If You're Happy and You Know It

Andre Jordan’s Minimalist Cartoons Combat Depression With Humor

Feb 18, 2009 Andrew Leibs

Jordan's cartoons began as therapy and have led to a blog that has half a million readers, the collection, If You're Happy and You Know It, and a graphic novel.

Andre Jordan’s doodles explore all aspects of life: from birth to death, and especially the harrowing middle when depression sufferers struggle with self-esteem, religion, sabotaged relationships, and the daily search for hope.

Jordan’s work has been compared to Giles Andreae’s Purple Ronnie’s Little Guide to Doing It and The Bumper Book of Bunny Suicides, by Andy Riley, who said of Jordan’s collection, If You’re Happy and You Know It (John Murray Publishers, 2007), “Anguish and fear have never been so much fun.”

What draws readers to Jordan’s books is a defiant use of openness and humor as stays against sadness.

As columnist Lorna Martin says in her review, “'Andre Jordan's If You're Happy and You Know It is a pretty good substitute for therapy. It…will have you laughing out loud and nodding your head in recognition. With wit and insight, he captures life in all its quirky glory...” (Amazon.co.uk)

Jordan, 42, began posting his doodles on his blog, a beautiful revolution, two years ago. He also sells products, including cards and t-shirts that bear his art. Jordan’s art also appears on Ouch!, the BBC’s disability website.

Andre Jordan’s If You’re Happy and You Know It

Jordan’s little hardcover collection is its own world: he dedicates the book to his psychotherapist up front and acknowledges agents and publishers in one back-page sentence. There’s no other front or back matter, no page numbers; even the copyright page type is set in Jordan’s characteristic scrawl. His “My About Me Page” is blank and ends with a “to be continued.” Readers must meet Jordan through his art only.

The cartoons are bafflingly simple, e.g. a crude chicken captioned, “I am a chicken” or a six-sided star with the caption, “I close my eyes and make a wish” or the words “My girlfriend” under a twister.

To some readers, such simplicity and childlike openness is the book’s charm; others (those who’ve never been mired in depression) may struggle to find any humor or point beyond self-pity, as with the sprawled stick figure saying “Please don’t go” while the woman replies, “I hate you.”

Jordan’s best moments come when he looks at society. On the left side of one page, a figure proclaims, “I am the Messiah” while to the right, a doctor replies, “No, you are bipolar.” Another cartoon shows Jesus on the cross while an onlooker cries “Help.” On a third, a sign reads, “Welcome to Heaven (please put down your guns.)”

Jordan anticipates skepticism about the quality of his work by leaving three empty boxes at book’s end where he challenges readers to draw their own pictures.

More of Jordan’s doodles are collected in the graphic memoir, Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (Harper Perennial; Trade Paperback Original; $10.00) released January 6, 2009).

Ultimately, Jordan’s drawings in If You're Happy and You Know It present new possibilities for interpreting and coping with depression and mental illness, showing that one can laugh at life, even at episodes that cause pain.

The copyright of the article If You're Happy and You Know It in Self-Help Books is owned by Andrew Leibs. Permission to republish If You're Happy and You Know It in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

Andre Jordan's If You're Happy and You Know It