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The Lady Doctor demonstrates why comics are the best medicine

Art by Ian Williams

"We debate with the world, and ourselves, all for show, but at the end of the day...We might as well shut up and get on with it."

 GP Lois Pritchard mulls over the advice from her deceased father's girlfriend as she considers how to respond to a letter from her estranged mother in the little down time she has away from the Llangandida Health Centre. Her life isn't easy, as Doctor Ian Williams makes very clear in his new graphic novel, The Lady Doctor.

Maybe she's not the best doctor out there

Like Jon McNaught's Kingdom, The Lady Doctor is a minimalist slice-of-life comic - (almost) each page is made up of only three colours, and there's lots of emphasis on the mundane, like cups of coffee and pens. The difference lies in the fact that Dr. Pritchard isn't on holiday, and probably hasn't been for a long time. As a general practitioner, she spends her days looking at lumps and bumps and dealing with the most impatient of patients.

Luckily, unless you're also a GP, the reader can sit back and be glad they're not in her seat. The Lady Doctor is an undeniably funny book, guaranteed to make you grin every few pages and genuinely laugh out loud here and there thanks to Lois' dry humour and the odd characters she meets.

The book has a few of these neat overhead shots

Of course, Lois' life isn't all laughs. As mentioned earlier, her mother has decided to make contact after leaving her as a child, which puts more pressure on her already stressful life as she reluctantly rebuilds bridges that broke down long ago.

There are some hard-hitting scenes sprinkled throughout, given extra weight by Williams' realistic dialogue and nuanced facial expressions. Much like real life, there's no solid plot throughout, with the book's 240 plus pages simply opening a window into the struggles that this doctor is facing behind the scenes.
Lois must make a tough decision when she hears from her mother

Lois is a flawed, yet likeable and overall engaging character. This isn't a story about a woman who single-handedly solves all her problems, nor is it about a damsel in distress. She's a bit of a hypocrite who has caused a few of her issues herself, but is for the most part pretty unlucky and just trying to do the right thing.

Ian Williams has crafted something really special in The Lady Doctor that's worth reading regardless of what kind of comics you're into (or if you even read them at all). It's an excellent character study that manages to be both entertaining and thought-provoking, and will leave you feeling better just like a good doctor should.

Rating: 8/10

 The Lady Doctor is the follow-up to Ian Williams' Bad Doctor but can be read as a standalone work. It's available to Comicbook of the Month members at Page 45 for a discounted price - there's also a Kindle edition if digital comics are your drug of choice.

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