Bitter Pill

A deadly mystery and one reporter’s fight to expose the truth during the earliest days of the AIDS epidemic. With hospital beds filling up, the clock was ticking. . . . What would it take to wake up the nation? A masterful and eye-opening historical graphic novel.San Francisco, 1981. Randy Shilts—biographer of Harvey Milk and the first openly gay journalist hired by a major U.S. newspaper—receives a chilling call at the San Francisco Chronicle: a Los Angeles patient is being treated for a rare and aggressive cancer.As Shilts digs deeper, a disturbing pattern emerges. The illness seems to strike only gay men, with early cases linked to a Castro-district bathhouse. A meeting with an infectious disease researcher confirms his worst fear: this so-called “gay cancer” is neither rare nor isolated—it’s the beginning of a national health crisis. Barred from reporting on it directly, Shilts resorts to sensationalist tactics to force attention on the unfolding HIV/AIDS epidemic.His relentless pursuit of the truth would change history, exposing a catastrophe the world tried to ignore. In this vivid graphic biography—at once urgent, insightful, and unapologetically bold—the creators bring to life a story that remains as vital as ever.Randy Shilts’s groundbreaking reporting and books (The Mayor of Castro Street, And the Band Played On, Conduct Unbecoming) became cornerstones of journalism and LGBTQ+ history. This is the first graphic novel to spotlight this pivotal figure and the transformative moment that defined his legacy.