A few weeks ago, I had my day made by a comic book. I had been browsing my local comic shop when I came across a superhero comic in the teen section. I don’t read many superhero stories, and I had never read a DC young adult book before, but I decided to give it a chance. By the end of the book, I was blown away. Not only was the plot enthralling and the art beautiful, the book contained one of the best representations of PTSD I had ever seen.

This was unexpected, as good representation can be difficult to come by. I have PTSD, and I usually have to do a lot of digging to find media that I can relate to. Many stories disregard the impacts of trauma all together; those that do consider them often only do so with male characters that have been to war and struggle with anger. While many people with PTSD develop the disorder after being involved with the military, PTSD can happen to anyone, and after a wide variety of traumatic experiences. As an eighteen year old girl that has never been to war and struggles more with expressing her anger than containing it, I find these characters harder to relate to. On the other hand, some stories portray a character with the disorder that reminds me more of myself, but their disorder is trivialized or dramatized in a way that makes the representation less genuine. Sometimes, this dramatization is so extreme that I wonder if anyone involved in the story’s production has ever even met someone with PTSD. When I do look for better representation, it’s always frustrating to comb through story after story and still not find anyone that I can see myself in. PTSD is an isolating experience as it is, and this only makes it worse.

Still, finding stories with good representation makes the search worth it. These stories remind me that I am not alone in my experience and that other people deal with the same symptoms that I have. Good representation not only makes me feel better about myself, but also can make communicating my own experience easier. As most PTSD symptoms happen inside my mind, it can be difficult to explain to others what they are like. When I come across something that represents these symptoms well, however, I often gain new techniques for making my symptoms make sense to others. In the past, I only knew how to communicate my experience verbally, but representation in comic and art forms have helped me develop my own ways to visually and physically communicate. Sometimes, I even show the works I come across that represent PTSD well to people close to me, as this gives them another perspective to learn from. Without proper representation, life with PTSD would be lonelier and more difficult.

I tend to look for representation in novels, poems, and film. I love comics, but I hadn’t really considered their potential for representation until I read that comic the other week. I was stunned by the way the comic’s creators took advantage of the medium, using layers and panels to make the mental symptoms of PTSD come to life. As I reflected on the book, I remembered several other comics that used similar techniques to portray PTSD and trauma. In some ways, comics might be uniquely suited to representing mental pain: illustration provides the opportunity to show feelings by blending reality and metaphor in images that would be hard to recreate in novels or film. 

Realizing this made me wonder what other comics with good representation I might have missed. With the approval of my wonderful editors, I set off on a mission to find more. I asked the staff at my local comic shop for recommendations (thank you, Vault of Midnight Ann Arbor), re-visited my own collection (and my dad’s), and spent some time researching the relationship between comics and trauma. There are a wide variety of comics that relate to trauma and PTSD—I encourage you to take up the search yourself if you’re interested—but here are a few I especially recommend!

(Caution: some mild spoilers and mentions of traumatic events to follow)

