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bibliobrandie's review
4.0
I love graphic novels as a format for biography and memoirs. Bagge's illustrations (the gynoplaque!) and his well-researched end notes added a lot of depth to the story. It actually took me so long to read because nearly every page had accompanying notes and I wanted to read them at the same time. At 70 pages it is hard to do justice to the life that was Margaret Sanger, but I enjoyed it. It was thoughtful and succinct. I learned something and think it would be a great introduction to Sanger for anyone unfamiliar with her life and work.
posies23's review
4.0
Peter Bagge continues to follow his unique muse in WOMAN REBEL. He's always done his own thing, and creating a comic book about one of the pioneers of birth control might seem like an odd choice from the guy who brought you HATE and NEAT STUFF, but if you've read much Bagge, this really isn't as far off course as you'd think initially. Bagge's exploration of Sanger's life compresses her story down to the basics with humor, irony, and Bagge's truly insightful art and voice. He sticks to the facts, and doesn't make the mistake some biographers do of making her a simple sinner or saint. Instead, he shows us a complicated, passionate woman who fought for women's rights and tried to make the world a better place, sometimes in ways that might seem questionable by today's standards. His notes in the back of the book are worth the price of admission alone, as he explores the contradictory accounts and elaborates on things he had to leave out or combine due to the nature of the work.
I'm going to guess not everyone will like this book, because of the subject matter and Bagge's art style, but fans of his work, or people interested in the history of feminism and social justice will find this a worthwhile read.
I'm going to guess not everyone will like this book, because of the subject matter and Bagge's art style, but fans of his work, or people interested in the history of feminism and social justice will find this a worthwhile read.
lavoiture's review
3.0
I mean, I'm not particularly a comics person, but I liked the graphic novel aspect of this. Otherwise, I found myself wishing I was reading just prose. Margaret Sanger's story seemed absolutely fascinating, but I had no idea what was happening or who the people were most of the time. I had to keep turning to the back of the book to get the story, page-by-page. So that...I mean, that kind of defeated the purpose for me. Anyway, I gave it a 3 because I learned some things and liked the illustrations, but I don't know that I'd recommend it.
koreilly's review
3.0
I'll be honest, it's weird seeing the guy I think of as translating the malaise of Gen X slackers take on a historically significant Birth Control advocate's biography! But he does a good job. The book kind of reads like an 'assigned in class' explainer, never really dropping in to take stock of interiority and instead doing a page-by-page whirlwind of Sanger's admittedly interesting life. So you lose some drama and pathos but learn a lot of interesting stuff about this woman.
Bagge's art is very much still Bagge, influenced by Comix and early 20th century strip work but it oddly fits after a while and just starts to gel. It doesn't work quite as well as it does in the Buddy Bradley stories where characters emotions are whip-sawing across the spectrum in a single scene but it helps!
This book is informative and does a great job disspelling common myths about Sanger that have seeped into the conversation about her. A good gift to a budding young reader, maybe in middle school you know.
Bagge's art is very much still Bagge, influenced by Comix and early 20th century strip work but it oddly fits after a while and just starts to gel. It doesn't work quite as well as it does in the Buddy Bradley stories where characters emotions are whip-sawing across the spectrum in a single scene but it helps!
This book is informative and does a great job disspelling common myths about Sanger that have seeped into the conversation about her. A good gift to a budding young reader, maybe in middle school you know.
saidtheraina's review
4.0
I didn't know a tonne about Sanger before I read this. I have a complicated, rather fraught, personal history with family planning, myself. So this was a great way to self-educate on her history and place in my heritage.
Bagge is a fascinating biographer - I know him mostly for his wacky, alternative comics. And this bio work is loopy and over the top in style, but very substantive in content.
It's pretty episodic, skipping from event to event. He includes extensive notes at the back, and this time I'm not quite as annoyed as usual at the fact that I didn't know about them until I'd already read the book through. Going back to virtually every page, knowing the full arc, may have helped save the flow of the story.
Things that stood out the most:
- Sanger was poly
- Much of the struggle was about freedom of information. Doctors were not legally allowed to tell women how to avoid becoming pregnant. Sometimes it helps to hear how far we've come.
Read with:
[b: Dotter of Her Father's Eyes|12824175|Dotter of Her Father's Eyes|Mary M. Talbot|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403204511s/12824175.jpg|17973921]
[b: Unterzakhn|12918119|Unterzakhn|Leela Corman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326121292s/12918119.jpg|18073218]
Bagge is a fascinating biographer - I know him mostly for his wacky, alternative comics. And this bio work is loopy and over the top in style, but very substantive in content.
It's pretty episodic, skipping from event to event. He includes extensive notes at the back, and this time I'm not quite as annoyed as usual at the fact that I didn't know about them until I'd already read the book through. Going back to virtually every page, knowing the full arc, may have helped save the flow of the story.
Things that stood out the most:
- Sanger was poly
- Much of the struggle was about freedom of information. Doctors were not legally allowed to tell women how to avoid becoming pregnant. Sometimes it helps to hear how far we've come.
Read with:
[b: Dotter of Her Father's Eyes|12824175|Dotter of Her Father's Eyes|Mary M. Talbot|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1403204511s/12824175.jpg|17973921]
[b: Unterzakhn|12918119|Unterzakhn|Leela Corman|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326121292s/12918119.jpg|18073218]
youya_310023's review
I don't think that biographies in this particular style of comics is aligned with my taste.
mvanhoeck's review
5.0
Captures the complicated Sanger, libertine and prude, champion of women and non-team-player.
romcm's review
5.0
I had no idea the that the fight for access to contraception was so hard won. This is a fascinating, and quite complicated, portrayal of a woman who just kept fighting for her entire life. She was good, bad and ugly. But most of all, determined.
mschlat's review
3.0
A bit of a disappointment. Bagge certainly gets across Sanger's drive, but the work is fast and choppy. We read a page, fast forward a year or two, read another page, and often repeat. The result feels more like a "greatest hits" version of Sanger's life. Moreover, the mania and angst that often characterize Bagge's creations got tiresome to me after a while.