#marchetto

1)   Melissa Butkovich

2) Cancer Vixen is an autobiographic comic book.  The author, Marisa Acocella Marchetto, tells her journey of battling breast cancer and being a cartoonist in New York. The book is set in the years 2004 and 2005. The main characters are Marisa, her husband Silvano, and her mother.  Silvano is a rich Italian man who is Marisa’s strongest support system. Her mother accompanies Marisa to all of her doctors appointments but adds her unneeded opinion often which the author creatively plays off of. The book demonstrates how significant one’s life changes when they are diagnosed with cancer. The book covers all of her doctor appointments, the procedures, and her relationship struggles. One lesson the author points out in the book is that everything can change quickly and be thankful for what you have.  The title Cancer Vixen is referenced throughout the comic book because the story is set at the time as it was written.  I found it interesting to see an inside look of a cancer patients typical chemotherapy appointment and other major surgeries.

3)   By observing the drawings, I think the comic book was first sketched out with pencil, lead or colored and then transferred onto a computer to enhance the color. The drawings are very realistic, however Marisa also switches to drawing imaginary cartoons such as drops of slime for the “sarcastic drops“ in some conversations. The artist used all different colors throughout the book along with creatively drawn letters and words. The author used many different types of lines, especially for the speech bubbles. When a thought or casual conversation is going on, the bubble is in a smooth square or circle. However, when the speaker is frustrated or yelling, diagonal lines and sharp edges are around the bubbles.  The story is based within a year and a half time frame. With the story only being 212 pages some of the weeks are cut out of the story while more than one day is talked about in other weeks. I enjoyed reading this book because the author changed the layout on every page. Some pages would have two bigger panels while other pages had seven small panels; and the same layout was not used adjacently.  The panels all fit the layouts well. Their proportion and balance are always changing to fit the new layout on the next page.

4)   Not only did Marisa bring her humor into this book but also valuable lessons such as appreciating what you have while you still have it.  This was an important lesson to her since she had to lose so many things, such as time and being able to have a child. This was the first book I have ever read that gave such details as to what cancer patients go through during their medical procedures. The author keeps the story entertaining even during what should be the duller parts such as being in a waiting room. This is an inspiring story that I would recommend to anyone.

5)   Since I have never read a comic book before, I did not know what to fully expect from this book. It turned out to be an easy humorous read. I enjoyed being able to read a book that let me visualize characters easier without it feeling like a children’s novel.  The main character was always busy with something whether it was cancer related appointments or drama in her personal life, this helped keep the story interesting. Even flipping through the pages before I began to read made it seem like a well-developed book; the vibrant colors and different layouts caught my eye.  The flow of the story between the dialog and scenery seemed naturalistic and made me think the story was very realistic. I believe Marisa hardly exaggerated any of her story, which made it easier for me to take a walk in the author’s shoes as I read along. The emotions on the faces of the cartoons match how I would imagine in my head; they are also very clear by the font  in the speech bubble or the expression on the character what their mood is.  

6)   The only thing I would change about this book would be to have the story start a few weeks or months before the cancer diagnosis. That way we would be able to get a better idea as to how her life used to be and better understand how the cancer changed it. Marisa tells her story of what was going on in her life in New York on September 11, 2001 since it could have had a connection to the tumor.  However, the story then jumps to May 15, 2004 the day of her diagnosis. While I was reading this book, I kept thinking how my life would change if I was diagnosed with cancer and how stressful that really is on a person’s life.

7)   I would recommend anyone to read this book who is a teenager or older, man or woman. It really helps put perspective into other people’s lives and reflect more on your own life.  I think almost everyone can relate to this book since a majority of people know or have known a cancer patient.  I have even recommended this book to my friends since I enjoyed it so much.  However, if anyone objects this book I could only imagine it is because they do not like to read or the cancer subject is too personal for them.  This book opened my eyes to the world of struggling cancer patients. Of course I knew the patients had to attend a manifold of doctors appointments but I never knew what chemotherapy entailed or what those appointments actually involved until reading this book.

8)   Marisa Marchetto only has one other book published, Who the Hell is SHE, anyway? It was published in 1994, twelve years before Cancer Vixen.  Her first book is a love story about a man and a woman, the man is so intrigued by the mysterious lady that he wonders just who the hell is SHE anyways? The author states that she uses her sarcasm through this book too, which makes me think it has a similar writing style to Cancer Vixen.

Ennio Marchetto - The Origami Man.

He's freaking hilarious. And all his costumes are made out of paper.