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On the Dark Side of the Moon（我們在月之暗面）

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by Yu-Ling Kung   On the Dark Side of the Moon (2024) is a graphic novel by Beck Kao, an independent comics artist and toy designer from Taiwan and the founder of Uniautomata Studio, which published the book. It is difficult to guess what kind of story lies inside from the cover. The black, landscape-format cover shows only part of the Moon and the title, with no main characters or clear clues about the genre. Once I started reading, I found the story full of unexpected turns. At first, the main character, SYD, is a professional basketball player on the… Read More

Lights, Planets, People!

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by Melanie Anspacher Lights, Planets, People! is a graphic novel based on the author Molly Naylor’s stage play of the same name and illustrated by Lizzy Stewart.  The story follows an astronomer named Maggie Hill who suffers from bipolar disorder and is experiencing severe anxiety.  Maggie reluctantly seeks counseling from a therapist as she prepares to deliver a guest lecture that is intended to inspire young women, a task she finds quite daunting.  Weaving through the present and past as the conversation with her therapist unfolds, she recalls navigating a romantic relationship while pursuing her life’s work to discover exoplanets,… Read More

How Are You Feeling? A Comics Anthology

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BY ISHANI ANWESHA JOSHI How are you Feeling? A Comic Anthology (2025) by Andeasyand (author and illustrator), Vinita Ramani (writer), Griselda Gabriele (artist), Wayne Rée (writer), and Nurjannah Suhaimi (artist) is a collection of the first three issues of Singapore-based independent comic publisher Difference Engine’s DE Shorts imprint. Each issue is published as a single chapter with individual prefaces and author biographies. While chapters two and three focus on a single narrative, chapter one contains multiple short narratives centered on the theme discussed. Throughout the book, white, blue, and red are predominantly used, while other formal elements, such as panel… Read More

A Syncopated Rhythm: Elizabeth Swados’ My Depression: A Picture Book

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by Dr. Velebita Koričančić, Mexico City In Elizabeth Swados’ My Depression: A Picture Book (2005), depression appears as a cloud and a black hole. Yet the book’s true force lies in how these images keep time. Swados gives depression a rhythm: it starts and stops, returns and interrupts, accelerates and stalls. By “syncopated” in this review’s title, I mean an uneven beat that throws ordinary life off tempo. Depression, in Swados’s hands, is timed. Prior readings of My Depression have focused on metaphor. Elisabeth El Refaie’s chapter on Swados’s work as “trapped in spacetime” in Visual Metaphor and Embodiment in Graphic… Read More

ULTRASOUND

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BY ISHANI ANWESHA JOSHI   Published by Fantagraphics and adapted into a feature film directed by Robert Schroeder, Ultrasound (2022) by Conor Stechschulte narrates the story of Glen and Cyndi, who are subjects in a neurological experiment manipulating their memories and perceptions. The text is structured into four distinct parts, each introduced by a quote that encapsulates the central philosophical concern of its respective segment. A work of fiction, the book is framed as a science fiction thriller that deals with medical themes such as mind control, human experimentation, gaslighting, and depression, among others. For scholars and practitioners of comic… Read More

In Mourning

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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