I would always happily point out that one of the top-selling graphic novels in recent years is an autobiographical tale about a girl’s experiences with dental trauma.

I am, of course, talking about Raina Telgemeier’s Smile.

And after mentioning that, people do begin to realize just how huge the topic of comics dealing with health, illness and medicine can be.

In so many ways, comics are uniquely suited to communicating about health, whether it’s personal stories or instructive information. After all, comics marries visual elements with words and it becomes more effective than either one could be alone.

I attended Comics & Medicine as a guest of Small Press Expo (we were one of the sponsors) and while I was only able to attend on Saturday, I was so thrilled I got to go.

To be clear: This was, at its core, an academic conference. While many comic creators were involved, the focus was on presenting papers and sharing knowledge. This was absolutely reflected in the sessions I attended.

The first featured Nicola Streeten discussing a project she was involved in where she told a story from the perspectives of both the doctor and the patient. Army Capt. Joshua M. Leone presented his paper about how comics can help servicemembers heal from trauma through the closure they can provide. MJ Jacob shared personal insights into how creating comics — or being unable to — helped her deal with her depression in unexpected ways. (Henny Beaumont was scheduled but unable to attend.) All three presenters were discussing personal stories — whether they were their own stories or someone else’s — and how comics could provide different perspectives and connection to the world in an intimate and powerful way.

I then attended most of the Health Education and Accessibility presentations, which brought up topics I hadn’t thought much about. Two from Research Triangle Institute International discussed their process of creating two comics in partnership with Naval Health Research Center and Headquarters Marine Corps to help servicemembers with psychological stresses. Dana Marlowe then discussed accessibility issues when it comes to online comics.

The outreach to military servicemembers — both in terms of creating comics for them and helping them create their own comics — seemed to be a small focus of the conference. I was unable to attend it, but James Sturm did discuss some of the work he’s done with a VA medical center in Vermont. Overall, the therapeutic aspects of comics is one most people there seemed very excited about exploring further.

Ellen Forney was the final keynote speaker for Saturday. She presented in abbreviated form the first two chapters of Marbles, her honest, emotional and informative account of learning she had bipolar disorder and then learning to cope with it. It was book I’ve read and loved (it’s a tough read in places but also fun and often funny) but I didn’t quite realize until Saturday just how educational it was. She outlines not only her personal experiences with bipolar disorder but also offers a great deal of factual information about it and its treatment.

And I think that was really the best part of this experience — I certainly felt like I knew about the connection between comics and issues of health, illness and medicine, but I began to realize just how much comics had taught me about these subjects. Reading Marbles, I didn’t realize how much about mental illness I was actually learning. And I know that Smile often gets passed between young friends when they first get their braces. I also think about the delightful work people like Cathy Leamy (who it was great to see briefly!) when it comes to issues of women’s health (Mindful Drinking was one of my favorite comics from last year, period!).

I think more so than anything else, comics offer an easy point of connection. Maybe you don’t want to watch a graphic video of a surgery; maybe a medical text is too dry; but a comic can find the right balance of personal, informative and entertaining.

As someone who is not in the field of health or medicine, or even someone who really creates comics, it was incredibly inspiring to see what wonderful work all these people are doing. I know I left wanting to know more and how I can contribute to this field somehow.

(Special thanks to conference organizer Lydia Gregg and John Hopkins University for hosting.)

