Bad Doctor: An Evening with Ian Williams, Doctor and Comic Book Artist
Date: Tuesday, November 3rd
Time: 8pm
Admission: $5
Location: Morbid Anatomy Museum, 424 Third Avenue, 11215 Brooklyn NY
Tickets Here: http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/2293931
Set in South Wales, the graphic novel “The Bad Doctor” is the story of a middle aged doctor, Dr Iwan James, who is coming to terms with his own history of mental health problems and suicidal ideation while struggling with the day-to-day problems of his patients. The frictions within his working partnership don’t help: Iwan has a big crush on his colleague, the currently-single Dr Lois Pritchard, and a very dysfunctional relationship with his senior partner, the divisive Dr Robert Smith. Following three threads which slowly weave together, the story tells of Iwan’s battles with his inner demons.
Tonight, join Dr Ian Williams will discuss this work and how it relates to his own biography and experiences with OCD, with an eye towards how comics can melt fact and fiction in what Lynda Barry calls ‘autobifictional’ works. He will also discuss his website Graphic Medicine, which explores the intersection between the medium of comics and the discourse of healthcare. The author will be showing some sections from a book he co-authored, The Graphic Medicine Manifesto, from Penn State University Press.
Lastly, he will do a reading (with images) from “Congregation of Innocents,” a collection of five short stories, by British authors, inspired by the works of Shirley Jackson. Ian Williams contributed a graphic story about childhood memories of an imagined illness. This is a limited edition volume, published yearly by Curious Tales.
“The Bad Doctor” -published last year in the UK and this year in North America by Penn State University Press-was highly commended by the British Medical Association book awards and has been shortlisted for the 2015 Medicine Unboxed Prize. “The Bad Doctor” is a fictional story, following themes of medicine, cycling, obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) and heavy metal.
Ian Williams is a visual artist and illustrator, a medical doctor, and an independent humanities scholar. He founded the website GraphicMedicine.org and is co-editor of the Graphic Medicine series published by Penn State Press.
