A-T WALKER #1 and #2.
A-T WALKER (Issues 1 and 2). by Micah Liesenfeld. Micah Nova. 48 pages total. $8 each or $12 for both.
Summoning the strength to move forward.
When a comics artist enters into a life crisis and decides to document it as a graphic narrative, that person has made the transition from just being a cartoonist to being a comics journalist. That’s how I see what Micah Liesenfeld is doing. His daughter, Eva, has a rare disease, Ataxia Telangiectasi, also known simply as “A-T.” This condition goes all the way back to five years ago, at the time of Eva’s birth. Little by little, after some false starts, the A-T diagnosis emerged: a degenerative condition that eats away at the patient, with the risk of cancer and a short lifespan. There is an ongoing search for a cure and the focus now is on management and quality of life.
Navigating the medical world.
This comic provides something of a medical record and an essential window on how one family and the medical community are responding to one child’s condition. This work is being made available as single issue comic books with the goal of it being collected into a graphic narrative book. Liesenfeld would like to see the book become a success and have proceeds go to the A-T Children’s Project, an organization currently funding research like gene therapy that could cure the disease in the near future.
“She has an ear infection.”
Graphic medicine comics provide a unique opportunity for the reader to gain some essential grounding. Many of life’s challenges do not come with a manual or some tutorial. Even YouTube videos don’t always fill in the gaps. With an excellent comic like what Micah Liesenfeld provides, it is as if you’re there. A-T Walker is a personal essay, field notes and an immersive medical record experience wrapped into one. For instance, you need to be ready when this or that doctor is not exactly responsive or providing ideal service. Doctors are not gods. Liesendfeld keeps track. One doctor lectured Micah and his wife, Aicha, on not relying on antibiotics but then neglected to catch the fact that Eva’s white blood cell count was zero, even though this was already an unusual situation that required carefully looking over every detail. Patients, and their loved ones, have rights and essential insight and information that must be paid attention to by the medical team. All things made clear in this comic.
Micah Liesenfeld has been making comics since 1989 when he was in the fifth grade. His efforts over the years have honed his skills to a direct and impactful style. He can truly communicate with words and pictures in a way that is both memorable and to the point.
If you are compelled to do so, you create a work of graphic medicine.
This is a storytelling style that grabs the reader from the very start. The way that Micah draws his people and situations is very palpable. The way he tells his story is putting it on the line and telling it like it is. Like I’ve said before regarding graphic medicine work, it’s not for everyone. Many people will feel too overwhelmed but, given time, will want to sort through a crisis and express what happened in one form or another. If it comes naturally to you, and you are compelled to do so, then you create a work of graphic medicine.
The most important factor needed in pursuing a successful work is a purpose. Clearly, Liesenfeld is compelled to see this series, and ultimately a book, to completion. I can just feel it on every page: the steady pace; the desire to be clear and convey the facts to the reader; the need to reach out to the reader. Every figure gets to be heard, especially Eva and her parents, Aicha and Micah. I know that Liesenfeld is creating the best work of his life right now and all of us in the comics community wish him and his family the very best.
A-T Children’s Project (atcp.org) is an organization currently funding research like gene therapy that could cure the disease in the near future. The bold audacious goal of the project is to raise enough awareness in the world to prompt attention to help fund the research and speed up the hope for therapies that make their lives more manageable and even a cure … even for Eva and the kids currently living with this disease in her lifetime.
