by Felix Cheong You can dodge taxes (as many successful people have done). But the one fact you can’t avoid is death. Yet among Asians, we often wave away the word as if saying it aloud might bring on the death throes. No talk of wills, end-of-life care or funeral planning. Heck, we can’t even pen our autobiographies. At my memoir-writing workshop last year, one participant said his wife had tried to stop him from signing up because she believed writing your life story meant you were ready to give up the ghost! Which makes All Death Matters an unusual… Read More
Infected for Science
by Matt Peters In 2016, historian Sydney Halpern found something unexpected when she was searching library archives to learn about vaccine studies from decades past. Among the more ordinary documents was a strange batch of consent forms from the 1940s. They were from a group of civilian volunteers who agreed to be infected with hepatitis as part of a military research program during World War II. Their inoculation with the virus, it was hoped, would lead to medical advances that could keep soldiers safe from hepatitis during wartime deployments. What Halpern uncovered was a forgotten chapter in the history… Read More
Dead Man Walking
awaiting review
Surgeon X – The Path of Most Resistance
by Matt Peters Surgeon X: The Path of Most Resistance is a graphic novel that blends dystopian fiction, mystery, and medical drama in a fast-paced story about a global public health crisis. Set in London in 2036, Surgeon X imagines what will happen as the world enters a post-antibiotic era, a time when bacterial infections become increasingly difficult to treat, because bacterial evolution has outpaced pharmaceutical science. In this imagined future, antibiotic-resistant strains have emerged, leaving clinicians all but helpless when treating pneumonia, gonorrhea, tuberculosis, and other infections. In the real world of today, medical experts have predicted that… Read More
The Incredible Hulk #420 – AIDS issue
by Matt Peters With his work on a long list of titles at Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and First Comics, the late Peter David (died May 24, 2025) had many claims to fame as a comics writer. Perhaps foremost among them was his 12-year run writing The Incredible Hulk. He took over its writing in 1987, when sales of the long-running series (published from 1962 to 1999) were so low that other writers didn’t want the assignment. David’s storytelling approach soon turned things around, making the series a commercial success. Much of that success was due to David’s ability… Read More
Cuba My Revolution
by Saily Marrero Content advisory: torture, sexual violence Cuba, My Revolution is a fictionalized memoir chronicling Inverna Lockpez’s early support of Castro, her disillusionment with the regime, and her eventual journey to the United States. The book covers several medical topics from mental health, torture, public health, and others. Because of the mature themes and graphic illustrations, the book is best used for adult audiences. Lockpez’s story is about disillusionment and loss of trust with a government. For Sonia, our protagonist this begins with questioning the medical ethics of doctors during Bay of Pigs Invasion (or Playa Giron as it… Read More
Forgiveness: The Story of Eva Kor, Survivor of The Auschwitz Twin Experiments
Book Review by Kevin Wolf Regarding the holocaust[i] (see end of review for notes), “Never forgive. Never forget.” were instructions my grandmother gave me repeatedly in my childhood (more on my background in a bit), so I wondered how I would react to the graphic medicine work Forgiveness: The Story of Eva Kor, Survivor of The Auschwitz Twin Experiments by Joe Lee. To call it “graphic medicine” is wrong and probably better to call it graphic anti-medicine, because if it teaches anything about medicine, it’s how to not act medically and shows unethical, wretched practices. I’ve read a… Read More