The Most Costly Journey - by Marek Bennett & Andy Kolovos & Teresa Mares (Paperback)

About the Book

The Most Costly Journey is a non-fiction comics anthology of stories told by migrant Latin American farmworkers working on dairy farms in Vermont, and drawn in collaboration with cartoonists from New England.

Book Synopsis

This non-fiction comics anthology presents stories of survival and healing told by Latin American migrant farmworkers in Vermont, and drawn by New England cartoonists as part of the El Viaje Más Caro Project-a health care outreach effort of the Open Door Clinic and UVM Extension Bridges to Health aimed at addressing the overlooked mental health needs of these vulnerable immigrants. Originally distributed to farm workers as individual Spanish language comic books, this collected edition brings the lives and voices-as well as the challenges and hardships-of these workers to an English-language audience, granting insight into the experiences and lives of the people vital to producing the food we eat.

Featuring a foreword by Julia Alvarez (Afterlife), introduction by Stephen R. Bissette (Swamp Thing) and preface by project founder, nurse Julia Doucet, these inspiring stories grapple with issues encountered by migrant workers everywhere-isolation, separation, depression, substance abuse-even as they celebrate resilience, family, community, and the ability of each storyteller to direct their own healing narrative. The Most Costly Journey is a gripping work that draws together non-fiction cartooning, graphic medicine and ethnography, channeling the skills of health care practitioners, artists and ethnographers into helping alleviate the pain of others.

EDITED BY: Marek Bennett, Julia Grand Doucet, Andy Kolovos, & Teresa Mares

FEATURED ARTISTS: Tillie Walden / Marek Bennett / Kevin Kite / Iona Fox / Kane Lynch / Teppi Zuppo / John Carvajal / Michael Tonn / Angela Boyle / Rick Veitch / Glynnis Fawkes / Greg Giordano / Ezra Veitch / Shashwat Mishra / Michelle Sayles

FOREWORD: Julia Alvarez

PREFACE: Julia Grand Doucet

INTRODUCTION: Stephen R. Bissette

AFTERWORD: Teresa Mares & Andy Kolovos

PAGES: 252 / DIMENSIONS: 5.5"x8.5"

INTERIOR: B&W / COVER: Color

BINDING: Paperback / LANGUAGE: English

PRINT ISBN: 978-0-916718-00-8

LCCN: 2021932606

Review Quotes

"It's hard to imagine other peoples' lives. It's harder still when those lives are hidden from public view. But in this book, the unimaginably difficult experiences of migrant and immigrant farmworkers are made vividly accessible. Through their own words, and the simple, direct drawings of their cartoonist collaborators, we see how they got here, what they've left behind, and what their long, long days are like. The original goal of this project was to give their subjects a voice, but every North American should read this book in order to understand the disturbing degree to which we all depend on the self-sacrifice of these workers. El Viaje Mas Caro is a profound act of witness."

- Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Dykes to Watch Out For)

"By calling attention to the mental health needs of Latin American workers on Vermont dairy farms the El Viaje Mas Caro project exposes the suffering born of secrecy, and the unnecessary pain cultivated by the cruelty of our current immigration system. These comics open a doorway to healing for these economic migrants-and bring their experiences to light for all Americans in search of compassionate solutions to our immigration crisis."

- Andrew Aydin (March)

"This rich and inspiring project is doing the work of oral history, narrative medicine, ethnography, and graphic medicine."

- MK Czerwiec (Taking Turns, Graphic Medicine Manifesto)