of art? As the original announcement said: “The theme is… Read More

New Podcast Wednesday For Reals!

by

Today on the podcast it’s the amazing Riva Lehrer!  Artist and educator Riva Lehrer talks with MK about bodies, her portrait series Circle Stories, her anatomical art lecture beauty and variation, disability culture and community, medicine, comics, Graphic Medicine, the recent  University of Chicago Comics Conference and more.  Riva teaches life drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern Medical School.  The Paper Mirror: Drawing Alison Bechdel is a film by Charissa King-O’Brien that documents Riva’s collaboration with cartoonist Alison Bechdel. A screening of the film will be the opening night event at the Comics & Medicine 2012 Toronto… Read More