Memento Mori

Finnish comics creator Takalo (Me, Mikko, and Annikki) writes about the cerebral hemorrhage that awakened her one night with blinding pain. Her ruptured brain aneurism requires immediate surgery, lengthy hospitalization, and lengthier recuperation. Alas, afterward she finds herself with prolonged fatigue and unable to work for a year, reminding her of her youthful depressions. Undergoing therapy but desperate for information, she finally connects with a neuropsychologist who tells her that 50 percent of such cases die immediately, and almost all the rest within two years. She was doing great, but recovery is a slow process. Finally, the fog does clear, and—with support from partner Mikko—she can work again. Takalo’s beautifully drafted art compares to Alison Bechdel’s in realism and detail, blue-gray palette interwoven with rusts and crimsons as settings and feelings change. Moreover, she includes plenty of visual metaphors and schematics, like walking on narrow duckboards over a bog to convey her mental state.