Radiator Comics

Description

Dumb chronicles Georgia Webber’s throat injury, and her rehabilitation through not speaking. Through a well-crafted visual language, Georgia tells the story of how her work, relationships with friends, and day-to-day living is dramatically altered by not being able to talk. Prose essays by writers who think deeply about vocal cords supplement each issue’s theme.

In the first issue of Dumb, we meet Georgia in May, right when her throat begins to hurt. We follow her through months of attempting to ignore the pain while waiting tables, and socializing with friends. Then, in September, Georgia is diagnosed -after an invasive inspection- as a “vocal abuser,” and is instructed not to talk for six months.

Georgia assigns the color red to represent sound, both as speech and noise. It’s a bold component that is mixed in with her black line drawings, and is use quite potently at the end of this issue. Georgia also subtly draws spiky stars to represent her pain as a tangible object that can be shoved into a pocket or junk drawer, or swatted away while socializing with friends.

In this issue, Madeleine Palmer writes an essay on how to care for your living musical instrument, your voice.