“…”Right back when comics began over a hundred years ago, the envisaged readers were adults rather than children,” said Ian Williams, a GP and comic book artist who helped organise the conference.
“Then somewhere along the line they’ve been kind of hijacked by people writing for teens and adolescents or children … and that has stuck.”
He said comics have had to battle for years against unfortunate stereotypes.
“But there was a watershed in the 1980s when serious, long, graphic novels started being produced … which have had great critical acclaim.
And over the last 10 years graphic novels have been reviewed in broadsheet newspapers and academic journals.
Now there’s a huge cohort of comics scholars who are looking at all forms of graphic narrative.”
At Penn State University Medical School, Michael Green teaches medical students how to make and appreciate comics.
“I think comics are relevant to medicine in a number of ways,” he said.
They can help students learn about the doctor-patient relationship, how to communicate bad news, informed consent, empathy …
… and the experience of illness from a patient’s perspective.
“There’s a growing number of adult-themed graphic stories … which address medically relevant themes”…”
go to source/story>>>Comics put patients in the picture | Science | guardian.co.uk
