Comics and graphic novels offer uniquely structured narrative environments in which readers engage both visually and cognitively through sequential art. This panel brings together three clinical psychologists to examine how comics storytelling supports resilience across diverse populations. Drawing on works such as Maus, Watchmen, The Sandman, Ms. Marvel, Miles Morales: Spider-Man, and The Walking Dead, these psychologists explore how serialized arcs, visual metaphor, and panel pacing contribute to metacognition, attention regulation, identity formation, and trauma integration. Francisco Rojas (Defense Health Agency) analyzes morally complex narratives and antihero arcs as frameworks for reflective meaning-making, particularly among veterans navigating moral injury. Christie Pickel (Psychology Specialists of Maine) examines how the segmentation and pacing of sequential art support executive functioning and sustained engagement. Sita-Marie Pillay (Hanna Center) explores representation and visual embodiment in comics as sites of multicultural identity negotiation and intergenerational trauma processing. By centering the mechanics of graphic storytelling, this panel reframes comics as structured spaces in which resilience is constructed, revised, and practiced.
