Polite Dissent

Hello.

On the pages inside you’ll find important information — pretty important information — about…well, about sex, mostly.

It’s perfectly possible that you may not be interested in this. It’s every bit as possible that you suspect you’ll be offended by any mention that human beings have things under their clothes, let alone that they do anything interesting with them.

These are the opening words in Death Talks About Life, an eight-page PSA comic published by Vertigo comics in 1994.

Death Talks About Life is different from most PSA comics. First of all, it is written for adults. There are no innocent children in danger and brightly costumed heroes to save them, nor are there anthropomorphized diseases to be battled. Instead, the comic deals in a very straightforward manner with HIV and AIDS.

Second, unlike other PSA books, this comic was fashioned by creators at the top of their game. Neil Gaiman, in the middle of writing Sandman, supplies the words. Dave McKean, the Sandman cover artist and creator of Cages, draws the pictures. Todd Klein does his usual incredible job on the lettering.

Third, this is the only PSA comic that I ‘m aware of that has been collected in a trade paperback. Originally published as a center insert in Sandman #46, Hellblazer #62 and Shade: The Changing Man #32, it was later put out as an 8-page give-away. It was collected in the Death: The High Cost of Living trade paperback.

This plot is simple: seven pages of Death (the kohl-eyed Goth girl) talking to reader about AIDS, and a final page listing HIV and AIDS resources.

Medically, the advice is sound and virtually identical to what I told high schoolers when I taught AIDS education classes. I wish I had this comic then (though I doubt I would have been allowed to use it). Gaiman deftly explains what HIV and AIDS are, how a person acquires AIDS, and what can be done to prevent it. He touches on prejudice and teaches how to use a condom correctly (with help from John Constantine and a banana). Gaiman doesn’t shy away from using the necessary and anatomically explicit language to get his point across. (In my opinion, he throws an unnecessary bone to the HIV-deniers, but it doesn’t lessen the message in any way — and bear in mind that this was 1994).

The comic may be a little talky at times but Death Talks About Life is easily the best adult PSA comic book out there, and probably the best overall.

I’ll leave you with more words of wisdom from Death:

Now this comic contains words, concepts and maybe a few images that some people might find offensive.

If you suspect you’re going to be one of these people, there’s a really easy solution to this.

Don’t read it. It’s as simple as that.

Just don’t read it.

After all, the most it could do for you is to save your life.