Robin McConnell’s interview with comics artist Glyn Dillon, author of the wonderful Nao of Brown. Glyn explains the thinking behind the book, which tells the story of a young woman who has OCD. Graphic Medicine gets a mention in the interview! LISTEN
Dad’s not all there anymore: Lewy Body Dementia comic
Alex Demetris got in touch recently. He’s working on a comic about Lewy Body Dementia. It looks very interesting and I can’t wait to see more (there is a printed copy in the post to me!). This is what Alex has to say about his project: ‘Having produced numerous cartoons and short comic strips over the past six years, last autumn I decided to enrol on an MA in Illustration at Camberwell College of the Arts in order to explore fully my interest in producing a longer narrative comic. In 2007 my father had been diagnosed with Lewy body dementia,… Read More
Family Fun
A couple of months ago I heard a talk given by a comics artist who goes under the name of Una. One of her projects is a comic about dealing with psychosis in a relative, including being with them while they undergo the process of being detained under the mental health act. The series is in development and will be launched as a comic book at an exhibition in Leeds in February http://www.leeds-artexhibitions.co.uk Here is a sneak preview:
MICE, Comics and Medicine
Our pal Cathy Leamy, a.k.a @metrokitty has been in touch to tell us that Boston Comics Roundtable is hosting their annual free indie comics fest, MICE (Massachusetts Independent Comics Expo), this coming Saturday, September 29. She is moderating a “Comics and Medicine” discussion panel at 11:00am – here’s the description: “Health, illness, and the physical body are major themes in many graphic novels (such as Cancer Vixen, Epileptic, and Stitches). Doctors, patients, and health educators are getting involved with comics as teaching tools and as a method of self-expression and exploring physical conditions. Moderator: Cathy Leamy Panelists: Kriota Willberg, LB Lee,… Read More
Emma Vieceli illustrates Tranexamic Acid comic for Emergency Teams
Researchers at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine have created a comic influenced by the Japanese manga style to help busy medical staff who treat patients suffering from bleeding. Professor Ian Roberts devised a storyline to highlight the latest research into the life-saving benefits of tranexamic acid (TXA) in a way which he hopes will appeal to doctors, nurses and paramedics on the front-line of medicine. The comic by professional artist Emma Vieceli and colourist Paul Duffield sets the scene in a busy emergency department as staff rush to treat people following two explosions. As well as… Read More
Graphic medicine: female cartoonists tackle life’s dark moments
Cinders McLeod of the Globe and Mail has posted this article that grew out of our Toronto conference: Graphic medicine: female cartoonists tackle life’s dark moments “Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse won millions of fans with largely autobiographical stories of family foibles. But for a growing wave of female artists, comic art has the potential to go deeper – speaking to the dark side of domestic life and personal demons. Their subject matter includes anorexia, abuse, depression and death. There’s humour to balance the pain, however. And a clear payoff to the genre, sometimes called ‘graphic medicine’: a healing… Read More
Stem Cell comic and a Malaria Comic
Edward Ross contacted me to flag up the recent science comics he has been making with researcher colleagues. These two web-based comics follow on from 2010’s Parasites! produced by Ross and molecular parasitologist Jamie Hall of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Molecular Parasitology in Glasgow. CLICK ON THE COVER IMAGES TO GO TO THE COMIC WEBSITES The Hope Beyond Hype graphic story grew from the desire of OptiStem, a large European consortium of stem cell researchers, to go beyond just explaining the science of stem cells. They wanted to depict the process they undertake as they try to move stem cell… Read More
Review: Science Tales by Darryl Cunningham
Science Tales Darryl Cunningham 2012 Myriad Editions 178 pp ISBN 978-0-9567926-8-6 Hardcover £11.99 Darryl Cunningham, a gentle and thoughtful man of imposing height, does not pull his punches when it comes to giving the spurious claims of homeopaths and chiropractors a sound drubbing. His new book Science Tales seeks, through the application of common sense and good science, to expose and dismiss the ‘lies, scams and hoaxes’ perpetrated by lazy journalists, corrupt corporate spin doctors and peddlers of snake oil. A comic book with a bibliography is a rare thing. Cunningham is admirably erudite and engages in extensive research while… Read More
Call for Graphic Memoirs: Drawn from Distress to Recovery
A Call for ‘Graphic Memoirs’. Editors: John Stuart Clark & Theodore Stickley An undervalued feature of the recovery movement is the powerful narratives of those who have survived mental health problems and the psychiatric system. Increasingly people in distress or recovery have turned to the graphic medium of comics to tell their sensitive stories, sometimes collaborating with friends or therapists, more commonly working alone to produce a personal diary or recollection. While a few have emerged as published ‘graphic memoirs’, most never see the light of day, or at best, are only accessible as web-comics. Going some way to correct… Read More
Making better doctors, a panel at a time
Comics are teaching tool for Penn State College of Medicine students Our colleague, Professor Michael Green, one of the originators and luminaries of Graphic Medicine, teaches a course called ‘Graphic Storytelling and Medical Narratives’ at Penn State College of Medicine in which Medical Students study graphic novels and comics and make their own strips. Michael, his students and the course is featured in this article by Cindy Stauffer in the Read the full article here