Shared with us by Professor A. David Lewis
On February 28, 2025, students in the ARTH 3000 course at Northeastern University had the opportunity to speak directly over Zoom with Brian Fies, the creator of Mom’s Cancer and A Fire Story. This Graphic Medicine course, spearheaded by Professors Hillary Chute and Cailin Rolles, focuses both on the state of the field after the COVID-19 pandemic as well as on the visual practices and illustration techniques that undergird a number of the genre’s most notable works. Overseen by Prof. A. David Lewis, students read works by creators like MK Czerwiec, Justin Green, Allison Bechdel, and Allie Brosh alongside scholarly and critical papers from experts including the authors of the Graphic Medicine Manifesto, Brian Callender, and Scott McCloud.
More than just read works about and by various individuals in the Graphic Medicine space, students got to speak directly with Fies and to ask him about his process, the legacy of his work, and his views on climate disasters. The lively, hour-long dialogue featured a number of laughs as well as heartfelt moments, as students and Fies – with Lewis serving as moderator – revisited the early days of his Eisner Award-winning webcomic and its progress to print publication and study.
Fies himself added this comment to the YouTube page: “Truly one of the best discussions I’ve had in a long while.”
View the video here: Graphic Medicine Discussion with Brian Fies on MOM’S CANCER and A FIRE STORY at Northeastern U.
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