Top left:
Lehman College logo. Below that are the issue number and date: Number 1, September 2012
Top Center:
The comic title, in large letters: “The Researchers Begins”
Middle Center:
Image of four friends–two male and two female–sitting around a table. Three listen intently as a fourth, the protagonist Liz, speaks.
End of cover
Panel 1:
A title card reads: “Liz, Francisco, Jasmyn, and AJ were four ordinatry Lehman students until the day they went on the journey that would transform them into… The Researchers. It all began in the Carman Cafe…”
The four friends are seated around a table in Carman Hall Cafeteria.
Francisco says, “Man, I got so much to do this week. I’m gonna go nuts!”
Panel 2:
Close up on Liz, Francisco, and AJ.
Liz: “Did you finish your English 120 paper yet?
AJ: “What paper?”
Panel 3:
A cell phone erupts in a loud “Ring! Ring!” The phone’s screen displays “Caller Mom”
Panel 4:
Split screen of Liz and her mother on the phone. Her mother balances the phone on her shoulder while she washes dishes.
Liz: “So, what did the doctor say?”
Mom: “It’s diabetes. But don’t worry about it, dear. You’ve got school.”
Panel 5:
Also split screen. Liz is distraught.
Liz: “But I can still help, right?”
Mom: “Let’s talk about it tonight.”
Liz: “Ok, I love you.”
End of page
Panel 1:
Liz, downcast, looks at an open text book.
Liz: “My mom has diabetes…”
Then she thinks, “Just like Grandma.” Her grandmother is depicted in a thought bubble.
Panel 2:
All the friends are visible at the table.
Liz: “I don’t even know what diabetes is.”
Francisco, using his cell phone to search, says, “Let’s look it up!”
Panel 3:
Francisco does a double-take. Behind him is an image of a website called “Januvia–Managing Type 2 Diabetes.”
Francisco: “This site looks pretty g– Hold up! Are they trying to sell me medicine?”
Panel 4:
Liz bites her nail, looking at her phone’s search results. Behind her is an image of a webpage called “Natural Treatments for Type 2 Diabetes.”
Liz: “About.com? I never know if I can trust this site…”
Panel 5:
AJ holds his hand to his head in shock. Behind him is a Google search page.
AJ: “300,000,000 hits?!”
Panel 6:
Jasmyn leans against the side of the panel, arms crossed. Her face has a wry expression.
Jasmyn: “You people need to go to the library.”
End of page
Panel 1:
The four friends stand in front of the Leonard Lief Library. All stand to face the library building, except AJ, who has a bug-eyed, demented look on his face.
AJ thinks “300,000,000 hits… 300,000,000?!”
Jasmyn, pointing to the library, says, “Liz, here lies the secret to my success.”
Liz: “I think I checked a book out maybe once…”
Francisco: “Huh. I almost forgot this building was here!”
Panel 2:
The friends enter the library, passing through the security gate. A security guard gestures sternly at AJ.
Security guard: “Sir, your I.D. isn’t validated.”
AJ: “Validated?”
Jasmyn is annoyed. She says, “AJ, you never listen! Now you gotta go all the way to the Apex.”
Panel 3:
Close up on Liz.
Liz: “Now that we’re here, I don’t know where to begin.”
Panel 4:
Close up on Liz, now with a surprised expression on her face.
Panel 5:
A smiling woman is surrounded by light and stars. A title card explains that she is “Robin, Reference Librarian.”
Panel 6:
Francisco, Jasmyn, and Liz stand near a desk labeled “Reference.” Robin is seated at the desk.
Liz, gesturing to Robin, says, “Let’s go ask that lady. She seems nice.”
End of page
Panel 1:
Jasmyn’s phone is ringing.
Jasmyn says, “Hey, I got a text.”
Panel 2:
Liz leans over the Reference Desk, speaking to Robin.
Robin: “Hello. Can I help you?”
Liz: “I need some health information.”
Robin: “Okay. Please take a seat.”
Panel 3:
Jasmyn, Francisco, and Liz near the Reference Desk. Liz is now seated in front of Robin.
Jasmyn puts her head in her hand and says, “Ugh. AJ doesn’t know where the Apex is! Catch you later, guys. I’ve gotta ‘babysit.'”
Francisco: “Okay. Later, Jaz!”
Panel 4:
Robin, Liz, and Francisco at the Reference desk. There is a computer nearby.
Robin: “Is this research for a paper?”
Liz looks anxious.
Francisco: “Someone in her family’s got diabetes.”
Panel 5:
Robin: “Oh, I’m sorry to hear that.”
Liz: “We tried Googling it, but it wasn’t good stuff, y’know?”
End of page
Panel 1:
Robin turns the computer screen to face Liz.
Robin: “It can be hard to find good medical information on the web. Let’s start by finding an article about what diabetes is.”
Panel 2:
Close up on Robin’s face–we are entering a different world…
Robin: “I’ll show you some good places to start your research.”
Panel 3:
Close up on Liz’s face and glasses…
Panel 4:
Close up on Liz’s hand on a computer mouse…
Panel 5:
Close up on a computer screen…
End of page
This page is one continuous panel, read top-to-bottom. We are out of the world of reality–we are now in the world of research!
