Where to Buy: https://bookshop.org/shop/graphicmedicine
Book Review by Kevin Wolf
Medical Mentions is a group of graphic works. The graphic works reviewed here are books whose primary topics are not medical, and yet they cover a medical topic with some depth at some point in the work. The rest of the work might be fictional or nonfictional, while the medical portion is often technical and five pages or more. The reviewer will usually neither recommend nor discourage reading the work, except when the rest of the work is deemed outstanding or terrible, respectively. Typically, six graphic works will be part of the review with one paragraph for each. Prior Medical Mentions can be found at I, II. With that in mind here’s Medical Mentions III.
Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me: A Graphic Memoir by Lorina Mapa; Medical Mentions 1-3, 16-17,19-24, 110-113, ; ISBN: 978-1772620115; Conundrum Press (www.conundrumpress.com); September 2017; paperback; 140 pages; author’s website: unknown
Duran Duran, Imelda Marcos, and Me is the story of Lorina (“Rina;” or “Princess” to her father) Mapa in the 1980s, the closeness of Filipino families, her infatuations, and the downfall of Ferdinand Marcos (1917-1989), presidential dictator of Philippines, told around the unexpected, sudden 2005 death from a car accident and later funeral of her father. We learn some culture, family relations, political, and social aspects of the Philippines. The author lived an upper class, fairly sheltered life. As a youthful Rina points out there is a disturbing poster in her grandmother’s house of feet with the quote, “I complained that I had no shoes until I saw a man who had no feet”—which argues for never complaining. But this was after Rina, as a child, saw blind children begging outside her father’s car and recalling that every Sunday outside her church she would pass a man with no legs (who “never approached anyone but sat on his makeshift platform on wheels with an angry defeated look in his eyes”) with a can to put bills and coins nearby. We later get some lessons on water conservation. There are very touching moments, including around unanswered phone calls (not for the reason you might think). There’s a torn ACL (anterior cruciate (knee) ligament). Customs agents are accidentally hurtful when Rina—there for her father’s sudden death and funeral—has to answer … “What is the reason for your visit to the Philippines?” This is also a full circle story with the author mourning her own mortality to bring her story to life. We also see her children as a new generation in a seemingly less dictatorial world; though the sheltering continues in this generation, too. Ultimately, this tale is a tribute to the author’s father. I recommend this work.
Ascendance of a Bookworm: I’ll do anything to become a librarian! Part 1: If there aren’t any books, I’ll just have to make some! Volume 5 by Miya Kazuki (author), Suzuka (artist), Carter “Quof” Collins (translator from the Japanese); medical mention pages: various in various volumes; ISBN: 978-1718372542 (1:5); J-Novel Club (www.j-novel.club); May 2021; paperback; 192 pages.
Ascendance of a Bookworm series is an adaptation of an anime and novel series (latest novel translated is Part 3, Vol. 1. Only Part 1: If there aren’t any books, I’ll just have to make some! has been adapted into manga, so far. The premise of this series is a bibliophile woman who dies after stacks of her books collapse on her and dreamed of being reincarnated into a world of books. Unfortunately, she finds herself returned in a child’s (Myne’s) body prone to being bedridden from fevers and a devouring disease with unknown or perhaps out-of-reach-expensive treatment besides bedrest; and in a world that appears to have no books. When she says the word “books” it appears as [books], which is supposed to sound like Japanese and no one, besides the reader, can understand what she’s saying. Health-wise, this series is also about living within bodily limitations, and excelling in bringing to a foreign culture/world what one learned from their own roots; and finding the mix is better than the original. Over the course of the series, there’re lessons on how to make paper, hairpins, tastier cooking, becoming a merchant, class systems, talents being exploited and trying to reduce such exploitation, understanding contracts, and finding familial (father, mother and older sister) and friendly (Lutz) needed support. The illustrations are wonderful; as is common in manga, they’ll show adults drawn as children when they become anxious, angry, or display raw emotion. And the empathy toward all characters, no matter their community-standing from noble to resource-lacking, is palpable. Each volume often ends with a textual story, and two afterwards; one from the artist (explaining her visual research) and one from the writer (summarizing plans). And the series isn’t over; I’m looking forward to this continuing saga. I highly recommend this series.
Haphaven by Norm Harper & Louie Joyce (lettering by Oceano Ransford; pp 9, 19-21, 105, 114, 146-148; ISBN: 978-1549304118; ROAR/The Lion Forge (https://onipress.com/); March, 2019; paperback; 160 pages; author’s website: https://www.louiejoyce.com/haphaven.html
The medical mention is almost not worth mentioning, but it’s the premise for the entire story: that superstitions (“’stitions,” according to the leprechaun Hubbub Casksides) are real. What if the sexist rhyme couplet “Step on a crack … break your mother’s back”—it’s never the father’s—meant stepping on a crack would break your mother’s back? Her mother’s back can only be fixed by Alex traveling into Haphaven and retrieving a rabbit’s foot. Along the way, the Jinx, lady Luck, a Black Cat, picking up a penny (… to bring luck), will help or hinder Alex rescuing her mom. This wonderfully illustrated tale is filled with superstitions brought to life. We watch Alex physically transform as this graphic work takes dark turns. This adventure has a very satisfying denouement. I highly recommend this young adult graphic novel.
