“Cancer” is one of the scariest words in the English language. It may only be two syllables, but it has plenty of powerful and frightening connotations. Marisa Acocella Marchetto knows. She not only survived breast cancer, but she also wrote a cathartic graphic novel on her experience.
 
The cover of the book shows a tall, confident woman standing over New York City—a symbol to the fact that cancer can be defeated. However, inside the book, she’s not always confident, though she ultimately wins. Her words and pictures show how terrified she was when she was first diagnosed and had to deal with the disease.
 
What’s ironic, then, is the factthat Cancer Vixen can be quite humorous. It’s fully fleshed out, so it has both moments of horror and humor, tragedy and triumph. Marchetto has a unique way of showing things, which can sometimes lead to laughter. Other times her distinct drawings are very deep and telling. For some examples of both, she’ll draw cancer as green angry faces with one arm that flips people (her?) off. Cancer also sometimes shows up as the Grim Reaper, a more standard image, and she and Cancer talk. But then Grim Reaper Cancer pulls back her hood and shows herself as a diseased and gray Marchetto, repeating back her fears.
 
The discovery of cancer takes place within the first few pages and shows the author’s initial panic. It gets us right in the action, then flashes to some background of her life, so we can get to know her better and root for her. As it turns out, her discovery of breast cancer takes place only a few weeks before her wedding. Furthermore, she’s a freelancer and has no insurance. After worries that her fiancé will leave her for someone healthy, the two are married and she’s able to get on his insurance. Until then, pages demonstrate the struggles of the uninsured trying to make themselves better and pay the bills.
 
Marchetto’s friends and family make cameos, and even the more comical people, like her mother—or (s)mother, as Marchetto puts it—get their moments of compassion and kindness. (One does wonder what the author’s (s)mother thinks about her portrayal in this.) Friends are throughout the pages, too, often trying to give help and advice, which sometimes is endearing and sometimes backfires. Readers can tell that the friends are always well-meaning, even if their words fall short.
 
Cancer Vixen shows Marchetto’s diagnosis, her life before the diagnosis, her surgery, her chemotherapy, and her getting on with life. It shows her loved ones around her and the people she has trouble dealing with. It has biting humor, clever moments, and profound sadness. In the end, it’s a story of triumph, as symbolized on the book’s cover. It shows the many sides of someone who is told she has breast cancer and doesn’t let that stop her.