51-50: A Mental Health and Healing Graphic Novel
Donation protected
51-50 is a graphic novel which will chronicle my slow, and then VERY fast descent into mania, my constant never ending battle with depression, and my multiple suicide attempts.
Oh, and it's a comedy.
A comedy about my life coming together in ways I’d only imagined in my wildest dreams, and then falling apart, and then falling apart some more, and then falling apart even more. A comedic adventure up and down Los Angeles’ Sunset Blvd. - with lots of laughter, dancing, excitement, and me getting punched. A lot. 51-50 will follow my life from approximately 2014-2018 when I found myself in and out of California's Mental Health Care facilities, with my diagnosis and pill dosages changing seemingly with each new hospital stay.
I am writing this book with the hope, well simply put, to help. To help shine a light on our Healthcare system that has the -facilities- to reach those in need, it just doesn’t staff or conduct it’s policies with empathy in mind. I want and hope my experience can be used to bring awareness of what it’s actually like on the inside, the care you do and don’t receive, and illustrate ways in which I believe these facilities can be run better. Through speaking with friends and family I will also be bringing in experiences of what it’s like to be on the outside looking in as someone you care about begins to spiral.
The funds for the book will be put towards a very straight forward use. A new laptop for doing the illustrations on, an external hard drive, and whatever is left over will be put towards me taking time off from work to dedicate entirely to the book. I am open to both self publishing and the traditional route, and have people I can talk to about both directions when I cross that bridge. I am hoping to get the funds as quickly as possible so I can dive into this project as fast as possible. I already have an outline done, and am most of the way through a rough storyboard.
It’s a bold goal for a comic book, but I am hoping to use this book as a stepping stone towards Health Care reform. I have experienced both the good and bad in CA, and on both ends I know we can do better. I can’t even begin to express what your funding means to me… But to try, making this project with the hope of having an impact, large or small, to me means any hardships I may have experienced were entirely worthwhile.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Oh, and it's a comedy.
A comedy about my life coming together in ways I’d only imagined in my wildest dreams, and then falling apart, and then falling apart some more, and then falling apart even more. A comedic adventure up and down Los Angeles’ Sunset Blvd. - with lots of laughter, dancing, excitement, and me getting punched. A lot. 51-50 will follow my life from approximately 2014-2018 when I found myself in and out of California's Mental Health Care facilities, with my diagnosis and pill dosages changing seemingly with each new hospital stay.
I am writing this book with the hope, well simply put, to help. To help shine a light on our Healthcare system that has the -facilities- to reach those in need, it just doesn’t staff or conduct it’s policies with empathy in mind. I want and hope my experience can be used to bring awareness of what it’s actually like on the inside, the care you do and don’t receive, and illustrate ways in which I believe these facilities can be run better. Through speaking with friends and family I will also be bringing in experiences of what it’s like to be on the outside looking in as someone you care about begins to spiral.
The funds for the book will be put towards a very straight forward use. A new laptop for doing the illustrations on, an external hard drive, and whatever is left over will be put towards me taking time off from work to dedicate entirely to the book. I am open to both self publishing and the traditional route, and have people I can talk to about both directions when I cross that bridge. I am hoping to get the funds as quickly as possible so I can dive into this project as fast as possible. I already have an outline done, and am most of the way through a rough storyboard.
It’s a bold goal for a comic book, but I am hoping to use this book as a stepping stone towards Health Care reform. I have experienced both the good and bad in CA, and on both ends I know we can do better. I can’t even begin to express what your funding means to me… But to try, making this project with the hope of having an impact, large or small, to me means any hardships I may have experienced were entirely worthwhile.
Thank you for your time and consideration.
Organizer and beneficiary
Michael Johnson
Organizer
Santa Rosa, CA
Rosanne Johnson
Beneficiary