May 18-20, 2012 University of Chicago Center for Critical Inquiry, Chicago, IL organized by Hillary Chute videos of all sessions available here.
Hospice Comics
MK Czerwiec, RN, MA Comics Forum, September 19, 2011
It’s a Bird
guest review by Dr. Ryan Montoya, MD Family Medicine Physician and Comic Book Artist rjmontoya@gmail.com Steve, the narrator of the 2004 Vertigo Graphic Novel It’s a Bird, cannot reconcile the myth of Superman with his every day life. He feels that Superman is the least-relatable character ever created. This becomes startlingly clear in “The Outsider,” one of the many fascinating vignettes that punctuate this semi-autobiographical work by author Steven T. Seagle and artist Teddy Kristiansen. While Clark Kent, a white male, is ostensibly an outsider who hides behind glasses and suit and tie, the real outsiders – the Jewish accountant who… Read More
Level Up
guest review by Kathryn Fay, Northwestern Medical Student Pacman has what every good video game – and narrative for that matter – should have: motivation (fleeing from ghosts), reward (eating yellow dots), and obstacle (navigating a labyrinthine course). Best of all, it has familiarity. Level Up, by Gene Luen Yang, satisfies on all these counts, too. The story starts off with Dennis, the main character, sharing his first experience with an arcade. Many of us remember that moment, too: mine was at the dentist office (the only place I was allowed to play video games, mind you); game of… Read More
New Podcast Wednesday: Comics in Patient Education, Part One
Use the Quicktime player above to view images along with the audio. If you don’t have Quicktime, you can listen to the audio-only version below. The first panel podcast from the 2012 Toronto Comics & Medicine conference is on the topic of Comics in Patient Education. In part one of this panel, we will hear from Cathy Leamy and Allison Zemek. The full Q&A from the panel will follow next week’s podcast. Cathy Leamy is an independent cartoonist, specializing in autobiography, humor, and education. She also works as a web developer at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, MA, USA, building… Read More
No Life Lessons Here: Comics, Autism, and Empathetic Scholarship
No Life Lessons Here: Comics, Autism, and Empathetic Scholarship Sara Birge, Pennsylvania State University Disability Studies Quarterly Abstract: Comics, a relatively understudied medium for representations of disability, have enormous potential for providing important critical perspectives in disability studies. This article examines two recent comics that portray individuals with autism: The Ride Together by Paul and Judy Karasik and Circling Normal, a compilation of the comic strip Clear Blue Water by Karen Montague-Reyes. I argue that these comics’ unique narrative geometries make them ideally suited for depicting cognitive disabilities in the nuanced context of embodied life. Through their reworking of stereotypes and their unique portrayals of autism, Circling… Read More
Joyce Farmer: sex, politics and aging parents
Outside the world of underground comix enthusiasts, Joyce Farmer is probably best known for her latest work, Special Exits (Fantagraphics 2010), a memoir (though the names are changed) of her experience caring for her parents during the last few years of their lives. Special Exits is Farmer’s first book-length comic, famously praised by Robert Crumb, but Farmer has been an important figure in comics since the 1970s. I’ll get back to Special Exits in a minute, but first I want to make sure to tell you about her work from the 70s. I wish I’d been more familiar with it… Read More
Comics & Parkinson's
In anticipation of this week’s upcoming podcast conversation with Mom’s Cancer creator Brian Fies, here’s news about a project Brian participated in to raise funds for Parkinson’s disease research. “Inspired by “Cul de Sac” comic strip creator Richard Thompson, Team Cul de Sac is an effort organized by Chris Sparks to raise funds for researching Parkinson’s Disease, which Richard has. Working with the Michael J. Fox Foundation, Team Cul de Sac had the idea of asking other cartoonists, illustrators, animators and artists to donate art for a book and auction. What kind of art? As the original announcement said: “The theme is… Read More
New Podcast Wednesday For Reals!
Today on the podcast it’s the amazing Riva Lehrer! Artist and educator Riva Lehrer talks with MK about bodies, her portrait series Circle Stories, her anatomical art lecture beauty and variation, disability culture and community, medicine, comics, Graphic Medicine, the recent University of Chicago Comics Conference and more. Riva teaches life drawing at the Art Institute of Chicago and Northwestern Medical School. The Paper Mirror: Drawing Alison Bechdel is a film by Charissa King-O’Brien that documents Riva’s collaboration with cartoonist Alison Bechdel. A screening of the film will be the opening night event at the Comics & Medicine 2012 Toronto… Read More
New Podcast Wednesday (kind of)
This week’s Graphic Medicine podcast is actually a Laydeez do Comics podcast! Alex Fitch presents Comic Nurse (that’s me) and Sarah Leavitt at Laydeez in London, recorded on November of 2011. (above: The Graphic Medicine section of Blackwell’s Wellcome Collection bookshop, London. Tangles by Sarah Leavitt is on the right and two of my books are on the left. The center book, Billy, Me, & You is by Laydeez organizer Nicola Streeten. ) Visuals for the comics I discuss can be found by digging around here. “Taking Turns,” my book in progress, can be found here. Sarah Leavitt’s website is here, which… Read More