• 13th Dimension
• Adventure Time
• Alison Wilgus’ NASA comic for Tor.com
• Andrea Tsurumi winning the MoCCA Award for Excellence
• Asbury Park Comic Con
• Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh
• Calling Dr. Laura by Nicole J. Georges
• Cartozia Tales
• Christiann MacAuley for Cosmopolitan.com
• Dotter of her Father’s Eyes by Mary and Bryan Talbot wins the Costa Biography Prize
• Eisner Award nominees go indie
• Flying Eye Books
• Hyperbole and a Half by Allie Brosh
• Ignatz Graphic Novel nominees are all books by women
• Kate Beaton’s family holiday comics 
• Kids Read Comics
• La Fille by Christophe Blain with Barbara Carlotti
• Manic Pixel Dream Girl by Elizabeth Simins
• March by Congressman John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
• Michael DeForge sweeps the Ignatz Awards
  
• Mindful Drinking by Cathy Leamy
• Minicomics Day
• Oily Comics
• “Our Toyota Was Fantastic” by Boulet
• Pencil Pup by Megan Brennan
• Pink by Kyoko Okazaki
• Promising New Talent winner Sam Alden as a mouse, as made by his mom
• Saga
• Simon Hanselmann
• Small Press Expo
• Steven Universe
• Supermag by Jim Rugg
• Today is the Last Day of the Rest of Your Life by Ulli Lust

This time, though, I do want to highlight some of the awesome women who exhibited their comics at SPX. I always seek comics by women and I don’t think Small Press Expo made much of a secret of how much we support women making comics. I think it was determined that 40 percent of our exhibitors were female — we have a list! While I totally understand that a good number of female creators just want to be seen as creators (and that’s something I absolutely get), I also don’t want their contributions to get lost or overlooked.

Vezere Valley Venture! – Megan Baehr

This travelogue chronicles Megan Baehr’s trip to France to view cave paintings as she does research for her upcoming graphic novel, The Lore Keeper. Like most travelogue comics, there’s not really a specific plot but just movement from one event to the next. Baehr’s artwork is crisp and clear and her enthusiasm for her subject matter is infectious. I’d already been interested in The Lore Keeper‘s progression, but this definitely pushed me into the realm of excitement.

Bug Boys #1-2 – Laura Knetzger

These are cute. While I think Laura Knetzger still has some growing to do as both and artist and a storyteller, I admire her playfully inventive stories about a pair of beetles and their world. I definitely think the concept is there and I came to enjoy her cartoony, surreal art as I saw more of it. She’s someone I’m going to be watching, definitely.

Frog & Owl: Regret Is for the Weak – Molly Lawless

Molly Lawless did not have her baby during Small Press Expo (although there was a period of time on Sunday she was away from her table and I was trying to start the rumor she had gone into labor. It didn’t work). That’s too bad because I’d told her that if she did have her baby at SPX, her baby would get in free for life. (It’s just as well — I probably didn’t have the authority to offer such a thing, anyway.)

Frog & Owl collects Lawless’ webcomic of the same name. It’s ridiculous, weird, incisive and hilarious. There’s no coherent storyline that connect the comics — instead, it’s just quips and random observations. The oddity and the strange formality of Lawless’ art may not be for everyone (although I don’t know who you people would be), but this is definitely the best comic you’re not reading. You should feel lucky that it’s not too late to start.

What’s the Word?: True Tales of a Woman on the Go – Cathy Leamy

I will always buy comics by Cathy Leamy every time I see her. Always.

What’s the Word? is a series of vignettes all based around single words — everything from “vacay” to “multitudes.” Leamy’s spirit and sense of adventure shines through and the expressive way she draws herself and others communicates simple, every day moments beautifully. Her comics are always a good time and this was no exception.

The Bad-Ass Habit – Laura Terry

I honestly think in any other year, Laura Terry’s gorgeous and inventive “Morning Song” would’ve easily won the Ignatz Award for Outstanding Mini-Comic. I don’t have any issue about Box Brown’s win there — it was a strong list of nominees, after all — but Terry’s comic was one of those instances where it was like “Yes, this is why I’m reading comics.”

The Bad-Ass Habit … well, yes, this is why I’m reading comics, too. It’s a nun fighting werewolves! What’s wrong with you if you don’t like that?

