MARBLES - Serio Comics 28
MARBLES written and drawn by Ellen Forney, published by Gotham and Avery
Mania, Depression, Michelangelo and Me
Is the subtitle of Ellen Forney’s 2012 graphic memoir, MARBLES, published by Gotham Books and Avery.
It was one of the first graphic books I read when I started doing research for my debut SHOULD WE BUY A GUN?
Firstly, because Ellen’s subject, bipolar disorder, is something I live with and I had read a lot of literature to better understand that experience, but not anything graphic.
And, secondly, because mental illness would be a thread in a storyline of my book.
Forney began her cartooning career in the 1990s producing the autobiographical strip I Was Seven in '75, which ran in Seattle's alternative-weekly paper The Stranger. A complete collection was published as Monkey Food by Fantagraphics in 1999.
In 2006 she published I Love Led Zeppelin, which was nominated for an Eisner Award as Best Reality-Based Comic.
In 2007 she did the illustrations in
‘s young-adult novel The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, which won the National Book Award.In 2008 she published Lust which adapted personal ads from The Stranger into illustrated/comics form.
Then in November 2012 came...
MARBLES, LoSinG tHeM
Shortly before her thirtieth birthday, Forney was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.
Flagrantly manic.
Terrified that medications would cause her to lose creativity.
She began a years-long struggle to find mental stability while retaining her passions and creativity.
Searching to make sense of the popular concept of the crazy artist.
She finds inspiration from the lives and work of other artists and writers who suffered from mood disorders, including Vincent van Gogh, Georgia O’Keeffe, William Styron, and Sylvia Plath, and, um, many many more ;0
She also researches the clinical aspects of bipolar disorder, including the strengths and limitations of various treatments and medications.
And what studies tell us about the conundrum of attempting to “cure” an otherwise brilliant mind.
Darkly funny and intensely personal, Forney’s memoir provides a visceral glimpse into the effects of a mood disorder on an artist’s work.
As she shares her own story through bold black-and-white images and evocative prose.
MARBLES, winning them back!
The most inspiring part of Forney’s book is her arc of finding balance.
She would later write a follow-up, ROCK STEADY: Brilliant Advice from My Bipolar Life, as a non-memoir, graphic self-help guide, published by Fantagraphics.
Where she promoted her personal purposefully ironically awkward acronym for self-care: SMEDMERTS, which stands for Sleep, Meds, Eat, Doctor, Mindfulness, Exercise, Routine, Tools, Support System.
But I found the most significant teaching in this latest re-read of this book to be Ellen’s admission that the drug-taking she did and hid from her psychiatrist was perhaps the decisive element in her journey.
And structurally in the arc of the story as well its the plot point that balances if not cures her.
Graphic Graphs
I also really liked how Ellen put fun yet informative graphs into her graphic memoir.
The one below for instance shows Ellen’s innovative interpretation of normal versus un-normal ranges of moods.
And this one clearly shows the outsized proportion of suicide attempts and deaths.
Ellen’s use of infographics was in the early 2010s largely before the rise of Instagram.
And though I might quibble with a few limits of the infotainment, such as the restricted definition that rapid cycling is only 4 or more episodes within 12 months.
Ellen often finds moments later to add more depth and clarification in the book.
Ellen The Bipolar Coach!
By the time 2020 came around and I had read both books, Ellen had also started a Bipolar Wellness Coaching practice.
At that point, I had already quit substances like cannabis, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine.
But I hadn’t exercised regularly in a number of years.
One of the lasting takeaways from our brief work together was that I should find ways to affirm that I care properly for my body.
This later indirectly led to extensive changes in diet and exercise.
New rules like no added sugar unless with children, no fried foods, no processed meats and mostly only foods our great-grandparents would recognize as such.
And a new exercise routine: tennis!
Which I similarly now do 3-4 times and sometimes 5-6 lol times a week like Ellen and her swimming and yoga.
Lastly, earlier this year, Ellen announced on her Instagram that she is going back to school to become a therapist specializing in bipolar disorder!
As someone who wrote a graphic novel with a character who looks like himself and is a counselor.
And as someone whose book also has another character who doesn’t look like me but has my first name and a shadow experience of mental illness.
It’s clear I am both proud of her.
And maybe interested in following in a form of therapy for others one day myself ;0
Sending you a friendly smile. Thank you for sharing this.