In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic brought the world to itsknees. When we weren't sheltering in place, we were advised to wear masks, washour hands, and practice social distancing. We watched in horror as medicalpersonnel worked around the clock to care for the sick and dying. Businesseswere shuttered, travel stopped, workers were furloughed, and markets dropped.And people continued to die.
Amid all thisuncertainty, writers and artists from around the world continued to createcomics, commenting directly on how individuals, societies, governments, andmarkets reacted to the worldwide crisis. COVID Chronicles: A Comics Anthologycollects more than sixty such short comics from a diverse set of creators,including indie powerhouses, mainstream artists, Ignatz and Eisner Awardwinners, and media cartoonists. In narrative styles ranging from realistic tofantastic, they tell stories about adjusting to working from home, homeschoolingtheir kids, missing birthdays and weddings, and being afraid just to leave thehouse. They probe the failures of government leaders and the social safety net.They dig into the racial bias and systemic inequities that this pandemic helpedbring to light. We see what it's like to get the virus and live to tell aboutit, or to stand by helplessly as a loved onepasses.
At times heartbreaking and at othershopeful and humorous, these comics express the anger, anxiety, fear, andbewilderment we feel in the era of COVID-19. Above all, they highlight the powerof art and community to help us make sense of a world in crisis, reminding usthat we are truly all in this together.
The comicsin this collection have been generously donated by their creators. A portion ofthe the proceeds from the sale of this volume are being donated by the publisherto the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (Binc) in support of comics shops,bookstores, and their employees who have been adversely affected by thepandemic.