Stitches

 Moving into graphic novels when visiting my father…. Stitches by David Small is a memoir written and drawn by the children’s illustrator.  Using the comic medium to share the scary story of a troubled childhood that leads to an early diagnosis of cancer and then to running away from home at 16 years old This is the story of his life.  

The child of a a family physician who vented his anger on a punching bag in the basement and a mother who was stingy with both the family pocketbook and her emotions. She kept her feelings hidden and was excessively strict.

Small was a sickly child who loved to read and draw.  His father gave him large amounts of radiation to cure him. At fourteen he has surgery on his neck but is never told it is to remove a cancerous growth.

Drawn in haunting black and white comic illustrations, there is a threatening feeling to the work.  Drawing the viewpoint from above looking down on the child makes him seem even smaller and vulnerable.