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Creepy, Joy of Quitting, My Begging Chart

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Book Review by Kevin Wolf   Creepy by Lee Sensenbrenner and Keiler Roberts is creepy. I won’t give much away about this graphic novella, except to write if taken seriously, then medically it includes cartilage amputation, obsessive compulsive eating disorder (my diagnosis, though not a diagnostician), and child abuse; but it’s really an allegory against digital device obsession whose protagonist looks a lot like Keiler Roberts’ cartoon avatar and it’s a horror story for children. It’s short, pithy, and, did I mention, creepy?   Keiler Roberts’ The Joy of Quitting is a very honest, bare (sometimes naked) portrayal of her… Read More

Bipolar Bear’s Misadventures

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Book Review by Kevin Wolf   I haven’t read Judith Viorst’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (September 2009, Atheneum Books) which is illustrated by Ray Cruz, so I don’t know if the book under review is also a spoof of Viorst’s work or only borrowing some of its title, but I’m ok with that; because, Kathleen Founds in Bipolar Bear and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Health Insurance: A Fable for Grownups is venting her own frustrations in an allegory about struggling with a chronic mental health issue (bipolar disorder) which is exacerbated… Read More

Medical Mentions Book Reviews I

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Medical Mentions is a new type of posting at graphicmedicine.org. 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 provided with one paragraph for each. With that in mind… Read More

Rx

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‘You wont know the shape of your unravelling until it happens’ says Rachel Lindsay’s disheveled comic avatar, sitting on her bed in a breeze-block room of the mental hospital to which she has just been committed. ‘But you probably have some idea what it looks like’ adds her previous corporate self, from the advertising office where she was in charge of marketing antidepressants. Rachel’s fall has been sudden and dramatic: from well-paid, corporate ‘suit’ to ranting unemployed maniac, shouting obscenities at authority and at her concerned parents. It is not often, nowadays, that I find myself unable to put down… Read More

Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life

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Book Review by Kevin Wolf Ellen Forney’s newest book, Rock Steady: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life will  be a very helpful tool for many. Rock Steady covers bipolar mood disorder in particular, and mood disorders in general. The book provides coping tools and treatments. It’s not a graphic “novel,” because it’s a work of non-fiction that can be used as a teaching tool for the general public and health care providers interested in the topics. It has no continuing characters, except the author, who appears infrequently; and is mostly text though there are cartoon images throughout. I recommend this work for… Read More

Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me

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guest review by Kat Georgakopoulos Ellen Forney thought that her unique personality propelled her creativity in just the right way. However, when she was diagnosed with bipolar disorder at the age of twenty-nine, Ellen’s perception of herself was turned upside down. Manic, manic, and even more manic, Ellen was advised by her therapist to seek the aid of medication. But Ellen perceived medication to be a direct threat to her creativity. So she fought to preserve herself while simultaneously searching for stability. Through a full year, Ellen entered phases of total energy where she took on an incredible number of… Read More