Our book of the month is Hatiye Garip’s accessible comic, The Land of Uncertainty. In this journal we turn the pages of this illustrated poem, published by Good Comics, to discover how this book was made and what makes it accessible.

Turkish artist Hatiye Garip who describes herself as ‘a colourful pencil that loves to draw and design’ begun illustrating using pencil and paper as a child, but now prefers to use digital tools.

Written and digitally illustrated by Hatiye, this comic features a poem about nature, mysterious unvisited places and the surprising journey of life's path. This is told alongside a series of illustrated abstract panels in a very striking colour palette of orange, yellow and lilac.

This completely tactile comic has been printed using a special raised spot gloss ink called Scodix. The transparent ink has been printed on the illustrations in the book with all the black lines in the gloss, and each of the three main colourways using a different texture of the printed ink. Grid dots for orange, ripples for yellow and diagonal lines for lilac.

Created with advice from a number of experts, as well as input from
blind and low vision readers, you can experience the poem's illustrations through touch and feel.

When purchasing this tactile comic you will also receive an audio comic, and transcript. Produced by Good Comics’ Paddy Johnston, the book’s contents are described in poetic detail while Ainé Kelly-Costello reads the comic’s poem and text contents. Background music supplied by Paddy and ambient sounds recorded by Hatiye give the audio comic a backdrop.

Launched at the South London Comic and Zine Fair in July 2023, The Land of Uncertainty was funded by an award from the US-based Accessible Comics Collective of which Hatiye, a disabled artist, applied for in partnership with Good Comics.

When asked about her book, Hatiye Garip says “It was a challenging but unique opportunity to make my first comic book accessible! I'm so excited that the book is ready to meet its readers in both tactile print and audio comic bundle. I'm grateful to Good Comics and Paddy Johnston for opening this door, to the entire team who have been with me throughout the process, and to the Accessible Comics Collective for their support. I hope the door will be opened wide by many more people who want to get involved with accessible comics.”

Buy a copy of the book and audio bundle→

All images are from The Land of Uncertainty by Hatiye Garip and published by Good Comics.