There’s an immediacy to comics that makes them a particularly powerful medium when it comes to communicating themes of mental health awareness. Not that any Broken Frontier readers would be in doubt of this, of course, but whether they be autobiographical or narrative-based you only have to look at our dedicated resource list on mental health here at BF to see the breadth and diversity of approaches to the subject. Adding to that number today we have Keezy Young’s Sunflowers from Silver Sprocket, an exploration of living with bipolar disorder in minicomic format.
Sunflowers forms an emotional bridge with the reader by juxtaposing a level of visual realism with one of abstract visual metaphor. Young begins by bringing us directly into their experiences of mania, how it takes over with a euphoric burst of energy but also how that frantic need to create, to do, and to be, can lead them down darker, obsessive paths. Young’s use of language and lettering is also key here, with the pacing of the former reflecting their state of mind at any given time and the placement of the latter emphasising changes in mood with a visceral eloquence.
The use of scattered, fragmented panels when Young talks about moments of psychosis, alongside the tonal shift in colour, is a strong example of the intuitive bond of empathy Young builds between page and reader. Frantic, frenetic, visual poetry can suddenly give way to moments of quiet, prolonged meditation.
In structure Sunflowers is a comic that no doubt many would describe as experimenting with the form but it’s so much more than that. More accurately it embraces the form; Young recognising the full storytelling toolkit available to them, and the emotional palette the medium allows them to express themselves with.
Raw and unrelenting in its honesty, this is work that informs and educates as much as it communicates and conveys. It’s about the solitude of bipolar, how it’s so misunderstood. But for all the intensity of the experiences Young portrays Sunflowers is also a hopeful story. An afterword and a list of follow-up resources give added context and support. Undoubtedly one of the finest comics to have come out from Silver Sprocket to date. And that is really saying something.
Keezy Young (W/A) • Silver Sprocket, $7.99
Review by Andy Oliver
For more on comics exploring themes of mental health awareness check out our dedicated Broken Frontier resource list on the subject here
