By Zack Quaintance — The Pandemic Issue from The Nib is yet another excellent work from this magazine, blending as always personal stories with vital reporting splashed across well-done comics. The Nib’s Pandemic Issue is the sort of publication that will have you shouting new statistics to your loved ones in the other room one minute, before tearing up at a starkly-honest anecdote on the next. It’s a powerful read, and I’d recommend it to anyone who loves comics and cares deeply about their communities as well as the world writ large. Hell, I’d recommend it to anyone who loves comics and has a rough go of it in this plague era, which I suspect is most anyone reading this.

I know for me personally, I found a great deal of catharsis in these pages, and it was a varied sort of catharsis, striking multiple emotional notes. There were stories of loss as well as stories of perseverance, of a musician whose inability to perform at live venues during the pandemic gave rise to providing singing telegram service instead. There’s a section in this issue too where four cartoonists — Whit Taylor, Ryan Alexander-Tanner, Meghan Turbitt, and Elizabeth Haidle— detail what it was like to experience personal milestone’s during the pandemic, taking us through COVID child birth, a COVID wedding, a funeral, and a graduation. All of these stories are specific and personal, but when taken as a whole they come with a realization that life has the potential to be rich within the pandemic if we’re determined to make it so. Or at least that was the overall impact on me.

Another bit I found to be cathartic was the series of about a half dozen archived historical cartoons from 1918 influenza pandemic. These pieces are anachronistic, to be sure, both in style and sensibilities, but they do put into context our times, reminding us that we are not the first humans to live endure a pandemic. There’s a certain comfort in that, a feeling of resilience to it really, and soon I found myself lost in thoughts about what pieces of our own lives today will seem funny and quaint to the next generation to endure a similar circumstance. I appreciated the thoughtful escape this and other features throughout the book at times provided.

I also rather enjoyed some of the quirkier concepts in this issue as well (although quirky seems like a bit of a poor word choice for a 120-plus pages about a pandemic, but I can’t get around it). Lisa Rosalie Eisenberg’s pieces Plague Rats, for example, detailed the impact that decreased pandemic foot traffic has had on urban rat populations. Quirky yet informative (there, that feels better…), this piece also builds to a poignant and stirring final note, which in my mind is often the ideal for short non-fictional storytelling in this mold.

In addition, readers will find here a collection of infographics that is particularly well done (if a bit infuriating during the segment that details wealth increases accrued by billionaires amid the pandemic), as well as interviews, and varied strips. There is a fantastic political cartoon by Pia Guerra, there’s a stirring piece about family food by Victoria Ying, and a four-panel story of statue removal by Ben Passmore. It all adds up to a substantial and informative reading experience that serves at times as a snapshot of a horror-stricken year, a lesson in historical context, a report on what matters, and much more.

Overall: It’s always a bit tricky to review an issue of The Nib, which invariably feels like required reading not just for caring comics lovers but for caring and thoughtful individuals in general. This is, unsurprisingly, more important work amid a difficult year.

REVIEW: The Nib - The Pandemic Issue

The Nib - The Pandemic Issue
Creators: Various
Cover: Eleanor Davis
Publisher: Inkwell Comics
Two dozen comics artists reflect on the absurdity and chaos of trying to live through the plague year. Somehow, despite the compounding crises, the world kept turning: cartoonists document giving birth, getting married, mourning loved ones, and raging against government greed.
Price: $14.95
Order It Here: The Nib - The Pandemic Issue

Read more comics and graphic novel reviews!

Zack Quaintance is a tech reporter by day and freelance writer by night/weekend. He Tweets compulsively about storytelling and comics as Comics Bookcase.