Aren't Cancer Cells the Worst?
I try to find humor in some unfunny places, but I was never sure how to approach cancer. I first did a comic about cancer genes for my book What’s in Your Genes?, which seems to find the happy place between facts and silliness.
By Katie McKissick
This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American
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I try to find humor in some unfunny places, but I was never sure how to approach cancer. I first did a comic about cancer genes for my book What's in Your Genes?, which seems to find the happy place between facts and silliness. I recently updated it in full color:
To do a comic about cancer cells... is a little riskier. They are the physical manifestation of those cancer genes, and they are doing all the damage. There isn't much funny about that. So I tried to incorporate something we can all agree on--that cancer cells are the worst--and show a cancer cell being, well, an inconsiderate cancer cell, while avoiding making it seem evil. I'd rather show cancer cells for what they are--cells that have lost their way and don't really know what they're doing, but also can't stop.
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