Wired Up Wrong

In accessible, chummy one-page strips, Smith (Quarantine Comix) shares her experience of living with anxiety, depression, and mood swings. With help from her supportive boyfriend, Adam, and her cat, Rufus, Smith talks back to the negative voices in her head, works up the courage to attend an out-of-town comics show, seeks a therapist, and faces the daily challenge of getting out of bed in the morning. Though Smith tucks in mental health advice, the focus is on her personal story, which is told with gentle humor: her mental struggles are visualized as an angry, size-changing dog named Barky and as a “Wheel of Feels” inside her head. Even readers who haven’t dealt with depression are likely to relate to her battles with intrusive thoughts both cruel (“Hey I know! Let’s use this time to think about an embarrassing moment from your past!”) and illogical (“Ok... If I catch the spatula by its handle, it means my whole life will be amazing”). Smith’s simple, cheerful artwork and ability to find the joke in any situation bring unexpected light to a book about dark feelings. In trying times, these comics offer a grounding message: sometimes just getting through the day can be a triumph. (May)