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The Froggy Library – Welcome to Soggy Stump

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by Kevin Wolf   There’s lots to learn in The Froggy Library by Julie Fiveash, who is Diné (preferred name of the indigenous Navajo people). The writing is straightforward and honest … even not having all the answers to very difficult topics. The drawings are nicely simple with great coloring by Jess Lome. Protagonist Anura (they/their), a young anthropomorphic indigenous frog spends their summer with their grandmother, Grandma, in the Soggy Stump community. Grandma suggests Anura go to the Soggy Stump library to overcome their boredom. The library opens up a new world of books and activities, like making mini-comics…. Read More

Us Two Together

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by Andy Smith   Us Two Together, written by Belgian artist Ephameron and translated from the Dutch by Michele Hutchinson, describes the author’s perceptions and feelings surrounding the decline and eventual death of her father, who was stricken with a rare form of dementia in his late fifties. This book has somewhat sparse narrative, and collage drawings intended to convey emotions more than literal events, so it is important that the reader review the author’s intentions in the very well-written Preface of this book.  It makes clear that her father received excellent care, from a large network of family and… Read More

Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir

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by Soph Myers-Kelley Bishakh Som in Spellbound introduces the reader to a memoir experience about culture, immigration, queerness, transness, tantalizing foods, and crushing identity crises. It’s ideal for older teenagers and adults. One of the most interesting creative decisions Som makes in her book is the choice to use a stand-in cisgender Bengali American character named Anjali instead of depicting her own likeness as the protagonist. Som herself is a transgender Bengali American woman, who came out as an adult.  She originally created this work as a diary comic before stringing together longer chapters. This book is a complex, note… Read More

Ronan and the Endless Sea of Stars

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Book Review by Kevin Wolf   Ronan and the Endless Sea of Stars is a powerful, touching, honest portrayal from author Rick Louis’ perspective of his son, Ronan, born with Tay-Sach’s, a genetic terminal neurological disease. This story provides information about Ronan’s birth, the disease, infant milestones made and lost, the impact on Louis’ marriage, and all wrapped in Lara Antal’s wonderful illustrations both happy and sad. I read Ronan in one sitting. I highly recommend this story for the medical detail, empathic feelings generated, and beautiful illustrations. Ronan is also recommended by Tom Hart (Rosalie Lightning), Brian Fies (Mom’s… Read More

Medical Mentions Book Reviews III

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Where to Buy: https://bookshop.org/shop/graphicmedicine   Book Review by Kevin Wolf   Medical Mentions is a group of graphic works. The graphic works reviewed here are books whose primary topics are not medical, and yet they cover a medical topic with some depth at some point in the work. The rest of the work might be fictional or nonfictional, while the medical portion is often technical and five pages or more. The reviewer will usually neither recommend nor discourage reading the work, except when the rest of the work is deemed outstanding or terrible, respectively. Typically, six graphic works will be part… Read More

New Podcast: AIDS Memoirs and Sarah Leavitt

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In this episode, we feature Jordana Greenblatt’s presentation from the 2015 Comics & Medicine conference, titled “Internal and External Spaces of Threat and Dissolution: HIV/AIDS Graphic Memoir.” This presentation was part of the “Comics as Performance” panel in Riverside.  We will be hearing much more in the coming year about comics as performance as our 2016 Dundee conference theme expands on this area of thought and scholarship. In addition to the video below, you can subscribe to the Graphic Medicine podcast in iTunes here. And in our “What Are You Reading?!” segment, Tangles creator Sarah Leavitt talks with MK about… Read More

New Podcast: These Frames Are Hiding Places

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In an interruption of the lectures from Brighton, this week we feature Mita Mahato of the University of Puget Sound. Dr. Mahato recently delivered a lecture at the University of California at Riverside titled, “These Frames Are Hiding Places: Processing Grief Through Comics.” You can see more of Dr. Mahato’s work here. The lecture was supported by UCR’s Center for Ideas and Society, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation Workshops in the Humanities. The event was coordinated by Juliet McMullin, who was kind enough to share the audio with Graphic Medicine. Dr. McMullin is a moving force behind UCR’s the Medical Narratives… Read More