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The Return of the Honey Buzzard by Aimée de Jongh

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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

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guest review by Northwestern Medical Student Frank Barrows, Chicago, IL  In Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me, Ellen Forney tells an uncomfortable tale about her struggle over several years to accept and manage her bipolar disorder. Through black and white images inked in thick oily black you get to know Ellen, and she drags you through her manic days as you try to keep up, and she holds you down in her depressed days, malaise oozing off the page. A fascinating read, I can’t definitively say I enjoyed reading the book despite the fact I’ve read it twice in two… Read More

Marbles by Ellen Forney

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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

Graphic Medicine Podcast – Panel 1C: Resistance – A Voice for the Voiceless

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Our third panel from Brighton, addressing issues of depression and comics, ethical issues facing medical students, and perceptions of Downs Syndrome. Use the Quicktime players below to view images along with the audio of each presentation. If you don’t have Quicktime, you can listen to an audio-only version of the entire panel. See link at the end of this post.  First up is Marie-Jeanne (MJ) Jacob, presenting her talk, Dark Days: The Ethical Implications Surrounding Depression, and Comics Creation as Retaliation She writes, Two years ago I began to brainstorm a comic discussing depression, as someone who both suffers from… Read More

Look Straight Ahead

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Elaine Will is a Canadian cartoonist who just completed a graphic novel entitled ‘Look Straight Ahead’ about a teen boy’s struggle with depression/bipolar disorder. You can read it online here, for the time being: http://blog.e2w-illustration.com It’s been getting rave reviews…Kevin Bramer of Optical Sloth said “for a first graphic novel, it’s damn near perfect” and that it was “required reading for anyone who knows someone dealing with mental illness.” It’s also in the current Diamond Previews catalogue. If it gets enough orders, it will be officially released in print form in November. Elaine is also planning another graphic novel that… Read More

New Podcast: Representing Mental Health

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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. In this week’s episode, three speakers address mental health and comics. First up is An Nguyen with her paper, My Partner Has Depression: Japanese depictions of illness experiences in the day to day.  An Nguyen is a Ph.D. candidate in sociocultural anthropology at the University of Western Ontario. She is currently finishing her dissertation on Japanese youth street fashion subcultures and has an interest in the global flow of media and things and their interpretation across cultures. Describing… Read More

Depresso or: How I learned To Stop Worrying And Embrace Being Bonkers!

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‘The world is plagued by madness. With leaders bent on insane policies and too many citizens locked in crippling depression, normality seems elusive and questionable. Part travelogue, part indictment of mad medicine, Depresso is Tom Freeman’s hilarious journey through the vagaries of the system to emerged scathed but content with being ‘bonkers’. The story unfolds over several years, in China and the UK, during which anti-depressants reduce Tom to a zombie and alternative therapies drive him to comic re-examinations of his life, his work and relationships.’ Ian’s review ‘Brick’ is the nom de plume of John Stuart Clark, who has… Read More

Sonia’s Feeling Sad (Books Beyond Words)

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awaiting GM review Amazon blurb: ‘In the Books Beyond Words series the stories are told through pictures only. They are for adults with learning (intellectual) disabilities, but are useful for anyone with communication difficulties. Sonia is a young woman with learning disabilities. She is very sad and avoids her friends and family. At home, she unhappily retires to bed. Sonia’s GP (family doctor) says that she is depressed and suggests that she see a therapist. Regular visits to the therapist help Sonia to feel better, and we see that she starts to enjoy life again. There is text at the… Read More

Ron’s Feeling Blue (Books Beyond Words) [Paperback]

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Awaiting GM review Amazon blurb: ‘In the Books Beyond Words series the stories are told through pictures only. They are for adults with learning (intellectual) disabilities, but are useful for anyone with communication difficulties. Ron, a young man with learning disabilities, has lost interest in the things he usually enjoys – even eating and watching television. He doesn’t want to see his friends or take part in any activities. He stays in bed and gets angry when his friends try to talk to him and bring him food. His GP (family doctor) visits and diagnoses Ron with depression. Ron sees… Read More