The Hospital Suite is a landmark work by the celebrated cartoonist and small-press legend John Porcellino—an autobiographical collection detailing his struggles with illness in the 1990s and early 2000s.
In 1997, John began to have severe stomach pain. He soon found out he needed emergency surgery to remove a benign tumor from his small intestine. In the wake of the surgery, he had numerous health complications that led to a flare-up of his preexisting tendencies toward anxiety and obsessive-compulsive disorder. The Hospital Suite is Porcellino’s response to these experiences—simply told stories drawn in the honest, heart-wrenching style of his much-loved King-Cat mini-comics. His gift for spare yet eloquent candor makes The Hospital Suite an intimate portrayal of one person’s.
Porcellino’s work is lauded for its universality and quiet, clear-eyed contemplation of everyday life. The Hospital Suite is a testimony to this subtle strength, making his struggles with the medical system and its consequences for his mental health accessible and engaging.
“The Hospital Suite by John Porcellino a memoir . . . of undiagnosed illnesses . . . It's really fascinating and really self-revelatory and very clear-eyed.” — NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour
"Quiet haunting . . . The Hospital Suite is a reminder that the seemingly basic chemistry of words and picture can uniquely, compellingly address the deepest fears that face us—up to and including the ultimate one." — Entertainment Weekly
“The rawness of Porcellino's work, its unfiltered directness, is the essence of its charm.” — Los Angeles Times
"The book is a landmark in his oeuvre and an important work in the auto-bio comics field. Read it and wince, empathize, cry, laugh. Learn something. But most definitely read it." -- Robert Kirby, The Comics Journal
250 page black and white paperback
Drawn & Quarterly, 2014
