Emma Grove's comics memoir, The Third Person is a veritable brick of a book, running over 900 pages, (nearly) all laid out in a uniform 8-panel grid. Roughly half of the book takes place in first one, then another, therapist's office, so the action on the page is primarily in the form of a dialogue. As the initial therapist in particular is somewhat oppositional, the reading experience at times feels like that of a conceptual tennis match, as verbal volleys fly back and forth between the protagonist and therapist, each of whom is trying to score various sorts of points. The adventure that this story conveys is a voyage of discovery that largely takes place in the protagonist's head, as s/he works with their therapists – in, as it is revealed, three separate identities. At its core lies a mystery – allowing it to be read as a sort of detective story – as Emma, along with her alternate identities, Ed and Katina – work together with the therapists to discover the root trauma(s) of this situation and whether or not it should be diagnosed as DID (Disassociative Identity Disorder).
The Third Person is likely to be of special interest to those who are or have been in therapy, especially therapy focused on recovering from trauma – as well as to those who would like to learn more about the therapeutic experience. Check out this hefty PDF preview to get an idea of what's in store in those 900 pages.