Terry’s art is refined and powerful and this comic feels delightfully too short and the action speaks of a greater promise. I want to know more about this werewolf-fighting nun! Why is she fighting werewolves? I want to see her fight more werewolves! I’ve spent the past couple of days recommending this to everyone (and they’ve all said “That sounds awesome.”)

Yakitori – Andrea Tsurumi

I enjoyed Andrea Tsurumi’s Terka 1 that I picked up last year (and I guess, sadly, I didn’t realize there was more of it out this year …) so I was interested to see what else she’s done. She’s a young artist with a fairly clear vision, and I like weird horror that she creates. Yakitori evokes Japanese yokai fairly obviously and menacingly, and I love her well-detailed, open pages. I’m absolutely going to keep going back for her comics.

Menstruation Station: Menarche Aboard – Jen Vaughn

Jen Vaughn is one of those people who is incredibly good for comics. I am absolutely serious. You need to pay attention to this woman.

These stories deal with the various aspects of a woman’s period — from the metaphorical (“It feels like a circus down there!”) to the disappointingly practical. It’s probably uncomfortable subject matter for some (in other words, men) but all too easy to relate to for the rest of us (in other words, women). Vaughn’s art has a lovely precision that’s not too formal and retains a sense of fun. She moves between reality and weirder realms with an understated ease.

Astronaut Elementary – Lessons 5-6-7: Dave Roman
Astronaut Elementary is going to be released by First Second (but retitled as Astronaut Academy) which is definitely “YAY!” but since it’s also not going to be out until Summer 2011, it’s also a little bit of a “BOO!” because I want it now. Yes, I know I can read it online, but it’s not the same, OK? I like books.

This is adorably hilarious and all-ages in the best way (as in, everyone from children to adults will enjoy it equally) and Roman lets himself have all kinds of freedom in his storytelling. He has pandas as faculty members, a school secretary named Mrs. Cupcake and the school sport is called Fireball, which is played with huge spiky scythes that look like weapons out of fighting video games.

Probably the centerpiece story here is about the cyborg, Cybert, and his tireless mission to eliminate Hakata Soy. However, he is thwarted by a mirror-visored, bee-obsessed guidance chancellor

Roman’s art has a very animated style and the whole effect is loose and playful. I mean, seriously, I want the book and I want it now. Am I really supposed to wait a year?

Remake (2010 SPX): Lamar Abrams
I’m not sure what the actual title of this is, so I’m just kind of going by what’s on the back. Max Guy is kind of a cross between Astroboy, Mega Man and every immature guy you’ve met. The other characters, including the no-nonsense Sybil, come across as much smarter and more together than our alleged hero. I have not read Remake (I’ve meant to, OK?) but even though I didn’t know what was going on, I enjoyed this. Lamar has a fabulous sense of design and framing of scenes and while this mostly revolves around a couple of jokes about poop, it also feels pretty innocent.

Geraniums and Bacon 1 & 2: Cathy Leamy
I really enjoyed Leamy’s Green Blooded, but that was more informative pamphlet than comic. These autobiographical comics deal with crises of faith, weird dreams and other every-day occurrences. Leamy’s obviously having a lot of fun (I love her “Writer’s Embellishment” bits) and her art is airy and constantly lovely. There’s a wonderful sense that she didn’t deliberate too long over these drawings but they don’t feel rushed. It’s almost as if she was just drawing a lot of this for her own amusement and that feels really free and great. I am glad she shared, however.

Sticky Rice: A Travelogue Through Bangkok, Thailand: Jeremy Nguyen
Styled like a Moleskine notebook, this short travel journal evokes Craig Thompson’s Carnet De Voyage (which Nguyen does namecheck). It’s fairly short and sometimes lacking in details, but I did like Nguyen’s ability to capture the world around him in his sketches. The portions of the journal he styles as comics (with dialogue in word balloons) come across as more interesting than his text descriptions. It’s maybe a little slight, but in some ways, I’m kind of happy Nguyen was probably enjoying his trip instead of focusing on his travel journal.

