Sweaty Palms: The Anthology About Anxiety

Sweaty Palms #1

by Liz Enright (Editor), Sage Coffey (Editor), Aaron C. Snow

Sweaty Palms is an autobiographical comics anthology about anxiety. The book contains more than 350 beautiful pages of black and white comics by 50 incredible indie cartoonists. We've collected their stories to present a very intimate and comprehensive look at what it’s like living with anxiety.

This anthology is our way of helping to destigmatize mental illness. As cartoonists, we can’t think of a better medium for the job! Visual storytelling gives a face to abstract things, like anxiety, which can be very difficult or painful to convey otherwise. It is our hope that readers will connect with the stories and know that they aren’t alone.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Mental Health, Anthologies, Graphic Novels Comics, Comics

384 pages, Hardcover

First published December 14, 2016

Reviews

[Squid Christ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Holy shit. If you suffer from Anxiety, Depression, OCD, or an Eating disorder, this book is Important. The perspective of the writers and their tales of these afflictions is wonderful and sad and beautiful. so many times during my reading of this I felt kinship to the writer or illustrator. This was wonderful.

[J.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took my time reading this comics anthology. It's a heavy subject, so I thought it best to take it in just a little at a time. I was struck by how many forms anxiety takes, manifesting in different ways, personal to each artist. That came through in how each artist chose to not just describe, but often show a physical manifestation of their anxiety (taking advantage of the comics medium).

Luckily for me, I don't suffer from any crippling form of anxiety, just your run-of-the-mill basic anxieties that everyone shares (worrying about money, relationships, work, socializing, politics, etc.). I always enjoy reading books or comics that put me in someone else's shoes, and this collection did just that. The only way we can all truly empathize with another is to listen to their stories.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Theres alot going on in this anthology.

I felt such an intense camaraderie from having so many stories about this crammed together. Being able to relate to the stories where their anxiety manifests the same way as mine was great, and seeing the variety of issues made it feel expansive.

The only downside for me is that the comics dont have titles or separators, in a lot of cases. That meant the whole book can feel like one very long thought. I think they flow into each other nicely, but there was an occasion or two where I had to pause to make sure I was onto the next story. With so many, it might have been difficult to do (made the book larger and harder to print) but I think it would be nice for the next one.

[Erica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I guess it should have been obvious that a comic anthology about anxiety would be largely about the anxiety of comic artists but because a lot of the struggles being dealt with were creative I found it kind of hard to relate at times. I also didn't see much representation outside generalized anxiety and depression? Qualms aside it did have some genuinely uplifting and relatable stories. My mom actually picked it up and found it quite enlightening so I'd suggest it especially for those who don't suffer from anxiety but maybe have friends or family who do that they'd like to understand better.

[Stephen Hines · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of the stories in here were amazing and so easy to relate to. If you have an anxiety disorder or want to understand what a friend goes through, pick up a copy of this anthology. I would have given it a five but there were a few stories that seemed to have nothing to do with the theme of the collection.

[Amanda · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book got way real