At top: Robin, Liz, and Francisco are depicted as heads, floating over a website labeled “Gale Virtual Reference Library.”
Robin: “This is a great place to go for encyclopedia articles. Let’s type diabetes in the search bar.”
Lower down the page, Francisco holds a web page with a long encyclopedia article on it in his hands.
Francisco: “Oh man! This says the urine of diabetics tastes sweet! I mean, how do they know that??”
Below that, Liz, wearing goggles and a lab coat, holds a gloved hand to her mouth and peeks over the top of an article from The Gale Encyclopedia of Genetic Disorders.
Liz: “So diabetes is caused by your genes and by stuff like what you eat and how much you exercise.”
Lower down, Robin points to an article from Encyclopedia of Race and Racism.
Robin: “This one is about how diabetes is more common in minorities–and considers whether that’s because of genetics or social factors.”
Liz is now seated on her own speech bubble. She says, “I want to know, like, more about hispanics and diabetes, ’cause my mom’s from Puerto Rico.”
End of page
As before, this page is a single panel that proceeds vertically down the page.
At the top, Robin and Liz stand on the handle of a magnifying glass. Francisco dangles from the handle, legs thrashing about. The magnifying glass magnifies a website and the words “ProQuest Public Health.”
Robin: “There are lots of good places for research like that. One is ProQuest Public Health. It’s a database for scholarly articles.”
Liz: “Okay, so we’ll search diabetes and Puerto Ricans?”
Robin: “That’s one way to start.”
Below this we see close ups of search boxes and some results from ProQuest Public Health. Francisco is seen wobbling on a pie chart.
Francisco: “Wow. 11% of Puerto Ricans in this survey had diabetes!”
Below, Robin and Liz are float inside a ProQuest Public Health search results page.
Liz: “These are good, but not all of them are about diabetes and Puerto Ricans.”
End of page
As before, this page is one panel that proceeds vertically down the page.
At the top, a close-up of a search box. A drop-down menu has be used to select the option “Subject heading.”
Robin: “Let’s try again. This time, we’ll search for articles that have diabetes as a subject, so we’ll only find articles that are really about diabetes.”
Below, Liz is seen trapped inside a television, along with a relevant article result from ProQuest Public Health.
Francisco sits in front of the TV, eating a huge bin of popcorn.
Liz: “This article says that the time you spend watching TV is related to type 1 diabetes. I wonder if that’s true for type 2 diabetes. That’s the type my mom has.”
Robin, Liz, and Francisco now appear inside the Google logo.
Robin: “She should talk to her doctor, but we can find out what diet and exercise can do for type 2 diabetes. Let’s do some Google searches.”
Liz: “But how will we make sure we get good results?”
End of page
This page, as before, is one panel that proceeds vertically down the page.
At top, a close-up of a Google search box with the search terms: diabetes diet exercise site:.gov
Robin: “One of the ways to get good results is to limit your search. Try typing site:.gov . That way we’ll only get sites from the government.”
Below, Robin, Liz, and Francisco appear in front of a website called “National Diabetes Information Clearinghouse.”
Liz is excited. Robin holds a huge food pyramid.
Below that, all three characters appear in front of a website called “NIH SeniorHealth, Diabetes Diet and Exercise.”
They are wearing workout clothing. Liz stretches and Francisco leans against a bicycle.
Francisco: “It says your mom might be able to control her diabetes with diet and exercise alone! Awesome, huh?”
Liz: “Really? I can’t wait to tell her!”
End of page
Panel 1:
We are back in the real world. Liz, Robin, and Francisco are at the Reference Desk in the library. Francisco holds a gigantic stack of papers–Liz has been taking notes.
Robin: “So do you think that’s enough to get you started?”
Liz is excited. She says, “YES! Thank you so much!”
She drops another page of notes onto Francisco’s stack, and he thinks “Whoa there, Liz!”
Panel 2:
A title card reads, “A few minutes later…”
Panel 3:
Outside the library. Jasmyn and AJ approach as Liz and Francisco exit.
Liz: “I feel so much better. Thanks for sticking with me, Francisco! You’re the best!”
Francisco, still carrying the huge stack of notes, says, “Don’t mention it!”
Jasmyn, speaking to AJ, says, “Next time I remind you to validate your I.D. on time, listen to me!”
AJ, staring at his new I.D. card, thinks “Hm. This picture of me ain’t bad.”
Panel 4:
The friends stand together, looking at the library.
AJ thinks, “I could use a haircut, though.”
Jasmyn, speaking to Liz, says, “So you found all the research you needed for your mom?”
Liz: “Yup! With all I’ve learned, we’re going to get through this–I know it!”
Francisco: “And I think I’m gonna come back to get help for my English 120 paper.”
All three exclaim: “The library is awesome!!!”
End of page
In the last page of the comic, all four characters stand triumphantly in front of the Leonard Lief Library.
AJ proudly displays his new CUNY I.D. card. Liz and Francisco stride out of the frame arm-in-arm. Francisco still holds the stack of notes. And Jasmyn smiles proudly.
A title card reads, “And that’s the story of how they became…The Researchers.”
End of comic