Art Life by Catherine Ocelot (translation from French by Aleshia Jensen); unpaginated; ISBN: 978-1772620467; BDANG (Conundrum Press) (www.conundrumpress.com); Publication April 2020; paperback; 208 pages; author’s website: http://catherineocelot.com/art-life/
Art Life by Catherine Ocelot fits medical mentions in that medical issues are briefly mentioned in numerous places. But this work revolves around what it means to be an artist both personally and to the public; judging and being judged; how much of one’s self is the artist willing to reveal. Medical mentions include: age limitations, needing vitamin D, and the risk of UV rays for cancer (A President chapter); falling from a tree as metaphor as artist risking to climb to new heights while disability insurance might increase bravery (Natacha chapter); aging/hearing troubles (Marie-Claude Renaud chapter); “tell your birth story or talk about sadness, tears or cellulite …[but it’s] not serious art” & ultimate artistic sensitivity: “You have the right to exist, Catherine …” [Daphné & Julie chapter];” narcissism, pregnancy/epidural (Marcel chapter); and many more medical mentions. There’s some ironic, gallows humor when another bird-person mentions their plantar warts (contagion) while in communal showers (Michelin chapter). The beautiful water-color illustrations feature the author (and other humans) as a feathered bird from the waist up with human legs, whose metaphor is almost explained ….
Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually by Meichi Ng; pp 154-199 (Therapy Chapter); ISBN: 978-0062945594; Harper Perennial (imprint of Harper Collins); https://www.harpercollins.ca; November 2020; hardcover; 416 pages; author’s website: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/meichi
Barely Functional Adult: It’ll All Make Sense Eventually by Meichi Ng provides a window into a person who is anxious, feels “not worthy,” has “imposter syndrome,” lonely at times, seeks therapy, wild-cow-loving, all wrapped in self-deprecating humor. The author intermixes comic-strip-like cartoony illustrations with stories of her twenties. It’s a very personal story of a delightfully eccentric—she opens with her pet frogs—millennial. The medical aspects do lack some depth. She has a chapter on therapy (154-199) where she says, “Every time something happens that triggers emotions I don’t want to deal with, I put it in a jar, seal it, and never open it again.” (172) We see her carrying those jars around; hugging them to herself, but avoiding opening them. We learn more of what might be in those jars outside the therapy chapter than within. Her self-doubt is tangible; and deepens as those around her reinforce her more-than-competence—a difficult thing to pull off in a memoir—hence her imposter syndrome (268-287). We meander through her early adult life, just like she wanders toward wild cows … observing with wonderment.
Class Act by Jerry Craft; pp 69-72, chapter 10: 174-184; ISBN: 978-0062885500; Quill Tree Books (imprint of HarperCollonsPublishers) (www.harperalley.com); October 2020; paperback; 256 pages; author’s website: https://jerrycraft.com/
Class Act—a sequel to the 2020 Newbery Medal winner New Kid—by Jerry Craft is an excellent fictional story of race relations at a private middle school as seen through do-gooder teachers/administrators and the students who are living their real lives. The clueless staff are trying, though the mnemonic of their organization (page 224) indicates they still have a way to go. Class Act is the continuing story of Drew Ellis, one of the few students of color, at Riverdale Academy Day School. A white student, Andy Peterson, who had bullied others gets a life lesson by his peers chiding him when a Hulk Halloween costume goes wrong. He says, “It’s not cool to tease someone because of the color of their skin” (69). There’s one chapter when Alexandra gets Drew to open up to her hand puppet, Pigmund Freud, about the dilemmas of being a child in a world whose rules are confusingly controlled by adults (178-183). Class Act has each chapter begin (with permission) as an homage to other cartoonists’ recent graphic work; including Sketch Diary of a Shrimpy Kid[i], Hairville[ii], Teal Friends[iii], Invisible m.e.[iv], Nay, Kiddo[v], and even his own Mew Kid by Furry Craft[vi], among others. And the conclusion is very satisfying when chauffeured Liam makes much better connections with Drew and his life outside of the Academy. I highly recommend Class Act and New Kid.
______________________
[i] Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
[ii] Barry Deutsch’s Hereville
[iii] Shannon Hale’s & LeUyen Pham’s Real Friends
[iv] Terri Libenson’s Invisible Emmie
[v] Jarrett J Krosoczka’s Hey, Kiddo
[vi] New Kid by Jerry Craft
Leave a Comment