Epileptic! Possibly The Greatest Autobiographical Graphic Novel Out There!

Epileptic centers on our lead and his brother, who suffers from epilepsy. An emotional core this comic takes is it’s bare look at epilepsy and how his brother’s and many in the story’s life is forever changed thanks to this. Epileptic is, to put it simply, really depressing, and the little joy found in this comic is more like nostalgia in the mind than true happiness. Which is the point. Epileptic doesn’t hold your hand on the topic of epilepsy and explores the problems it brings in the comic medium in a way that never felt covered or discussed to this raw of a degree and from a more observed perspective as it is our leads brother. It’s execution, art wise, also explains why it had to be a comic, not novel.

The paneling in Epileptic is creative and matched with hyperattention. It’s simple; there are panels in Epileptic that are very simple in design. But that is the brilliance. A black-and-white simply designed comic. Until it isn’t. Beauchard takes the usual and blasts it out with the unusual randomly, as it goes on. For around the first parts of the graphic novel, the out of nowhere moments come with the creative paneling choices and sometimes shifting art style Beauchard takes us on. He makes us feel like we are apart of his world and then shocks us when the epilepsy from his brother starts on what originally seems like a normal day. This shift alerts us to a wider sphere it takes us under. What Epileptic is about.

After his brother’s incident changes the mood and vibe of the graphic novel, we then see the writing shift to a more wider sphere. Whereas it seemed originally, aside from the opening scene, like it was a story of a boy who was just living the good life with his family with all the problems most families face, now the cracks appear. And keep breaking, like the mind of our lead.

We see the family go to a variety of doctors, and their responses say a million words that are unsaid. Some just say he is a “bad boy,” thanks to throwing rocks at people in the streets, and others, like their family doctor, send them to his teacher, who no longer practices but he sees them anyway. All this sending to various doctors, the judgmental assessments, all of it builds this quick and so poignant truth of the time period we are stuck in. We see here a key element of this entire graphic novel. Loads of things thrown together. Indulgence, it can be called (With the seamless switch from the discussion of his epilepsy and the situation of him being called a “bad boy”). But I would call it vulnerability. It is our author throwing memories together, I think, and mashing up so many moments in his life all into these moments of sheer emotion, encapsulated by striking black and white panels.

One of the most brilliant choices I think this comic made was being in black and white. In a way, this choice works so well, making a world that seems cold and just as unforgiving as intended. Even more, it makes the sometimes horrific imagery just even more terrifying. I can’t even really explain it; it’s something you read, and you have no words.

Through all of this, one of the smartest and possibly unintentional things is the bare truth of childhood Beauchard has. Instead of going into the “everything was great when I was a kid and we did wholesome things,” Beauchard shows us that as a kid, he possibly, for instance, made his first book with it being said that his sister was being tortured on every page. This speaks a million words to the mindset that was likely due to his brother’s epilepsy. Though, even before that, we see possibly concerning stuff that Beauchard, even now, might not pick up on and see as casual based on how common it was to him but speak to so much. A smart choice was having these small things in Epileptic and never shedding off the bareness of the writing.

We see throughout Epileptic a focus on art itself and, as the comic goes on, with it feeling like a tool for him to focus on something other than his life, which feels like it falls apart every second. Though, in many ways, art is a toxic tool, able to help bring escapism but also able to hurt one’s mental stability.

Epileptic, as a whole, reads like the breaking and opening of wounds by someone. Someone who is finally opening up about their life and remembering everything and, by the end of it, breaking all at once, with an ending I can only describe as pure emotional insanity. It is a unraveling work that shows not just a character, but it feels like the author himself releasing themselves to the world.

I could go on and on with this comic. But it really is a work you should read first. To spoil all of this genuine masterpiece would ruin so much of the raw impact it brings. It is a work you should read first since the initial impact is so necessary.