This document outlines the 14-step process that a group of librarians and medical professionals used to create an educational comic book about difficult medical conversations for a special issue of a journal. It describes each step from getting the initial invitation to illustrate the text, assembling the necessary tools and team, collaborating to develop the content and visual style through multiple revisions, and finally publishing and promoting the finished comic online and within the journal issue. The goal was to explore comic creation as an innovative role for librarians to engage patients through an accessible format.

1. Comic Creation as an
Innovative Library Role:
PF Anderson, MILS; Elise Wescom, BFA; Kai Donovan,
MA; & Ruth Carlos, MD, MS
University of Michigan — Ann Arbor
Process, Resources, Publishing (and What About Peer Review?)

2. Step 1: Be There, or Be Square Step 2: Cooking 101
Lib Guide: Graphic Medicine:
http://guides.lib.umich.edu/graphicmedicine

3. Step 4: Invitation to a Pot Luck!Step 3: Read (and Write?) Recipe(s)
“We have a special issue in December for
patient engagement. We just got an
illustrator. I proposed a comic book guide
to difficult conversations .
Would you be willing to write the text (with
me or with others) for the illustrator?”

4. Step 5: Assemble Your Tools Step 6: Assemble Your Ingredients (Team)
Criteria: Cost, capability,
compatibility, sturdiness,
flexibility, portability, but most
of all, can I draw on the monitor
with my pen?

5. Step 7: Mix Things Up Step 8: Bake Your Brains
Image source: Oven <https://openclipart.org/detail/598/oven> Brain
<https://openclipart.org/detail/268039/simple-brain-diagram>

6. Step 9: Taste Test (Cook/Creators) Step 10: Taste Test (Diner/Viewer)
Hunh?

7. Step 11: Revise the Recipe Step 12: Taste Test(Again) (& Again)
Layout?
Frame?
Gutter?
Caption?
Shading?
Arrows?!?

8. Step 13: Serve It Up! Step 14: And? did you like it?
http://bit.ly/JACRcomic1