U.S. National Institutes of Health

From Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me, Ellen Forney, 2012

Graphic Novel Excerpt from MARBLES: MANIA, DEPRESSION, MICHELANGELO, AND ME: A GRAPHIC MEMOIR by Ellen Forney, copyright © 2012 by Ellen Forney. Used by permission of Gotham Books, an imprint of Penguin Publishing Group, a division of Penguin Random House LLC.
All rights reserved.

In this two-page spread from author and artist Ellen Forney’s graphic memoir Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me, readers can see how words can tell the specifics of the scene while the art shows the emotion.

Here, the author and artist has shown us a literal depiction of feeling “unmoored.” Goofy drawings can point to the absurdity of some scary situations! This “cloud” —fear of an impending mania—is also a thought balloon.

For more information about bipolar disorder, visit MedlinePlus.

Top