I try to find humor in some unfunny places, but I was never sure how to approach cancer. I first did a comic about cancer genes for my book What's in Your Genes?, which seems to find the happy place between facts and silliness. I recently updated it in full color:

To do a comic about cancer cells... is a little riskier. They are the physical manifestation of those cancer genes, and they are doing all the damage. There isn't much funny about that. So I tried to incorporate something we can all agree on--that cancer cells are the worst--and show a cancer cell being, well, an inconsiderate cancer cell, while avoiding making it seem evil. I'd rather show cancer cells for what they are--cells that have lost their way and don't really know what they're doing, but also can't stop.