Woman Rebel

 Woman Rebel: The Margaret Sanger Story by Peter Bagge  104 pp.

This graphic novel biography of Margaret Sanger and her work to legitimize sex education and birth control during the early part of the 20th century in an effort to save women from having no control over too many children. After watching her own mother's health destroyed by 18 pregnancies, many of them miscarriages, Sanger became a crusader for the rights of women to control their reproductive health and was willing to be jailed multiple times in the process. Her efforts led to the creation of Planned Parenthood which is still battling adversaries who want to deny women's rights. Bagge's artwork is energetic but portrays Sanger as physically unattractive. Extensive footnotes provide historical documentation and includes photographs which show Sanger as a pleasant looking woman. 

Unterzakhn / Leela Corman 202 p.

A graphic novel of twin Jewish sisters born in New York at the turn of the last century.  I'm always reluctant to evaluate graphic novels; I read too few of them to feel competent, and the art, even of those that are widely hailed as good, doesn't do much for me.  So...

Fanya and Esther live with their dressmaker mother and gentle, vague father in a rough and tumble New York.  Early on they come under the influences of other strong women who pull them in opposite directions, in which each experiences tragedy and loss.  More an exploration of the limited choices available to women of the period than a true Jewish story, despite the liberal sprinkling of Yiddish.