Dealing with Anxiety & Self-Doubt
Alfonso Casas
Alfonso Casas’ MonsterMind is a personal account of the inner monsters that live inside his head.
In a very honest exercise, he identifies and introduces his own monsters to his readers: Mr. Past Traumas, Mr. Fear, Mr. Social Anxiety, Mr. Impostor Syndrome, Mr. Sadness, Mr. Doubt... The pessimistic, the insecure, the self-demanding, the monster that keeps you from sleeping while you think of what you could have said back in that conversation two years ago, or that keeps you looking over the punctuation of every text message to figure out the tone lurking beneath the surface. All those monsters make up the bestiary of contemporary society.
But the anxiety generation is expert in more things: in looking inside themselves and their lives, and––why not?––in laughing at their own neuroses as best they can. In the end, if the monsters won’t leave us, we might as well get to know them and laugh at them!
Anxiety is another pandemic, but the monsters dwelling inside us are funny, too (especially as drawn by Alfonso Casas).
BONUS: Includes a discussion guide to help readers further discuss the themes tackled within.
Alfonso Casas
FOR ABLAZE
Managing Editor
Rich Young Editor
Kevin Ketner Design
Rodolfo Muraguchi
Translation by Andrea
Rosenberg
Lettering
by
Taylor Esposito Special Thanks
to
Paula Prats and Alba Adell
Publisher’s Cataloging-in-Publication data
Names: Casas, Alfonso, author.
Title: Monstermind : dealing with anxiety and self-doubt / Alfonso Casas.
Description: Portland, OR: Ablaze Publishing, 2021.
Identifiers: ISBN: 978-1-950912-47-6
Subjects: LCSH Casas, Alfonso--Comic books, strips, etc. ¦ Cartoonists--Spain--Biography--Comic books, strips, etc. ¦ Mental health--Comic books, strips, etc. ¦ Anxiety--Comic books, strips, etc. ¦ Comics (Graphic works) ¦ BISAC COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Nonfiction / Biography & Memoir ¦ COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / Nonfiction / General
Classification: LCC PN6737.C378 M66 2021 ¦ DDC 741.5--dc23
Monstermind. Published by Ablaze Publishing, 11222 SE Main St. #22906 Portland, OR 97269.
© 2021, Alfonso Casas, author. © 2021, Penguin Random House Grupo Editorial, S. A. U. Travessera de Gràcia, 47-49, Barcelona 08021, Spain. All rights reserved. Ablaze and its logo TM & © 2021 Ablaze, LLC. All Rights Reserved. All names, characters, events, and locales in this publication are entirely fictional. Any resemblance to actual persons (living or dead), events or places, without satiric intent is coincidental. No portion of this book may be reproduced by any means (digital or print) without the written permission of Ablaze Publishing except for review purposes. Printed in China. For advertising and licensing email: info@ablazepublishing.com.
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CAN YOU TELL ME WHEN IT ALL STARTED?
WELL… |’M NOT SURE…
| GUESS THERE’S NOT REALLY AN EXACT MOMENT…
…AT LEAST NOT ONE | CAN PINPOINT.
IT CREEPS UP ON YOU GRADUALLY, WITHOUT YOU EVEN NOTICING.
IT’S SUBTLE, YOU THINK YOU’RE JUST GOING ON AS USUAL…
…AND NOTHING’S CHANGED.
UNTIL ONE DAY YOU REALIZE YOU’RE TRAPPED…
…AND BY THAT POINT YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW TO GET OUT.
|’ve always been a bit of a slow starter when | wake up.