Missing Pieces: A Terka Story: Andrea Tsurumi
Tsurumi e-mailed me before SPX and told me to check out her work. I looked at her website, liked what I saw, and definitely knew this was something I wanted to pick up. Tsurumi’s drawings are ambitiously detailed and her aesthetic evokes Tim Burton’s morbidity and sometimes European comic artists like Moebius (and that’s not faint praise). The story is about a girl named Terka who lives in a land of monsters and it may feel incomplete in some ways — it’s obviously the beginning of a longer story — but Tsurumi seems to have all the pieces in place. I am going to look forward to where this story goes and what she does next.

Comics from Mars #2: Paul Pope
A collection of short stories, Pope’s work has a crazy sort of freedom. His style is always gorgeous and complex, and there’s a delightful sense that he’s making all of this up as he goes along. He seems to wear his influences — Jack Kirby, Heavy Metal magazine — on his sleeve, but he does it fearlessly. (And this further proves to me that you can basically buy everything from AdHouse Books sight unseen and not be disappointed.)

Starfish — Marguerite Dabaie

In this beautiful, wordless comic about a sailor who meets a mermaid who saves his ship, Dabaie plays with the form of mini-comics. It’s horizontal with two fold-out pages in the middle. Her art here has a simple, anime-inspired feel and she definitely knows how to express a story through images alone. This is one of the comics from MoCCA that surprised me the most.

Click — Sara Ryan & Dylan Meconis

Ryan’s and Meconis’ simple tale of a confusing friendship between two high school seniors is well done but fairly standard slice-of-life mini-comics stuff. Ryan’s story does capture the emotions nicely, but Meconis’ art makes the characters look a little too old. While I enjoyed it while I was reading it, its poignancy was pretty temporary.

Lipstick & Malice #1: So Hot Right Now — Monica Gallagher

I loved this. Honestly, though, what’s not to like about a supermodel who is also (more or less) a deadly assassin. Gallagher’s art is sexy and gorgeous and she has a good ear for the gossip of the beautiful people. The tall format of the comic is a lot of fun and compliments our heroine’s stature. This is definitely one of those “should’ve bought the other two issues while they were in front of you” cases. I really look forward to where the rest of this story is going.

Gang of Fools: Paper Trailer — James Smith III

This is, in case you were wondering, where my last $2 went. This is meant to be a preview of the Web comic and I’m suitably intrigued by the futurist urban paranoia that’s presented here. The art very dark — mostly black with only our character’s faces emerging from the gloom. It definitely provides the right feel for where the story seems to be going. Sadly, at least right now, the Gang of Fools web site doesn’t seem to be working. I’m looking forward to when it’s back up.

Jin & Jam No. 1 — Hellen Jo

I believe I first encountered Hellen Jo’s work on the back page of Giant Robot and I’ve been crazy about it every since then. She has a dangerous and quirky sense of humor and awesomely bad attitude to spare. Jin & Jam is full of angry girls badmouthing each other and getting into hilarious fights. It is sometimes intentionally off-putting, but it always feels playful. Jo’s artwork is amazingly detailed and expressive and her style is like a mix between manga and Robert Crumb while being absolutely distinctive. Jo is a creator to watch.

Green Blooded — Cathy Leamy

Subtitled “An Introduction to Eco-Friendly Feminine Hygiene,” this is an informational pamphlet done in a comic style. The subject matter isn’t for everyone (I can kind of imagine that half of the population isn’t going to be too interested) but it’s done in a fun way while still being educational. She lists the pros and cons of different “green” products and includes drawings of how to use each. I think that this subject is something a lot of women haven’t thought about and I actually learned a few things. Even if the subject isn’t appealing to you, this does show how comics can be utilized to inform people in a quick, easy and fun way.

That’s it for the mini-comics. I have some less-than-mini comics that might go up tomorrow. I’m still reading so there will be more reviews. Oh yes.