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
Bird Brain: Comics about Mental Health, Starring Pigeons
Guest Review by Kristina Bowers Bird Brain: Comics About Mental Health, Starring Pigeons, published in 2019, is illustrator and comic artist Chuck Mullin’s debut book. This collection of personal essays and short comics features pigeons and other birds as anthropomorphic stand-ins for Mullin and the people around her. The comics explore the author’s own experiences with anxiety and depression as well as communicate relatable experiences with mental health and socializing many of us encounter in our day-to-day lives. The World Health Organization estimates that 5% of the global adult population have depression, a great deal of whom face… Read More
When Stars Are Scattered
Author websites: Omar Mohamed ( https://www.refugeestrong.org/); Victoria Jamieson (https://www.victoriajamieson.com/); Iman Geddy: (https://www.imangeddy.com/) Guest Review by Justin Wigard, Michigan State University “For me, the first years are lost” – a poignant beginning by Omar Mohamed to When Stars Are Scattered, visually magnified by a spectacular night sky, purple and dark with stars of pink and fuchsia. This becomes immediately juxtaposed on the next page, a splash spread showing a young Omar and his younger brother, Hassan, looking through a barbed wire fence at other refugees in the bright and arid desert of Kenya, in a refugee camp called Dadaab. These two sequences reveal… Read More
All the places in between
Book Review by Kevin Wolf When I look at a wordless graphic work my mind travels with the images and fills out a story—sometimes in pictures only and sometimes in words of my own invention for the pictures provided. I fill in any perceived gaps or explanations of what I think is going on. I have reviewed some graphic medicine works (Something Terrible, Waves) that had few words or emphasized imagery, but none—until now—that had no words, except part/chapter titles. It’s strange that I’ll be giving my review with words, and not my own drawings. If I had the… Read More
My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness
Awaiting Review
Nine Faces of Nothing
Book Review by Kevin Wolf Nine Faces of Nothing (Depression Comics) is an intense mini-comic, self- published by Eli Bishop. Open to interpretation is where these nine tales begin and end. That is, all nine stories in this work are layered or not; are abstract or metaphorical; are clear or opaque; it’s up to you to find their meaning. They’re connected as pieces related to depression. Some are emotional, some are lighter, but all are thoughtful. The art/words range from minimal/wordless to detailed, not necessarily in the same story. I recommend this work which is available at the author’s… Read More
Brosh Books
Guest Review by Jane Burns This review is for both of Allie Brosh’s books: Hyperbole and a Half and Problems and Other Solutions. Both books are engaging, wild and super funny. Not really adjectives you would associate with books about depression. Solutions and other Problems has a 7-year gap between publication of her first book Hyperbole and a Half and if you were in any doubt as what Allie Brosh was doing in that period well it appears she was creating more amazing content and perspective. Hyperbole and a Half The publication of Allie Brosh’s recent book Solutions… Read More
The Return of the Honey Buzzard by Aimée de Jongh
By Kevin Wolf This fictional graphic novel has the impact and realism of a non-fictional work about bullying, depression and suicide. The back cover indicates this work is Aimée de Jongh’s first graphic novel, though it’s a very mature work. The drawings are beautiful, showing scenes from nature, grade school, and adulthood. The story flows naturally with events surrounding Simon. He’s having trouble closing the multi-generational used bookstore he inherited from his father. The graphic work shows recent and past painful moments that he feels extreme guilt about observing but not preventing. Some scenes Simon lives and some are… Read More
Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me
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
Marbles by Ellen Forney
Guest review by Leandri Hattingh, Grey House Cartoons I have always been empathetic with sufferers of ill mental health, more so than many of my medical colleagues. Diagnostic and treatment limitations aside (for the moment), I believe these conditions remain stigmatised in modern medicine and, sadly, often by practitioners of such medicine. Since my exit from clinical practice in mental health care however, I’ve become less sensitive to these matters over the years. Ellen Forney’s graphic memoir, “Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me” has sparked in me a renewed insight, understanding, and empathy for those suffering from mental health disorders. In this… Read More