Text reading Invulnerable against a blue background with almost transparent comics panels visible in the background.

Created in collaboration with

The Nib

and illustrated by Thi Bui

The COVID-19 pandemic hit the United States at a moment when the wealth divide was at record levels: millions of people living paycheck to paycheck, uninsured and unhoused, in a country that is home to the most billionaires in the world. Created in 2020 in collaboration with The Nib, In/Vulnerable is a comics series that captures both the shared experience of the pandemic and the ways it has laid bare the stark disparities that shape our lives.

Reveal has made all these comics available as a free digital collection. Click here to download the free PDF.

Manuel

Pine Prairie, Louisiana

“If the virus makes it here, this place is a ticking time bomb.”

A portrait of Manuel sitting on his bed in ICE detention, speaking. We can see the room he’s in: a sparse cross between a dorm and a prison. His room is a large space with seven bunk beds in it. The beds and tables are all made of metal. Narration: 35-year-old Manuel was a bartender in Havana, Cuba before being forced to leave his three children and flee to the U.S. in 2019. He has been in ICE detention in Louisiana for nearly a year. Label: Pine Prairie ICE Processing Center. Manuel “The beds are one on top of another. We’re packed in here. There’s no space.”

Sean

San Mateo, California

“Scary times can be exciting as well.”

Sarah

Chicago

“It felt like the floor was giving in on me.”

Zenobia

Largo, Maryland

“My daughter died giving her heart helping.”

Leilani as a small child, in Hawaii, surrounded by lush green plants, flowers, and butterflies. She has a huge grin on her face and is reaching a hand toward one of the butterflies. a. Narration: Zenobia Shepherd's daughter, Leilani Jordan, worked at a Giant grocery store in Largo, Maryland, for six years through a program to employ people with special needs, including during the early weeks of the pandemic. b. Zenobia: “When she was a little girl, she used to always reach for butterflies whenever they would fly past.”

Martha

New London, Connecticut

“I was going to save everybody else in this world.” 

Steven

New York City

“This is going to be a different city.”

Billy

San Francisco’s Chinatown

“A restaurant is a living, breathing part of the community.” 

Billy standing next to his mom at the restaurant’s long counter, both of them packing up take-out orders. He is a young guy wearing a hoodie and baseball hat. Narration: Billy Chiu manages Grant Place Restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown, which his mother, Elaine, opened in 1994.

Gary

Murchison, Texas

“We’re building luxury bunkers.”

Jane Doe

Arlington, Texas

“I was forced to drive across the country during a pandemic just to get health care.”

Narration: On March 30, 2020, a 24-year-old college student anonymously filed a court affidavit in support of a Planned Parenthood lawsuit against Texas Governor Greg Abbot. These are her words. A woman’s hands hold a positive pregnancy test. On the table beneath her hands, we can see a coffee-stained pay stub for a diner and a pamphlet on how to apply for unemployment. [reference image] Jane Doe: The same week I lost my job waiting tables, I became worried that I might be pregnant, even though my partner and I had been using birth control.

Jamison

Fayetteville, North Carolina

“A lot of us feel we are living in a state of tyranny.”

Jamison sitting in front of his computer, which is open to the Facebook page of ReOpen North Carolina. Jamison says, “At the very beginning of the year, you hear rumors, but everything was seeming like it was in China – far, far away. And then, before you know it, they're telling you, ‘You can't go to work anymore. You can't go to church.’ ”

Tawanda

Baltimore

“I have to be out there. They’re killing us.”

B.

Staten Island, New York

“We’re not treated like people. We’re numbers.”

In the foreground, a woman in silhouette sits in a seat on the Staten Island ferry, checking her phone. Behind her is the window of the ferry and we can see the Statue of Liberty. Narration: B. has worked at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse since 2018. She has requested that we not use her full name for fear of retaliation. b. B: “At first it started where we had three cases. And then after awhile, there was no number. It was just: We have more cases. More cases.”

Douglas

Florence, South Carolina

“We have always been able to say goodbye to those who have left this life.”

Douglas Hawkins, a middle-aged Black Man wearing a suit and tie, holds a bouquet of roses.

Sherry

Bayport, New York

“What everyone shares is the desire to shelter in place in a safe haven.”

Sherry, leaning against the counter in her large kitchen. Everything is very clean and well-organized—just as you would expect for someone who shows off homes for a living. [see reference video] Her dog looks up at her expectantly. Note: Sherry currently lives alone with her dog (Reference photos in folder) Narration: Sherry Jenks is a real estate broker who works on Long Island, including the Hamptons, an upscale beach resort community. Sherry: When I answer the phone, someone says, how are you? I say, I'm well and extremely grateful. That's the way I'm built. Now more than ever.

Rajnish

New York City

“No matter what we did, we just couldn’t catch up.”

Dr. Rajnish Jaiswal talking to the reader as he walks down the street in East Harlem, at the corner of 1st ave and 99th street. Metropolitan Hospital rises in the background behind him. Narration: Dr. Rajnish Jaiswal works in the emergency room at a public hospital in East Harlem, which started to be overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients in late March and April. Dr. Jaiswal: It was like nonstop, basically. You had a patient come in every five minutes. We never turned anyone away.

Awards

Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Awards
2021 winner, cartoon

Credits

Series edited by Amanda Pike and Esther Kaplan. Interviews by Reveal staff and adapted into comic scripts by Sarah Mirk. Illustrated by Thi Bui.

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