One hundred years ago this fall a terrible influenza outbreak arrived in King County and Washington state, part of a pandemic that had spread around the globe. Just ten years ago, artist David Lasky and I created our first comic book together, No Ordinary Flu, that told what happened in the United States during the Great Pandemic of 1918 (also known as the Spanish Flu). We’ve reunited to produce a serial comic strip about how that deadly influenza spread in our region and how local people coped with a historic public health crisis. Stay tuned in to the Public Health Insider to see a new chapter each week this month!

This comic strip series commemorates the centennial of the Great Pandemic of 1918 and celebrates the 10^th Anniversary of our original comic book, No Ordinary Flu. To order copies of No Ordinary Flu (available in multiple languages) and for more on pandemic flu, including what schools, businesses, and individuals can do to be ready for a severe pandemic: https://kingcounty.gov/health/pandemicflu

Read in Spanish

Part Two: Seattle Faces a Pandemic

Part Three: A City Mourns and Moves On

Originally posted on September 6, 2018.