Wired Up Wrong – Rachael Smith
In Wired Up Wrong, Rachael Smith (Quarantine Comix, The Queens Last Witch) explores her relationship with her brain, and depression, through a series of short comic strips. She is incredibly, heart-breakingly, honest in how she presents her struggles with mental health and in doing so manages to produce art that deeply resonates with the reader. Despite the serious subject, this is a quirky, funny book.
The black dog
Personifying her depression as a literal black dog – semi-affectionately named Barky – she takes a familiar trope and gives it a new lease of life. She holds conversations with the aforementioned dog about why he treats her as he does, and at times even fights back against his negative talk. Barky and Rachael embark on a journey with a therapist, and she is wonderfully frank in explaining why she shouldn’t be taking up the therapist’s time – as there are other people who are more deserving of it. Speaking as someone who suffers from sometimes crippling negative self talk, this book resonated with me deeply. I’m not going to lie when I say I had to ugly cry upon finishing more than one page.
The entire book gives an insight into methods of dealing with mental health struggles, and life in general. Originally published in 2017, this is a post-pandemic reprint which is even more needed in the days of #BeKind and #ItsOkayNotToBeOkay – platitudes that often come without concrete coping methods. There is honesty here too, Smith talks about using alcohol as a way to deal with anxiety. She is also open about why this isn’t always a good idea!
Content warnings
There is a section in which Smith talks about her experience with harassment, and she not only delivers a content warning prior to these pages, she also colour-coordinates the panel gutters so that the reader can bypass them if they want or need to. This level of empathy with the reader is reflective of Smith’s character throughout the book, and her other autobiographical works, as she often puts others’ needs before her own. Probably because her brain tells her that other people are more important!
Talking to yourself
Mixing the fictional conversations with Barky, and her cat Rufus (who is real), with factual information about self-harm avoidance techniques, information about her own experience with anti-depressants, and real world examples of how she has fared whilst living with, and through, depression, Smith presents a realistic but eventually optimistic perspective on depression. Some panels will be recognisable to anyone who has lived with their own black dog, especially those that deal with the well-meaning advice of others. Because if we could just get out of bed and cheer up, we would…
Wired Up Wrong is available now from comic book shops, bookstores and direct from the creator herself.
Rachael Smith – writer & artist
Icon Books – publisher