1. The Oracle Code by Marieke Nijkamp and Manuel Preitano: This is the book I read the other week that started off my project! The Oracle Code focuses on Barbara (Babs) Gordon, a teen hacker who becomes paralyzed below the waist after being shot. Babs is sent to the Arkham Center for Independence in order to be rehabilitated, where she quickly senses that something is off about the facility. When patients start going missing, she sets off on a mission to uncover the facility’s secrets. Throughout the story, Babs is encountered by intrusive memories of her past and is left to deal with the emotional trauma caused by her assault. The story’s creators use translucent yellow shards to show how her traumatic memories intrude into her everyday life. Parts of Babs’s surroundings or body become covered up by these shards, but the rest stays the same. This really resonated with me and my experience with traumatic memories. In the middle of her mission, Babs is faced with a reminder of her trauma that causes her to dissociate. Her face is shown split in between two panels as she stares into space, while her friends gather around her and try to pull her back into the moment. This so powerfully illustrated dissociation that I later showed the page to my parents. Overall, it was a wonderful book! The main character was strong and able to succeed despite her trauma, but the story’s creators still showed how that trauma affected her. Though The Oracle Code is a young adult book, I would still recommend it to older readers. This book also does a good job of representing physical disabilities: many of the characters use mobility devices, disabled characters are given their own personalities beyond their disability, and the eventual heroes of the story are all disabled young people.
2. Are You Listening? by Tillie Walden: When I started looking for comic books related to trauma, Are You Listening? immediately came to mind. Written by my favorite comic book author, Tillie Walden, an incredible artist and storyteller, Are You Listening? centers around two characters, eighteen year old Bea and twenty-seven year old Lou. On the run from home, Bea stumbles upon Lou in a shop, who agrees to drive Bea to “meet a friend”. When Lou discovers that there is no friend, and that Bea has run away without a plan, their drive turns into a lengthy road trip. Soon, strange things begin to happen: Bea finds a cat, it snows a shocking amount for Texas, a bridge collapses beneath their feet, and something called the “Office of Road Inquiry” really, really wants their cat. Also, their cat is somewhat magic. While the story is excellent and unexpected, it also deals with some serious subjects: Lou is still grieving the death of her mother, and Bea was sexually assaulted before running away. This comic, like The Oracle Code, uses panels in creative ways, this time to show how trauma has affected Bea’s mental state. It also shows some of the less talked about symptoms of trauma, like irritability and trust issues. Not only can I relate to some of the symptoms, it’s also helpful to see how strongly Lou accepts Bea for her symptoms and trauma. This book also contains good representations of the grieving process that might help people feel less isolated. Finally, I really can’t overstate how much I love the art and coloring in this book.
3. She-Hulk Volume One: Deconstructed by Mariko Tamaki, Nico Leon, and Dalibor Talajić: In Civil War II, Jen Walters (She-Hulk) was injured and put into a coma by Thanos. When she wakes up, she finds out that Bruce Banner (her cousin, The Incredible Hulk) has been killed and that transforming into her superhero form is now “the one thing over which she has no control”. When she thinks about what happened to her, she transforms accidentally, a transformation which now causes her great physical pain. In spite of this, she attempts to go back to her job as a lawyer, using baking videos to cope with the strong emotions that lead to her transformation. Unfortunately, one of her clients develops a monstrous manifestation of her own fear that threatens to harm both Jen and the surrounding city, creating even more stress for Jen. In the end, however, Jen is able to take control of her fear and transform when she needs to the most. She Hulk: Deconstructed does a wonderful job of representing PTSD and the ways that people cope with it. I really like Jen’s baking video coping mechanism; it reminds me of the coping skills I’ve learned in therapy for preventing flashbacks and dissociation. Jen’s experience of reintegrating into an unchanged society after going through something life-changing also looks a lot like my own experience. Finally, Jen frankly discusses trauma and the impact it has had on her life in a manner that is likely to resonate with readers. While I have only read this first volume, I plan to read the following volumes next and have only heard good things about the series.
4. Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson and Emily Caroll: I read Anderson’s novel Speak in eighth grade for the first time. Since then, I have come back to it time and time again. Speak: The Graphic Novel, which retells the original story in comic form, is just as impactful as the novel and is full of illustrations that further connect the reader to the story. Both books tell the story of a freshman named Melinda who enters high school as an outcast after being involved in an incident at a party. At the party, Melinda was sexually assaulted by an older boy and called the cops. Even though Melinda had a clear reason to call the cops, her classmates only care that she broke up the party. As a result of the assault and the following ostracism, Melinda spends much of story dealing with bullies, navigating her new life, and learning how to live with her trauma. By the end, Melinda grows and becomes even stronger than she was at the beginning. While I will always love the novel version of Speak, the comic medium of Speak: The Graphic Novel allows it to connect to readers in new ways. Its black and white illustrations highlight the impact that Melinda’s trauma has had on her, using contrast and shadows to show the fear she experiences when she is reminded of what happened. At times, these shadows can span across the entire page, just as trauma can take over an entire moment. In both Speak stories, Melinda also experiences some lesser discussed effects of trauma, including selective mutism and negative changes in mood. This helps bring representation to these symptoms, giving people who experience them something to relate to and educating people that might not have known about these symptoms. I think that this book does an excellent job of portraying trauma, and Melinda’s character really does make me feel less alone. I would recommend this book to most people dealing with trauma and/or PTSD; however, there are mentions and non-graphic drawings off sexual assault, so please take caution if such things are likely to trigger you! 
5. Drawing Power edited by Diane Noomin: Drawing Power is different from the other books on this list: it’s an anthology, containing comics by over 60 female artists about “sexual violence, harassment, and survival”. It won an Eisner for best anthology (a big deal in the comics world) and part of its proceeds go to RAINN (the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network). The number of creators involved in the creation of this anthology makes it easy to find something a story to connect to. Also, the diverse array of art styles is very interesting to look through. It’s important to note that this book is also different when it comes to the nature of its content: its comics are more focused on the specifics of traumatic events than any of the others on this list.  Because of this, I would advise caution to anyone considering this book that has experienced sexual abuse or harassment. For some people, the graphic nature of some of the included comics can be triggering and unpleasant. For others, this graphicness provides a necessary honesty and can serve as a helpful reminder that they are not alone. Some of the comics do focus more on the aftermath of trauma (Kaylee Rowena’s story is a good example of this and one of my favorites) and are less likely to be triggering. I would absolutely recommend this book to anyone who feels comfortable reading it, but please take your needs seriously. If you choose to read it but still have some concerns about being emotionally impacted, I suggest taking steps to make sure you feel safe: going in a safe place, having sensory things (food, music, anything that helps ground you) close by, taking breaks when necessary, and skipping over any comics that make you feel bad. If you do give Drawing Power a read, make sure to check out the cool art underneath its dust jacket!

