Today's Google Doodle celebrates what would be the 82nd birthday of Dian Fossey, had she lived long enough to see it:

Dian Fossey is one of my personal heroes, as she combined the fields of conversation with science (even the combination was out of necessity.) Through her groundbreaking work in primate research (along with Jane Goodall and Birute Galdikas) she shed light onto creatures who are our evolutionary cousins, and whose behaviour is as complex as our own.

In the past few years, while I still maintain an interest in the comics medium, I have tended to move further and further away from the more mainstream comics from the big 2 companies, while looking more and more for independent comics or graphic novels. One of the most interesting that I came across last year was entitled "Primates" which looked at the science and personalities of these three women.

As opposed to a clear biography it didn't come off as strong or as in depth, but it was nonetheless still a thorough and worthy introduction to the lives of the three women and the paths which they chose. In this way, it is perhaps comparable to the Anne Frank biography which I read earlier this year, in that it could be used as an excellent starting off point for the historical people, whereas as to truly understand them requires a more in-depth approach. Regardless, while lacking a strong tie to comics, this graphic novel made the three of them come alive, and as Google gives a nod to Fossey today, so to do I, by encouraging comic fans to look a little outside of their usual spectrum of spandex clad heroes, and to occasionally look for a story in this medium which deals with real life heroes.