The alternative-comics master offers an indelible and idiosyncratic take on the protofeminist "[Woman Rebel] is fine work from an excellent cartoonist and I urge you to jump right in."-Tom Spurgeon of The Comics Reporter, from his introduction Peter Bagge's Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story is a dazzling and accessible biography of the social and political maverick, jam-packed with fact and fun. In his signature cartoony, rubbery style, Bagge presents the life of the birth-control activist, educator, nurse, mother, and protofeminist from her birth in the late nineteenth century to her death after the invention of the birth control pill. Balancing humor and respect, Bagge makes Sanger whole and human, showing how her flaws fueled her fiery activism just as much as her compassionate nature did. Sanger's life takes on a whole new vivacity as Bagge creates a fast-paced portrait of a trailblazer whose legacy as the founder of Planned Parenthood is still incredibly relevant, important, and inspiring.
Author
Peter Bagge was born on December 11th, 1957, and raised in Peekskill, New York, about 40 miles north of New York City. While enrolled in the School of Visual Arts in New York City in 1977, Bagge discovered underground comics, and the work of R. Crumb in particular turned what had initially been only a vague interest in cartooning into a passion. In the early '80s Bagge co-published three issues of COMICAL FUNNIES (1980-81), a New York-based comic tabloid which saw the debut of Bagge's dysfunctional suburban family, The Bradleys. Bagge broke into R. Crumb's legendary magazine, WEIRDO, and Bagge took over as managing editor of that magazine from 1983 to 1986. Bagge started his own comic book series, NEAT STUFF, for Fantagraphics Books, producing 15 issues from 1985 to '89. Buddy Bradley, the Bradleys' alienated and pessimistic teenage son, emerged as Neat Stuff's most engaging and fully-realized character. In 1990, NEAT STUFF evolved into a new title, HATE, which exclusively followed the foibles of the semi-autobiographical Buddy Bradley. Hate became the voice of the twenty-nothing slackers as well as being hailed by critics for its brilliant characterization in its complete chronicle of the 1990s. HATE and Buddy Bradley continue to appear in print, albeit less frequently, under the title HATE ANNUAL. Since 1999, Bagge has worked on many other comic-related projects, including writing an all ages comic book for DC called YEAH! (drawn by Gilbert Hernandez). as well as the short lived humor series SWEATSHOP, also for DC. He also wrote and drew a one-shot satire of Spider-Man for Marvel, and has done the same with Marvel's The Hulk, though the later title has yet to be scheduled for release. Other projects include a 2 year stint writing and drawing a weekly comic strip about "Bat Boy" for THE WEEKLY WORLD NEWS, and a series of illustrated essays for the now defunct website Suck.com, which led to his becoming a current regular features contributor to the political and social commentary magazine REASON. Most recently, Bagge has been working on a 6 part mini-series for Dark Horse called APOCALYPSE NERD, which should be complete in 2007. Bagge's exaggerated and distinctively in-your-face illustration style has also appeared on many record and CD covers, and in magazines as far ranging as HUSTLER, MAD and the OXFORD AMERICAN. He's also had a hand in several animation projects, most notably the online "Rock & Roll Dad" cartoon series he co-created with Dana Gould for Icebox.com. Peter Bagge has lived in Seattle since 1984. He resides with his wife Joanne, and daughter Hannah, and three darned cats.
