The 99 Community

The 99: a story on health, cross-cultural cooperation and acceptance in times of crisis

“…Collaboration becomes the rule, and people work together. With that cooperation comes a new perspective and acceptance; and, in time, hopefully, a healthier community 1. There are thus obvious reasons to publish this essay in the JECH .…”

“…Much as the format of the article that we publish on pages 293–2961 is highly unusual in academic journals, we will all immediately recognise, I trust, that it has long been a common format in our lives and, more importantly, in the lives of our populations—and not just among the youngest citizens: we all grew up reading comics and immersed in cultures with powerful images and visual vehicles of communication, socialisation and education.…”

“…The central context of the story we publish is a crisis, a relatively small one in scale; we might see the problem as an individual accident, a clinical crisis 1. Yet the story plays out in a wide context, and as something universal—as in a fire, flood… Or as in the global, systemic crisis most of us presently live in.…”

“…In a shared crisis, the members of The 99 come alongside the children and villagers without any fanfare 1. They just show up and begin helping.…”

“…This produces fear which then triggers the nervous system. The really interesting thing, say the authors of the comic,1 is that all this happens at the speed of light in the mind. After this, the physical response happens.…”