Everything Is OK

Bedeviled by negative self-talk that mushrooms into a black toothy monster, introvert Tung (Quiet Girl in a Noisy World) sinks into unrelieved anxiety and depression. She overdoes her need to be productive, taking on too much contract systems work, and puts off what she really wants to do: create comics on commission or for publication. Terrified by suicidal thoughts, she finally sees a therapist who opens her eyes to her self-defeating obsessions, encouraging her to change them. And—with some failures yet also escalating successes—she does, with the support of her loving husband. Tung’s narrative lapses into long stretches of encouraging suggestions and self-affirmations, her progress illustrated by the targeted use of cheery color instead of the smudgy grays and blues of the rest of the story. Her simple, winsome outline figures are framed in just enough background detail to complement but not overshadow them.