Epileptic is a chronicle of the author’s childhood in France and his family’s struggle with his older brother’s debilitating epilepsy. In its original French, Epileptic is titled L’Ascension du haut mal, which translates to “The Rise of the High Evil.” As this title suggests, epilepsy is characterized as something dark and sinister—an evil that cannot be escaped, despite David’s parents’ endless pursuit of a cure in both western and alternative medicine. His brother’s illness is illustrated as a monstrous creature, weaving its way in and out of the intricately drawn panels.

Lynda Barry was inspired to write One Hundred Demons after learning about a painting exercise practiced by a 16^th Century Zen monk who painted one hundred demons across a scroll. She decided to explore some of her own demons in seventeen short, vibrant comics exploring such topics as lice, femininity, and a legendary demonic dog. An interesting aspect of One Hundred Demons is that Barry opens by writing: “Is it autobiography if parts of it are not true?” She coins the term “autobificitionalography,” challenging the reader’s conception of where autobiography ends and fiction begins.

In powerful black-and-white comic strip images, Satrapi tells the story of her life in Tehran from ages six to fourteen, years that saw the overthrow of the Shah’s regime, the triumph of the Islamic Revolution, and the devastating effects of war with Iraq.

Blankets is, in many ways, the story of a first love—it depicts a teenage Thompson meeting a friend at church camp, corresponding with her, and then traveling to visit her for two weeks in her snow-covered Michigan hometown. This sweet and redemptive love story is interwoven with darker memories from Thompson’s childhood and adolescence, including years of bullying from his peers. Both in the snowy landscapes that dominate Blankets and the story Thompson tells, the reader is faced with visions of purity and the things that tarnish it.