Wednesday, August 30, 2017

SPX 2017 COMICS DEBUT - STITCHIN' TIME!

NEWEST MINICOMIC


How do I process research as I work on a large project? By making small snippets to help me process narrative priorities, explore media, and transform vast amounts of data into digestible pieces. One of these pieces has been transformed into my mini comic, Stitchin' Time!


Was Galen really bossy? Maybe not, but historians 
consider him a bit of a "showman." 
(Buy the book if you want this citation! - I am shameless!)

Stitchin' Time! is a ridiculous historical fiction based on factual medical history. Aulus Cornelius Celsus (c. 25 BCE – c. 50 CE) was a Roman writer of De Medicina, an important medical text.  Aelius (or Claudius) Galenus (129  – c. 200 CE) was a famous surgeon and one of the most influential writers in the history of medicine. In this minicomic, for the first time ever, Celsus and Galen team up to stitch a disemboweled gladiator back together! Could these men have ever met? Heck no! Would this type of surgery have taken place in the 2nd century? Heck yes!


Yes, Celsus wrote about a double-handed suture! 
Who needs robotic surgery when you can get so fancy with a needle?

RIGOROUS RESEARCH
Yeah, it's a pretty silly story and I'm giving you links in this post to Wikipedia, but the historical research is sound! This is the first comic resulting directly from my residency at the New York Academy of Medicine Library. There are notes about each panel and a citations list at the back. You don't have to read them if you don't want to, but they may help you get a joke or two.


A surgery panel inspired by a 17th century anatomical 
illustration from the Academy Library Historical Collection.
The mini will be debuting at the Small Press Expo in Bethesda Maryland, September 15-16.

OTHER PLACES TO BUY
After SPX you will be able to purchase this tome (and more!) at Birdcage Bottom Books.

2 comments:

  1. I'm so glad I searched for your bird leg comparative anatomy diagram literally a moment ago, because now I know you (or just your mini?) will be at SPX. Heck yeah.

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    1. To know me is to know my mini! See you at SPX. Make sure to introduce yourself!

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