Cartoon Alley · U of M Family Journal · October 17, 2026
Meet Lori T.
Meet superhero Lori T. and her friend, the Taubman building.
Hi, I’m Al Timberlane, and you are reading a journal for The Al Timberlane Show.
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Good morning, everybody! Here are the earliest longer Cartoon Alley stories, brought together as seven complete comic pages in our family journal.
Meet superhero Lori T., her faithful friend Legend, and a hospital building with a smile and something to say. In these imagined adventures, the Taubman building becomes a friend who helps us remember why a hospital exists: the people inside.
These are the full-story treatments—the longer pages in which the ideas unfold from panel to panel. They belong alongside the shorter Cartoon Alley newspaper clippings as a record of how we explored the stories.
Original cartoon concept studies, now collected for the journal. Characters, talking buildings, scenes, and dialogue are imagined. These are independent editorial illustrations, not clinical records or university publications. The NF1 storyline asks a question; it does not establish a cause. Symbolic disease characters do not announce diagnoses.
Original full-story treatment · Page 1 of 7
1. Banana and Orange
A little laughter opens a conversation about listening, history, and quality of life.
Original full-story treatment · Page 2 of 7
2. Two Wheels, One Person
A hospital brings generations of knowledge; a patient brings a lifetime of history. This early story asks how those two sources of knowledge can meet.
Original full-story treatment · Page 3 of 7
3. Lori and Legend: Everyday Superheroes
Meet superhero Lori T. and Legend! Kindness, courage, laughter, and the children’s thank-you messages give this imagined adventure its heart.
Original full-story treatment · Page 4 of 7
4. History at the Door
Pull up a chair. The people who knew the patient over the years have a story to share.
Original full-story treatment · Page 5 of 7
5. The Building Remembers
Meet Lori’s friend, the talking Taubman building. Our imagined friend remembers the people who give the building its purpose.
Original full-story treatment · Page 6 of 7
6. Who’s Teaching Who?
Listening goes both ways. Patients, doctors, and nurses each bring something to the conversation—and there are heroes beside the bed.
Original full-story treatment · Page 7 of 7
7. The Wheel Outside the Window
An early full-story treatment about the hospital system, the patient’s history, unresolved questions, gratitude, and the hope of going home with a plan.
We believe. We care. And our superhero’s greatest gifts are kindness, courage, and the people who stand beside her.
— Al Timberlane