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Spotlight: Sarc, by Cole Henley

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Sarc is a short comic I did to try and communicate my experiences late in 2019 when I was diagnosed with Sarcoidosis. I wanted to convey some of the medical journey but also my personal experiences and the impact on those around me. The comic is deliberately left open ended because diagnosis for many is just the start of a journey, especially with chronic illnesses. I (Cole Henley) am a web developer, illustrator and recovering archaeologist from Somerset. You can find out more about me over on my website: https://cole007.net/

Hummingbird Heart

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Guest Review by A. David Lewis   In her book Comics and the Body: Drawing, Reading, and Vulnerability, Eszter Szép analyzes Joe Sacco’s The Fixer: A Story from Sarajevo in terms of haptic vision. Drawing on the work of Laura U. Marks, Szép explains haptic vision as the visible made tactile, “a mode of visual perception that is synesthetic in nature: It connects tactile and kinesthetic sensibilities with vision without the actual act of touch” (120). She describes the thickly cross-hatched backgrounds of The Fixer as “haptically charged” (121), causing the reader to pause and to experience Sacco’s own embodied… Read More

In Waves

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Guest Review by Kiki Havos   AJ Dungo’s 2019 debut graphic novel, In Waves, is a poetic tale of loss and love. The graphic novel has been awarded the 2020 American Library Association’s Alex Award and the 2020 Prix Des Libraries Du Quebec Comic category award. In Waves honours the mirroring of life and relationships—both past and present. With what had originally begun as an art school research project on surf history, Dungo expands to include a personal narrative of how the sport offered solace while grieving the death of his long-term girlfriend, Kristen. Dungo illustrates the evolution of losing… Read More

Dancing at the Pity Party: a dead mom graphic memoir

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Guest Book Review by Lorraine Chun   Throughout the world, people have suffered tremendous losses during the Covid-19 pandemic.  The book, Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder, may be something that people could relate to, especially if they experienced a loss of a close family member. Tyler Feder’s memoir is a beautiful, heartfelt graphic novel dedicated to her mom, and aptly describes the “trappings of cancer” (covering the spectrum from hearing the initial diagnosis and prognosis, to treatment and chemo side effects) and finally, the family fallout after a loved one dies. Tyler, from her memoir, talks about her close relationship she had with her… Read More

IN.

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Guest Review by Maura Spiegel   The Edinburgh, Scotland-based New Yorker cartoonist, Will McPhail, is not the first to wonder what our psychic life would look like if we could draw it, but he does something quite special with the idea in IN.  His narrator/protagonist, Nick Ross, is an artist who spends a lot of time in hipster coffee places and suffers from an inability to establish authentic connections with others; it all feels like performance to him.   The witty portrayal of his muted black and white existence explodes into color when a superficial exchange with the plumber fixing his… Read More

‘Cancer Sells’ by Tat Effby

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Tat is a cartoonist and illustrator, whose work has appeared in Private Eye, the Oldie, the Guardian and as Cath Tate Cards. She is a regular contributor to My Shrewsbury Magazine, home to her strip ‘Round the Bend’, based on the wildfowl on Shrewsbury’s stretch of the river Severn. Tat lives in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, with a husband and two sons (probably hers) who like to break things so she has something to do.  Instagram & Twitter : @tat_effby www.tat-effby.com