by Alaina Santiago My Perfectly Imperfect Body by Debbie Tung presents a graphic medicine memoir that dives into what it really means to live in a body that’s not cooperative. The story explores feelings of hardship, frustration, and what that experience looks like to the outside world. Similar to other graphic medicine works such as, Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michaelangelo, and Me by Ellen Forney, The Bad Doctor: The Troubled Life and Times of Benjamin Bennett, MD by Ian Williams, and Taking Turns: Stories from HIV/AIDS Care Unit 371 by MK Czerwiec, the strength of these individuals cannot be understood through… Read More
This Beautiful, Ridiculous City – A Graphic Memoir
by Lilian Nyamongo Content Advisory: This book contains discussion of suicide with some suicidal imagery. The crisis Lifeline number in the U.S. and Canada is 988, in the U.K. it’s 999; and for elsewhere go to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_suicide_crisis_lines.There are occurrences of domestic violence. National Domestic Violence Hotline in the United States is 800-799-7233; text 988; or use this weblink, https://www.thehotline.org/. In Canada use https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/stop-family-violence/services.html. In the UK use https://www.nationaldahelpline.org.uk/. And elsewhere in the world, one could use https://www.nomore.org/the-no-more-global-directory/, https://www.domesticshelters.org/resources/national-global-organizations/international-organizations, or https://www.theamieffect.com/global-directory-of-abuse-helplines/. Part memoir, part love letter to New York City, This Beautiful, Ridiculous City is a thoughtful exploration of what it… Read More
In Mourning
by Soph Myers-Kelley In Mourning centers around the death of the author’s (Paula Cheshire’s) mother due to pancreatic cancer, as well as the grieving process Cheshire experiences for the year after. A tear-inducing graphic medicine piece; Cheshire takes us through stages of grief as she experienced them. As the author and the artist, Cheshire’s cartoon style is essential to storytelling- especially since her mother was her self-proclaimed biggest fan. While the coloring primarily consists of blacks, whites, blues, and pinks, she utilizes bold reds and greens as evocative storytelling devices. She often uses green when describing the envy and jealousy,… Read More
When Everything Turned Blue
by Soph Myers-Kelley Alessandro Baronciani, an Italian author, originally published this book with Bao Publishing in 2020 (and in Italian). However, Dark Horse Publishing is the first to release it in English. The book does not appear to be a memoir, but an original story about a young woman suffering an undiagnosed illness and seeking diagnosis. Her journey towards healing and understanding is the primary focus of this book. Baronciani’s art is the highlight of this art piece for me. Most graphic medicine books utilize varying blacks, whites, and greys for the majority of their art. Some will use choice… Read More