Terminally Illin’ – “Chaos in Humanhattan”

Today I got a real treat, my own personal copy of Chaos in Humanhattan - the scary, cynical, irreverent, twenty-something, mash-up of a memoir, a ”chemo-induced ‘Alice in Wonderland’ story and a “campy ‘Hollywood’ action adventure” graphic novel that focuses on the Kaylin Andres and her Ewing Sarcoma cancer battles. http://www.cancercomicbook.com/

While the story is fantastical, so is the fact that Kaylin is still alive. I believe she’s still living because she found humor – black humor, gallows humor, sardonic humor – an vehicle for empowering her fight with a dark, hideously unrelenting cancer that whacked her at twenty-three and kept trying to drag her into the grave.

“Chaos in Humanhattan” is written and drawn for millennials. If you aren’t a millennial in your age or in your soul, you might find it flippant or upsetting. To my way of thinking, Kaylin addressed that when she wrote her book and blog’s subtitle – “Cancer is not Funny … Cancer is Hilarious.”  If that line doesn’t resonate with you, don’t read this book.

But it you are a millennial, in age or attitude, you should read this book. The story, by Kalin and Jon Solo, is in turns bleak, poignant, darkly comedic and upsetting – like many cancer survivor stories. 

The graphics by Jon Solo and Jade Takushi are terrific - powerful, complex, and vivid. They are just as good as any Manga I’ve ever read.

What I really like about Chaos in Humanhattan is that Kalin and Jon capture all the horrible emotions that cancer victims go through, from “Why me?” to “Oh no!” to “I’m done” to “Now, I’m really pissed” and everything in between.

Here’s a link to their Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Terminally-Illin-The-Comic-Book/178624932149196

“TERMINALLY ILLIN' BOOK 1: CHAOS IN HUMANHATTAN!” – Read it now!

Kalin Andres is one of my favorite “Badass Brain Tumor Bloggers” and she, and her collaborators, have just released “TERMINALLY ILLIN' BOOK 1: CHAOS IN HUMANHATTAN!” the comic book.

If you don’t know about Kalin or her partners, I’m sure you’re thinking something like, “Ok, that sounds weird, what’s that about and why am I writing about it.

To answer the first part, this is how it’s described on their indiegogo.com website: https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/terminally-illin-cancer-comic-book--2

“Kaylin was diagnosed with Ewing's Sarcoma, a rare bone cancer at age 23. Her life was immediately put on hold and a new journey began. Throughout all the pain and uncertainty, she discovered within herself a powerful coping mechanism in the form of humor and imagination. This comic book is the result.

Slightly cynical, slightly irreverent, and REALLY hilarious, "Terminally Illin" is a candid look into the life of a young adult battling cancer, but with a psychedelic, sci-fi twist! It’s more than a comic book: It’s provocative, educational, entertaining, and totally original.  Think of "Terminally Illin" as a chemo-induced "Alice in Wonderland' meets campy 'Hollywood' action-adventure.

In our story, our hero goes in for her first day of chemo, but ends up getting lost in a fantasy world within her own microscopic body - on a quest to meet her disease face-to-face and kick its butt!!

She's joined by her pet kitty, Iceman, as they set out to destroy Cancer City, the invading cancer cell army, and their leader - the little dictator that's bent on world domination. We hope you follow along and maybe even learn something.”

I love the book and want to argue with this description. I think it’s wonderfully cynical, absolutely irreverent and, yes I agree, really hilarious.

Now listen closely, here’s the part I love, “If we can raise one half of the print fees, the publisher will give us half of the print run. We'll have an extra 500+ books to give away free to cancer centers, hospitals, and patients. There are 72,000+ young adults diagnosed with cancer each year, and we'd like to help ease their experience by sharing Kaylin's experience, outlook, and humor.”

If you know of a young 20-something whacked by cancer, buy this book. If you care about young, talented 20-year-olds having their dreams yanked out from underneath them, buy this book. If you want see how a 20-something not only fights a vicious disease with humor and dignity and sense of giving back to the cancer community, buy and read this book.

Here’s a link to the Terminally Illin’” Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Terminally-Illin-The-Comic-Book/178624932149196?ref=br_tf

“Terminally Illin'” The Comic Book: FUNDED!

Good news!  Kaylin Andres and Jon Solo’s comic book project, Terminally Illin’ has been funded through Kickstarter.

If you haven’t heard of their project, they describe it on their website - http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kaylinmarie/terminally-illin-the-comic-book - as “...a candid look into the life of a young adult battling cancer, but with a psychedelic, sci-fi twist! It’s more than a comic book: It’s provocative, educational, entertaining, and totally original.  Think of Terminally Illin’ as a chemo-induced "Alice in Wonderland' meets campy 'Hollywood' action-adventure.”

On the site they remind us that “Each year over 72,000 young adults are diagnosed with cancer in the US-- that's one new diagnosis every eight minutes. There's an obvious lack of literature (and humor!) catering to cancer patients-- especially young adults. Terminally Illin’ is filling this specific niche in the cancer community…”

What I’ve read so far is pretty awesome, so I can’t wait to see the rest.

Terminally Illin’: A 20-somethings Comic Book Look at Battling Cancer

You might remember Kaylin Andres and her Cancer is Hilarious blog from my blog last year’s posting about “Sexy, fun, sardonic brain tumor bloggers.” (See http://johnstumor.blogspot.com/2011/12/sexy-fun-sardonic-brain-tumor-blog.html)

 

If you don’t remember, Kaylin was diagnosed with a rare form of bone cancer called Ewing's Sarcoma and has fought the disease with tenacity, wit, anger and a certain Joie de vivre.

 

While it seems from her postings that she still has some lingering wrestling matches with the disease, she’s not the kind to sit around and mope. Last year, she and her partner published their first cancer-based comic, targeted to 20-somethings, and donated copies to cancer patients all over the world.  She also gives fair warning, “the book isn't for everyone. Our humor is sometimes dark and we aim for complete honesty - giving you both the raw emotion of a cancer diagnosis, and the ridiculously humorous situations a cancer patient goes through.”

I can relate to that. I felt pretty raw myself during the heat of my brain tumor battle. 

Energized by their initial success, she and her partner are in the midst of tackling a larger project entitled “Terminally Illin’.”  According to their website, "’Terminally Illin’ is a candid look into the life of a young adult battling cancer, but with a psychedelic, sci-fi twist! It’s more than a comic book: It’s provocative, educational, entertaining, and totally original.  Think of "Terminally Illin" as a chemo-induced "Alice in Wonderland' meets campy 'Hollywood' action-adventure.” Here's a look at the cover to the comic:

Well now, who can resist that?

On the website where you can learn more about this project, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/kaylinmarie/terminally-illin-the-comic-book?ref=history, where she goes on to explain that, “We're not only offering up cute images and humor in our book, we're diving headfirst into the cancer experience to bring you the roller coaster of emotions that a young adult deals with.   We'd like to relate to others going through the experience and offer them insight, as well as provide them with the satisfaction of seeing cancer personified and conquered!! It's such a strong image - literally beating cancer - it's something that needs to be illustrated & come to life!”

I love the initial work I’ve seen and I love their effort to send free copies to cancer victims.  I’ve personally kicked in $ for the project and invite you to do so to.

At the same time, when Kalin says “raw”, expect this to look and read like a contemporary adult comic (or Manga if you’re familiar with those).  Said differently, it’s “R” rated.