If Mary Roach created comics, they would be exactly the kind of comics we cover on this blog. But she is not a comic creator, merely a writer of prose works, though her topics are far from “mere”—like in her newest book, Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, she details the extraordinary details of the ordinary bits of life in outer space, from eating and sleeping to hygiene and waste management.
On the comics front, Ariyana Suvarnasuddhi has picked up the baton, illustrating key scenes from two of Mary Roach’s books. The first, about an epidemic of penis dismemberments in Thailand in the 70′s, is inspired by a chapter from Bonk: The Curious Coupling of Science and Sex.
The second comic is inspired by Roach’s book Stiff: The Curious Lives of Human Cadavers, which in addition to being the only one of her books that I’ve actually read, is a humorous look as to all the others places (besides the grave) our bodies can end up when we die, from organ donation to crash test dummies. Instead of detailing one of those, though, Suvarnasuddhi has chosen to focus on the actual process of human decomposition.
These comics were brought to public attention by Mary Roach herself, who had some very kind words for Ms. Suvarnasuddhi:
Ariyana zeroed in on food images and references in the chapter, using a visit to a sushi bar to illustrate phenomena like “skin slip” and end-stage soupiness (not a technical term). Her work just floors me.
(via Boing Boing)