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
Captain Bio: Are You at Risk for Hepatitis B? and Captain Bio: Attack of the Hep B Virus!
by Matt Peters In the 1990s, pharmaceutical giant Merck partnered with marketing firm Tim Peters and Company to launch a line of comic books called Bio Comics. The flagship character of that line was Captain Bio, a superhero whose advanced technology gives him unique abilities to fight pathogens and other microscopic threats to human health. The comic books served as free patient education materials that were distributed in hospitals and other healthcare settings. The comics weren’t explicit pitches for Merck products but aligned Merck’s brand with important healthcare needs. Two of the comics that came out of the project… Read More
Shot in the Arm
Book Review by Kevin Wolf A Shot in the Arm by Don Brown is a color non-fiction graphic work of vaccine development narrated by the historical figure, Mary Wortley Montagu (1689-1762). This work permits Ms. Montagu to be of her time during a deadly Smallpox epidemic in Europe, as well as, carrying her through our current COVID-19 times. She’s the key founder of vaccine distribution. Smallpox, being eradicated from Earth since 1977, is also one of the great success stories of vaccines. “Along with clean water and sanitation, vaccines rank as one of the greatest contributions to public health.”… Read More
Eat More Comics: The Best of the Nib
Book Review by Kevin Wolf The Nib was nominated for several Ignatz awards at the September 2019 Small Press eXpo (SPX) in Baltimore, MD. The nominations were for Outstanding Anthology for their Death and Family issues (Edited by Matt Bors, Matt Lubchanksy and Eleri Harris), and for Outstanding Series (Matt Bors, editor-in-chief). The Nib won for Outstanding Series. At Cartoon Crossroads Columbus (CXC) on September 27, 2019, from a CXC press release, “Matt Bors received the Transformative Work Award. Bors arrived in Columbus this week seeking to drive attention to the financial reversal faced by the satirical magazine The Nib,… Read More