During my search, I came across a number of books that provided good representation of other mental health issues. While they are not necessarily related to trauma, I still strongly recommend giving them a read!

1. Dancing at the Pity Party by Tyler Feder: Referred to by the author as a “dead mom graphic memoir”, Dancing at the Pity Party tells the heartfelt story of Feder’s relationship with her mother, her mother’s death, and her experience grieving that loss. Often, media that involves loss covers up some of more private and “awkward” parts of the grieving process, but Dancing at the Pity Party doesn’t hold back. Feder’s refreshing honesty helps create a helpful companion for anyone dealing with grief and loss that wonders why their grief isn’t as “perfect” as it looks on tv.
2. Cat and Bag by Viviane Shwarz: This book contains a collection of comics about the artist’s relationship with anxiety. Her anxiety is portrayed as a looming, annoying monster, which holds true to many anxious people’s experience! As someone with anxiety, I could relate to a lot of the comics in Cat and Bag, and I appreciated the way Shwarz blended serious topics with humor.
3. The Purpose by Kim Edgar: This short comic tells the story of a woman who decides to cut herself off from the world in order to heal from her depression. Her depression reminds me a lot of my own experiences, and the story serves as a good reminder of why it is important to ask for help. I have also isolated myself in misguided attempts at healing, but I trust Edgar’s explanation of why it’s best to stay connected. The art style is wonderful, and its risograph printing means that every copy is unique. 
4. Spinning by Tillie Walden: Another book by Walden! Spinning is Walden’s memoir about being a figure skater in her youth, growing up gay in Texas, and coming of age. In a 2017 interview about the book, Walden said that “[she] felt sort of traumatized by her experiences as a skater and growing up in Texas” and that she decided to use this memoir to heal from those experiences. This deep, personal connection is obvious throughout the book. Themes of mental health and trauma play a large role in the book, providing representation and a figure that many young readers can relate to. 
5. Eat, and Love Yourself by Sweeney Boo: Centered around a twenty-two year old named Mindy who struggles with disordered eating and body dysmorphia, Eat, and Love Yourself tells the story of her journey towards self-love and acceptance. Like PTSD representation, good representation for eating disorders can be hard to find, but this comic does an excellent job. It shows the realities of life with an eating disorder but avoids sensationalizing it in the process. The main character is also plus-sized, providing representation for the many people with eating disorders that don’t have the stereotypical “eating disorder body”. Other than a trigger warning for emetophobia, I would definitely recommend giving this book a read.
6. Hair Dye: A Kid the Adult Story Collection by A. D’Amico: This book is a collection of D’Amico’s “Kid the Adult” comics. Each comic is autobiographical and focuses on a different topic, but overall themes include mental health (particularly anxiety and dissociation), being a young adult, gender identity, and having a dog. The first comic, “Hair Dye”, is my favorite!
7. Still Waiting by Andrea Bell: The smallest and final book on the list, Still Waiting contains a number of short, colorful comics about mental health, relationships, and being a person. I like to pull it out and re-read it when I feel down. The book mixes comics with a negative tone with others that are more uplifting, so I can usually find something that matches my mood.

Whether it be for PTSD or for another mental health issue, I hope that something on this list caught your eye. I also hope that if you’re like me and you’ve been searching for better PTSD representation, this list gave you some inspiration. While comics are often written off by adults, there really is a comic for every topic you can imagine. Check out your local comic shop and see what you can find!