"Graphic medicine is the use of comics to tell personal stories of illness and health.

The combined language of words and pictures that is the comic medium gives approachability and emotional impact to these personal stories, and even to the clinical data they sometimes include.

Comics combine the explicit meaning of words and symbols with the abstract expressiveness of art to create the unique, multi-layered language of comics. When reading (or creating) comics, the text and images work together to create meaning that neither conveys alone. Other common aspects of this storytelling language used by comics include visual metaphor, combined or altered symbols, and humor.

Graphic medicine communicates the author’s personal experience of illness and health, as the art adds subjective, emotional impact. The author’s internal, individual viewpoint balances the external, clinical realm of medical symptoms and diagnoses. Additionally, for other patients who share that health issue, it’s a way to have company and share information."

National Library of Medicine