By day, Lin Tzu-yao (林子堯) is a devoted psychologist at the Taoyuan Psychiatric Center, but by night, he is the creator of a well-received comic book series that uses humor to underscore some of the unspoken challenges facing today’s doctors and healthcare providers.
Lin studied at the China Medical University, before starting his internship at the National Taiwan University Hospital, one of the nation’s most prestigious medical facilities.
Lin had lived a life that was not much different from that of his colleagues, until the aggravation of excessive overtime work among medical staff and the flaws plaguing the nation’s medical system prompted him to transform the bitter experiences shared by many doctors into four-panel comic strips.
Photo: Tsai Shu-yuan, Taipei Times
The 31-year-old published his first comic book, titled Crazy Hospital (醫院也瘋狂), in November last year, in which he appears as a character named Lei Ya (雷亞) who works as a hospital intern.
The book has garnered popular acclaim since its publication and made Lin the first physician in the nation to be honored by the Ministry of Culture with a New Comic Artist Award.
The success of his debut prompted Lin to roll out a sequel, released on Sunday, which not only retains the humorous, ironic style that characterized his first book, but also incorporates some closely watched current events.
For instance, a comic strip titled Death-Grip Handshake (死亡之握) depicts a talented physician turning into a black-hearted person who enjoys exploiting his subordinates after his brain is penetrated by toxic substances emitted by his superior’s hands when they shook hands.
The strip might be inspired by the nickname netizens have given President Ma Ying-jeou’s (馬英九) handshakes, which are said to bring bad luck.
Another comic strip, titled A New Uniform for Emergency Room Staff (急診新制服), is based on a high-profile assault case in November last year, in which a local representative allegedly slapped a nurse in the face at Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital for refusing to update her on her father’s condition over the telephone.
In the strip, employees working at the emergency room are given an Iron Man suit as uniforms, so that they can emit lasers out of their hands like the fictional superhero does to destroy whoever attacks them.
The 10-month-old panda cub Yuan Zai (圓仔), who has become a media darling since her birth on July 6 last year, also appears in Lin’s strips.
A strip dedicated to the cub depicts a large crowd of people flocking to the Taipei Zoo to have a glimpse of the fluffy animal, while two passers-by jokingly attribute her huge popularity to the public’s desperate need for a black-and-white animal, since “they can no longer distinguish between black and white.”
Lin said his infatuation with comics began when he was little as his favorite childhood pastime was reading Taiwanese cartoonist Liu Hsing-chin’s (劉興欽) comic series Brother A-san and Great Auntie (阿三哥與大嬸婆) and Japanese manga series Doraemon.
“I have always dreamed of creating a comic book series that could not only surpass legendary Japanese manga artist Osamu Tezuka’s popular work, Black Jack, but also truthfully reflect the lives of Taiwanese doctors,” Lin said.
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