WHY WE MASK: IT'S NOT "JUST A COLD"
A downloadable comic
Why’s everyone sick all the time? Well, it’s not “just a cold”, and it’s definitely not “mild”...It’s SARS-CoV-2, and it can change your life forever.
This 26-pg zine cuts through years of COVID-19 chaos with simple, accessible language & cartoon visuals. Learn how the virus spreads through the air, what it
does inside your body when you get infected, and why we mask to protect ourselves and each other.
PLUS: Science illustrations featuring fat, queer, trans & disabled people of color!
Resources for surviving all these pandemics! Hopeful words to keep you going!
This digital download pack includes a readable PDF version, print-ready high res PDF in both Letter and A4 format, pngs for reposting online, and a full transcript for alt text. Print the zine yourself - it's double-sided on 8 pieces of paper (using short-edge binding), which you can fold and then either staple or stitch along the spine. Text and visual instructions included.
WHY WE MASK was created by Laurel Lynn Leake in 2024-25, and is licensed under Creative Commons BY-NC-ND 4.0. That means you’re free to share it far and wide: just credit me, don’t substantially change it, and don’t use it to make money. Any donations here will go towards print costs or mask distribution efforts. Contact me at LaurelLynnLeake at gmail if you want to distribute copies, need printing help, or anything else!
Download
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Development log
- Why We Mask - 2025 Edition!48 days ago
- Print Instructions updateSep 24, 2024
Comments
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Love your work! Hoping to purchase soon.
Do you take suggestions? If so, any thoughts on a page focused on high viral load levels for presymptomatic infections?
I apologize. I thought the 4 preview pages was the whole thing
No worries, I always appreciate suggestions! I bring up asymptomatic/presymptomatic infections a lot, but only touch on viral load levels a little in this one. The Lasting Effects (p14) graph has a "Viral Count" Y axis and pg 16 has some info on viral reservoirs. I've got future issues in the works with a section focusing on viral loads more though and will keep your comment in mind! <3
Thank you for making this!! It's really excellently illustrated and explained. Would you mind me printing a few copies to have on the access and inclusion stall I help run at my local Palestine Solidarity Campaign in the North of England?
Thank you so much for the kind words! You're absolutely welcome to print copies, and I'd be honored to have them distributed at your PSC stall. I've actually just added a A4 format version of the printable PDF which might be useful to you! But since I don't have access to an ISO style printer to test it out I don't know if it'll work right haha. So please let me know if the upper and lower margins get chopped off! <3
THANK YOU! This is great and really well illustrated.
I'm hoping to print copies and give them out for free at Denver Zine Fest, which is a masked event!
That's amazing to hear, I'm so glad! Hope it goes fantastically :D Let me know if you run into any issues with the printing and have a great time!
Lots of copies got snagged at denver zine fest and pikes peak zine fest :)
The only issue I had printing was needing to remember to flip the 2nd page lol
yayyyy that's amazing news! thank you so much for printing and distributing the zine at the show, that's a lot of work! and the double-sided stuff always gets me no matter how many comics I've printed haha