Sunflowers

By Chloe Horning, Librarian 

Sunflowers by Keezy Young is a brief, personal account of living with Bipolar I. It uses the format of a one-shot, single issue comic book to tell a story in a way which is direct, immediate and employs an eye-catching visual style.

The comic begins with the provocative line “Most people think mania is fun [pg. 1].” Young’s goal throughout the narrative is to debunk this myth about living with Bipolar, and to illuminate the reality of their experience. Young’s website describes them as a self-taught artist, influenced by Golden Age illustrators, as well as classic Manga and Anime artists, and their drawing style evokes a blending of these disparate influences.

Sunflowers draws upon a color palette of muted, low fidelity, earth tones that evokes the 1970’s. Personally, I found the style of illustration and color to be intensely appealing and immersive. The colors increase in contrast and vibrance when pre- and post-depicting the author’s mania, then descend into darkness with a series of completely black pages, when chronicling a depressive episode.

Of course, this is not the first biographical comic to be written about Bipolar mania. Ellen Forney’s perennial classic Marbles[i] springs to mind, as a likely point of comparison and contrast. However, where Forney’s book is more broadly autobiographical and analytic, Sunflowers focuses on examining the contours of a single and exemplary cyclical episode of mood disturbance. Sunflowers is far looser and more impressionistic than Marbles. To put it lightly, Sunflowers is a vibe. Given that, I expect that Sunflowers would be an accessible point of entry into the genre of graphic mental health autobiography for younger folks, including high school and early college students. Its brevity means that it could be covered in a single classroom discussion, or meeting of a book discussion group.

I appreciated the author’s commitment to depicting both the good and bad aspects of their disorder, while taking care not to romanticize those aspects that may seem appealing to someone on the outside looking in. In particular, one page which described the negative or frightening aspects of mania struck me as important for readers to understand. The author described several visual and auditory hallucinations which can accompany the euphoria of their manic episodes, including “little mournful cat meows,” “melting walls” and other indicators of psychosis.

The final two pages of the comic include an afterword, where the author speaks briefly about Bipolar, and their personal philosophy about the disorder. There is also a page of resources for readers who may be struggling with similar issues. This comic is currently available to read for free on the publisher’s website. It can also be purchased as a printed book, or PDF.

https://www.silversprocket.net/2024/03/30/sunflowers-by-keezy-young-read-for-free/

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Chloe Horning (MLIS) is a community college librarian from the Seattle area.

[i] Editor’s note: Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo & Me has been reviewed several times at www.graphicmedicine.org, including by Kat Georgakopoulos, Leandri Hattingh, and Michelle N. Huang.