The Con Artists is rich in its multidimensional construction where the different aspects of the work simulated by Luke Healy are brilliantly intertwined. Luke is the creator (writer/artist), and in other contexts he might just be a teller of tales. He is, or at least seems, the person who appears in the Prologue, Intermission and the Epilogue, which is somehow reminiscent of Mister Rogers coming on screen to give a monologue before he puts on his signature sweater and shoes. His additional ensemble changes into a fake mustache, different glasses, and a shirt makes him the fictional character of the novel, Frank. One of the main characters and conmen, Giorgio, is overt. It is still debatable concerning how real his actions are and how many of them are actually staged. With the book titles being in plural, who else could the other conmen be? The most likely candidates are either Frank or the author. I feel it is necessary to point out, I am not a healthcare professional, thus my medical assessments made in this context are largely devoid of in-depth considerations but rather reasoning, common sense, and the unfounded belief that every injury can be legitimately questioned. And for some of them, ranging from the above dozen or so does border on the fantasy. That some of the humor was unbearable because of the degree of disbelief one had to maintain.
In the course of preparing for this assignment, I initially decided that I would try to understand who the fraudsters are and relish in the satire, but rather, the damaging health problems featured stood out most. These problems are either not as bad as stated to be, grossly overstated to be funny, a joke, or the injuries are poorly treated by the medical personnel. Some of the physical injuries are far more serious than the so-called mental health issues. There, is however, a narrative dealing with the standup comic and the Fringe Edinburgh Festival comedy competition. The delightful illustrations are simple black lines without contouring or shadows, apart from grey washes in the clothing and Frank’s hair and dark attire.
Similar to the Force Awakens, Frank and his comedienne friend Ro get Frank’s ‘Opening Scene’ – the one that blurs the lines of fiction. In this, She makes Frank a participant of her Comic Roast – Star Trials and Diana, The Rock Johnson. During the conversation, Frank dying from laughter declares “We start therapy this year and don’t kill our house plants”. At this point Frank receives a very important phone call. The once lively drama shifts to a tragedy, an insightful doctor claims he has been run over by a bus and has made his way to the hospital. Frank looks through the tiniest of fingers and wishes for Giorgio to be in a full body cast. But lo and behold, he arrives at the hospital and lo and behold it appears the injury is a minor one – as Giorgio is outside the hospital puffing on a cigarette. Giorgio tells him a bus brought him to the hospital after everything and he has long been discharged. From a distance it’s hard to notice, but there’s something adorning Giorgio’s left arm. It seems like a swollen piece of skin that I undoubtedly think is bicycle skin or few layers shy of a compound fracture – but there’s a doubtless assumption it’s dangerously broken. He had been drinking the night before so I’m sure one way or another the injury is anything but minor. As a friend, Frank advises Giorgio to go back in the hospital. An x ray is serviceable and reveals a compound fracture to both the radius and ulna, so I can say with 80% certainty consciousness seems to be unbearable.
For some reason, none of this seems plausible to me. A doctor told me earlier, “[To delay] seems unlikely. It looks like a pretty significantly displaced fracture and to not treat that urgently would allow for healing to begin in a malformed way, potentially requiring re-breaking healing bones to realign them. ” The surgery on his arm happens towards the end of the month, and astonishingly, there is a scheduled appointment for the surgery to be completed. I fail to comprehend how a doctor is sending Giorgio home with a broken bone and a ‘bandana’ like support. The doctor even told him this, “To repair this break, we’ll need to surgically implant metal plates along the bone. You’re booked in for the surgery for the end of the month.” It is still hand baffling to grasp the fact that this was even possible in the first place. By the end of the month, the arm surgery is completed and takes around five hours. It baffels me how Giorgio is sent home as soon as the surgery is completed too. Surely the plates were not implanted. Rather, it was a claim made by the doctor, who seemed to be dazed from anesthesia post surgery.
This is a strenuous claim for me to accept at this time, and for some reason, everything Giorgio and Frank explain to me does not make sense.
I guess after the surgery, he would be admitted in the hospital at least for the night, and the doctors would keep his arm secured in the frame to immobilize his arm close to his torso for a certain time period as a means of recovery, however, what do I really know. I can debate when later on, Giorgio scams Frank for 200 pounds to buy an expensive sling. It’s easier to do a google search and determine that one’s really good slings from the UK sell for 20 pounds.
As the story in The Con Artists unfolds, we see a scene where Giorgio falls on the pavement. Frank is later called by someone who says, “[Giorgio] is in the hospital with some minor brain damage,” which sounds like a concussion. When Frank gets to the hospital, he learns that Giorgio is just suffering some hearing loss on one side and a fractured skull. All of these accidents seem to be part of a plan to defraud Frank while the injuries appear to be far more sever than what he anticipated.
Much like Giorgio, Frank has a host of his own medical issues which include talking incessantly about his anxiety and panic attacks. He attends an Emma for therapy as Emma will be his primary therapist. Frank… sad because he has to visit the clinic in the first place, which even bears the name of a healthcare professional, “Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT) for Anxiety.” He also has to fill out TBQs (Therapy Behavioral Questionnaires) where he bursts into laughter about the scoring system which is between 1 and 6 because it’s simply impossible for him to give even an average score. Only an exceptionally low score (4) or high score (3). But Frank’s treatments about his mental health are rightful and seem stringent (e.g. he can stop or slow panic attacks by reminding himself what is actually real, which is the ground under his feet). He can even make fun of his mental health and the fact that Giorgio got injured on stage.
Once again, I find it rather disturbing, or I might be taking The Con Artists too seriously. Emma later claims that Frank suffered from an anxiety disorder, but only because of the results from the picture she drew graphically depicting his test scores; they never reached the level that indicated an anxiety disorder. A therapist measuring for a mental health condition like anxiety, I have never came across that notion. I wonder if this zig-zag graph depicting Frank wearing a shirt or a sweater with a zig-zag stripe is meant to portray Charlie Brown’s famous zig-zag shirt.
The Con Artist has funny sections such as the way Giorgio cons people to get household items, which was amusing. Also the evolution in the relationships involving Frank, Giorgio, Emma, Ro, and even Giorgio with his father was interesting. There are amusing clips during and after stand up comedy shows. The medic cabanas gives me pause not to recommend The Con Artists in good faith; however, I do support the reading of it for the relationships and comedy there in and not to gain medical treats knowledge. And finally, the reviewer of my review pointed out an interesting nuance: I quote: ‘If the comic’s plot has health concerns, does the creator have a duty to handle it properly?’ This is one question I would have greatly appreciated being answered.
Luke Healy has an Award of Excellence from the Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art in NYC in 2014, and in 2016 was nominated for an Ignaz Award for Outstanding Minicomic and was shortlisted for the Slate Cartoonist Studio Prize. Additionally, he won the Publishers Weekly Book of the Year award from Healy’s How to Survive in the North book in 2016 and in 2019 Healy’s Americana won the Best Books of the Year award from The Guardian.
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