If you’ve never read a Graphic Medicine novel a great place to start might be with Dr. Ian Williams’ novel The Bad Doctor. The story follows fictional physician, Iwan James, as he navigates his way through caring for a variety of patients and their ailments while equally battling his own inner demons. Being a small town doctor is no easy task, and Iwan James often runs into his patients outside of the clinic on a regular basis and his mind is troubled by whether he is providing the best treatment for them. One of his few escapes is his regular cycling trips but even then his patients and his concerns about his own mental health accompany him. The novel draws the curtain back on many topics surrounding mental health and illness and looks to normalize the care surrounding it, as well as the life many physicians lead and their relationships with their patients.
Author and cartoonist, Dr. Ian Williams is attributed with coining the term ‘Graphic Medicine’ and founded GraphicMedicine.org. The Bad Doctor is his debut novel which was published in 2014 and followed by The Lady Doctor in 2019. Williams also co-edited the Graphic Medicine Manifesto which combines scholarly essays about the principles of Graphic Medicine as well as visual narrative by Dr. Williams and others.
If you’re looking for a new and different read, try picking up The Bad Doctor or any of Dr. Williams’ other work. Maybe you’ll be inspired to write or illustrate your own story! All three of the books mentioned in this post can be checked out through the Dartmouth Libraries.
This post was written by Samantha Wiebkin, an Information Access Assistant for the Biomedical Libraries.
