This book reaffirms my faith in the importance of stories. Dash Shaw captures the complexity and contradictions of being alive, and places that alongside an incredible portrait of the art of survival, which we all practice with varying degrees of success. In the original graphic novel “Doctors,” it becomes clear that those two things could not be more different.
Written & Illustrated by Dash Shaw
This new graphic novel from acclaimed cartoonist Dash Shaw (Bottomless Belly Button, BodyWorld, New School) is his most taut book to date. Dr. Cho is the creator of the Charon, a device that allows his staff to enter a dead patient’s afterlife by taking the form of a memory in the patient’s consciousness, and bring him or her back to life, with one catch: the experience is traumatic and the process kills them again soon thereafter. But for some bereaved, the opportunity is priceless. So when Bell is killed in a random accident, her daughter hires Dr. Cho’s team to bring her back. But what if Bell didn’t want to come back? The dying unconsciously create the afterlife they want, or feel they deserve, in their minds before everything fades to black. Isn’t that better than the reality, and no less meaningful than life itself? Can unconsciousness coexist with consciousness? Part science-fiction thriller, part family drama, part morality play for the 21st century, and quite possibly Shaw’s best book to date.
“Doctors” is a riveting philosophical text wrapped in a compelling science fiction drama. Centering on a team of doctors who have found a way to call the dead back to life, the story opens with the retrieval of Miss Bell, a wealthy patient. By observing Miss Bell in her afterlife we gain an intimate knowledge of the woman she wishes to be. Here she is happy, fulfilled and powerful. After her consciousness is reunited with her body, all of that changes. The medical team is comprised of Dr. Cho, his daughter Tammy and their assistant, Will. Each member of the team struggles with their own understanding of life’s meaning and value. Through their interactions with the patients and each other, it becomes clear that despite the power they have over the biological process of being alive, they have very little agency in their own lives. This is just one of the many contradictions that Shaw explores in this graphic novel.
Shaw conducts a brilliant examination of life as perception. In the afterlife Miss Bell perceives herself to be the person she always wished to be in life. She forfeits that ‘fictitious‘ happiness in order to be reunited with her body, in order to perceived as living by others. This choice proves to be difficult for Miss Bell. Similarly, Clark Gomez, a friend of Doctor Cho and patient, struggles with accepting the idea that his physical life will end. He asks Cho to bring him back after his death, but when faced with the idea of returning from his afterlife, resists. At one point before his death, Clark reaches out to one of his sons, who tells him that he is ‘already dead’ to him.
Laura, Miss Bell’s daughter, does not internalize the loss of her mother until after her second death. ‘I sense her gone-ness always,’ she states. Her grief is the catalyst for one of the most interesting paradoxes in the book. She tells her partner that the doctors killed her mother. In fact, the doctors brought Miss Bell back to life, and by doing so, rendered her incapable of living. This is such a rich idea, it exemplifies the kind of thought-provoking writing that makes “Doctors” so worthwhile for readers.
Questioning ideas like life and reality throughout the story, Shaw makes the audience take a second look at the way these concepts are normally understood.Tammy discusses the idea that her memory of her mother has little to do with her own perception of her. Instead she holds onto an amalgamation of anecdotes and photographs, her mother lives in her memory through this skewed construction. This begs the question, is this memory any more or less valid than one based in reality? Miss Bell mourns the lover she imagined for herself in the afterlife as one would mourn the death of a loved one. This character was real to her, and the loss is equally real. Tammy and Miss Bell both worry that they might be dead and not realize it. Both characters check to make sure their senses are intact, and Miss Bell goes so far as to ask her assistant if she has died. If being in the afterlife is so similar to being alive, why are they doctors bringing these people back?
Continued belowIt seems their motivation is monetary. The exchange of currency is another important theme in this book. What would you trade wealth for? Miss Bell would give up all of her money for love. Clark would hand over his fortune for experience and pleasure. Laura would pay anything to have her mother back, or to see justice done on her behalf. Dr. Cho sees money as a way to reward performance, or a means to insure desired results. All of these characters see wealth as a pathway to gaining the thing that means the most to them. As Will points out, “when you spend money, it doesn’t die. It travels.” In that way we can understand that we spend our lives in much the same way, and even when it is spent, we are still traveling.
Tammy’s preoccupation with games and chance is another captivating element of this graphic novel. Early on, Tammy states that her only memory of her mother is playing board games, an idea she returns to again and again. For Tammy, these games represented an escape, a way to interact with her family that didn’t require them to address the way they felt about each other. She is preoccupied with playing The Sims, and in this virtual world she has created a meaningful life, which is similar to the afterlives constructed by other characters. Her father sees her investments in games as a childish idea. He challenges her to play a game of chess with him. Tammy expresses that she doesn’t care for chess because there is no element of chance. Doctor Cho states that the best player should always win. This highlights the enchantment Tammy feels with life, while underscoring her father’s desire to control it. Near the end of the book a game of Monopoly becomes one of the most multidimensional and beautiful metaphors that I have ever encountered. I won’t spoil that for you, it wouldn’t be right. Just know it’s there, read it twice, and find the brilliance Shaw has layered in the scene.
This book is terse and powerful in a way that would make Emily Dickinson green with envy. Never saying more than he needs to, Shaw does a commendable job showing us the story in “Doctors.” At times, the story seems to be more a series of vignettes than an ongoing narrative. These scenes coalesce to reinforce the themes of the book, while moving the reader through the larger narrative. Using plain language and relatable dialogue, the characters’ words seem realistic and believable. Adopting a variety of view points and voices, Shaw shows that the experiences and questions posed within this book are part of a larger universal discourse.
The deceptive simplicity of this book’s voice is echoed in the artwork. Comprised of high contrast drawings, the art allows the difficult and weighty themes of the book to come into focus. Emotionally evocative and often unexpected the perspectives showcased in the visual components of “Doctors” are pleasantly engaging at times, and uncomfortably disorienting at others. Using backgrounds of various solid colors in lieu of plain white, Shaw creates instantly recognizable atmospheres. These saturated colors help reinforce the mood of each page or scene. Dreamy and expressive, Shaw’s illustration sets the story just outside reality, while capturing the essential qualities of the familiar.
Final Verdict: 9.2 – Put down the apple, you don’t want to keep “Doctors” away.
