Graphic Medicine: See Me, Hear Me, Feel Me

Joan Hilty directs comics and graphic novel publishing at Nickelodeon, and is Editor-in-Chief of the book producer Pageturner. She has been a senior editor at DC Comics/Vertigo and a syndicated cartoonist. She co-chairs the Brooklyn Book Festival graphics committee and teaches at the School of Visual Arts in New York City.

A. Andrews is a queer and disabled cartoonist and the creator of the Autostraddle webcomic Oh, Hey! It’s Alyssa! All different kinds of bods want to connect with other bods, but lots of them get left out of the conversation when it comes to S-E-X. Disabled cartoonist A. Andrews in his easy-to-read A Quick & Easy Guide to Sex & Disability (Limerence Press) covers the basics of disability sexuality, common myths about disabled bodies, communication tips, and practical suggestions for having the best sexual experience possible. Whether you yourself are disabled, you love someone who is, or you just want to know more, consider this your handy starter kit to understanding disability sexuality, and your path to achieving accessible (and fulfilling) sex. Alice Wong, Founder and Director, Disability Visibility Project called it “A great introduction to basic information many disabled people can use. With humor, real talk, and lovely illustrations featuring all kinds of bodies, this guide can help disabled people (and their partners) on their journey toward self-love, better communication, and confidence.”

Vivian Chong is a visual artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, graphic novelist, drummer, potter, motivational speaker, and the creator of a one-woman stand-up show. Georgia Webber is a comics artist, writer, and editor living in southern Ontario. In late 2004, Vivian Chong’s life was changed forever when a rare skin disease, TEN (Toxic Epidermal Necrolysis), left her with scar tissue that would eventually blind her. As she was losing her sight, she put down as many drawings on paper as she could to document the experience. In Dancing After TEN (Fantagraphics) Chong teams up with cartoonist Georgia Webber — whose graphic autobiography, Dumb, chronicled her own disability — to trace her journey out of the darkness and into the spotlight. Chong now expresses her art through singing, stand-up, drumming, running, and dancing. This graphic novel is an inspirational tale and a powerful work of graphic medicine. Library Journal celebrated Chong’s work. “Her story is so horrifying that it would be easy to gawk and move on quickly. Instead, in this memoir, Chong’s confident voice draws out the complicated reality of a debilitating medical condition with precision and purpose.”

Tyler Feder is a full-time illustrator based in Chicago. She began posting her artwork online, and within five years she had grown her illustration company, Roaring Softly, into a recognizable brand with a mix of witty pop culture art and intersectional feminist pieces. She has illustrated for Netflix, Comedy Central, and ESPN, and is the illustrator of Cristen Conger and Caroline Ervin’s Unladylike. From before her mother’s first oncology appointment through the stages of her cancer to the funeral, sitting shiva, and afterward, when she must try to make sense of her life as a motherless daughter, in her graphic novel Dancing at the Pity Party  (Dial Books)Tyler Feder tells her story in often piercing–but also often funny–details. She shares the important post-death firsts, such as celebrating holidays without her mom, the utter despair of cleaning out her mom’s closet, and the sting of having the “I’ve got to tell Mom about this” instinct and not being able to act on it. In a starred review, Publishers Weekly noted that “Feder’s simple art features light pink backgrounds, a diverse cast of supporting characters, and details that make the story feel real . . .  this book offers a wealth of perspective about coping with grief.”

Lucy Sullivan is an animator, author and artist based in London. She co-directed & animated award-winning music videos as part of the collective Smuggling Peanuts. In 2016 she moved her practice into comics. Since then she has been commissioned by Dark Horse Comics for Black Hammer and is a contributor to Hey, Amateur! Anthology from Black Crown. Her self-published comics include 1in4Zines, and her latest series How To Build A Feminist, a prelude to her next large scale work. Barking (Unbound), her debut graphic novel, is about a young woman in psychiatric torment. One year after the death of a close friend, her body was fished out of the river, Alix Otto’s demons have overwhelmed her. She finds herself in a hospital psychiatric ward where she clashes with staff, fellow patients and herself. She not always can tell the difference between reality and wild hallucinations. Her depression, her fears, grief and guilt and images of her dead friend, are embodied in her visions of a big black dog. But then, a glimmer of hope: a new friendship. Tripwire Review called Lucy Sullivan’s Barking “more evidence that comics is a legitimate form for discussion of mental health, if that question hadn’t been settled long ago anyway.”