Guest Reviewed by Jennifer Takhar Two-Week Wait (2021) is a graphic novel that details Joanne and Conrad’s, the protagonists, uneven in vitro fertilisation (IVF) journey which ultimately leads to the successful birth of their child. The authors, Luke and Kelly Jackson, have claimed that their representation of IVF, based on personal experience, “is not a medical text (but more) a relationship drama” (The Guardian, 2021). I would argue that Two-Week Wait is as much a medical text as it is a depiction of the emotional, corporeal and financial vicissitudes, (an amalgam I call “IVF affect”), that are commonplace in… Read More
Two-Week Wait: An IVF Story
Review by Alice Jaggers Two-Week Wait: An IVF Story is a fictional story of Conrad and Joanne who find themselves on an in vitro fertilization (IVF) journey. Two-week wait is significant because there is a two-week wait between conception and being able to see if implantation occurred. It is the earliest a person can test with a home pregnancy kit. For IVF patients, there is a two-week wait after a specialist places a viable embryo (or embryos) into the patient’s uterus before a blood test is drawn to see if they are pregnant. This time is full of anxiety… Read More
New Podcast: Comics & Medicine in the Mainstream
This is Panel 13 from last summer’s Comics & Medicine conference in Toronto. In this episode we will hear from three speakers in two presentations. Both will address medically-relevant themes as they have appeared in mainstream media comics. 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. “Facing” illness: what the “funnies” can teach us about caregiver role, response, and needs Sarah Russe and Judith Kaplan-Weinger An overt focus on the effects of illness is still rare in mainstream syndicated comics. One of the… Read More