Meet Our Contributors: E. J. Barnes and LB Lee
E. J. Barnes and LB Lee collaborated to make Bring Me the Head of Phineas Gage!, a story about a man who survived a devastating brain injury. (See our Kickstarter here.) Read on for a few words with the creators behind the Phineas Gage comic.
Jordan Stillman: Why did you choose this topic?
E. J. Barnes: I chose this topic because I’d been thinking of doing a story about Gage—possibly a mini-comic—for some time. Several years ago on my birthday I asked my boyfriend to take me to the Countway Library at Harvard Medical School, specifically to see Gage’s skull, hole and all. Gage has been on my mind for some time.
LB Lee: In my case, E. J. came up with the idea and approached me later. I knew a bit about Phineas Gage, and it was an interesting case, plus [it] meshed nicely with my earlier work in mental health comics. I really respect E. J.’s professionalism and her work, so I was excited to work with her.
EB: The case of Gage is widely considered an anomaly—the news reports at the time weren’t especially florid, more like one-paragraph “odds & ends” like in News of the Weird. But the way Gage’s case, and the alleged changes in his behavior, have historically been used in basic medical and neurology textbooks is instructive about the things “everybody knows” that ain’t so—including the things that authorities pass on to newbies without closely examining what little evidence there is.
LL: I didn’t realize the extent to which the Phineas Gage narrative has been embellished and elaborated on over the years, without really the facts to back it up. And of course, I have personal reasons for being interested in other folks who have had to adapt to severe trauma.
JS: Why and how is it interesting?
EB: One of the most interesting parts of the story, to me, is how Gage’s case became a political football in the debate between phrenologists and anti-phrenologists. The phrenologists were wrong-headed about a number of things, including being able to judge a person’s natural personality by measuring bumps on their skull. But their more absurd theories only made it harder for standard medical scientists to accept localization of at least some brain functions.
LL: Who doesn’t want to know about people who survive gruesome injuries? Even now, surviving an impalement through the head is impressive, and this was before the advent of antibiotics. That Phineas Gage lived as long as he did, and carried on despite a medical system and a society with no clue how to deal with him, is fascinating to read about. So little is known
about the man except for his injury; there’s so much to imagine!
JS: How did you put the comic together? How did you draw it? What is your technique?
EB: I approached LB to do the story because they are interested in the science and history of neurology. I started my research by reading An Odd Kind of Fame and other materials listed in the bibliography of the Wikipedia article on Phineas Gage. I also went online looking for contemporary photographs of some of the major figures in the story as well as reference illustrations of scenery, 19th-century technology and fashion, and other pictures that LB would find useful.
LL: I did the initial layouts in pencil in a spiral, and then I drew the pages entirely digitally, which I’ve only done once before. I recently got a gift of MangaStudio from an anonymous benefactor, which helped make digital comics suddenly much easier for me.
JS: Why is science awesome? How do you feel about science?
EB: I majored in Chemistry, and while I worked instead as a software engineer after receiving my Bachelor’s degree, I still enjoy science—and history of science—very much. These things help us understand not only how our world works, but how our thoughts about them have evolved over time. One of the comics I’ve written, illustrated, and self-published on my own is Caroline’s Catalog, the true story of a female astronomer who discovered eight comets, corrected the standard star catalog of her era, had her new catalog published by the Royal Society of London (the leading society of scientists in the 18th century), and received awards and medals in her lifetime for her work. http://www.drownedtownpress.com/caroline.html
LL: I really love science; I feel it brings wonder to the world even as it explains it. I also find the psychology AROUND science interesting… How people will distort or misrepresent it to further their own goals, as has happened with Gage. He’s been used to “scientifically prove” all sorts of nonsense, including phrenology! I find that kind of human error interesting.
JS: Why should people support Boundless?
EB: Boundless is a book that not only aims to demonstrate that science is entertaining, but that comics—the combination of words and pictures—is specially positioned to convey complex ideas in ways that are easy to follow.
LL: Because science is awesome, comics are awesome, so both of them together are MAJOR awesome! :D
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