Reviewing digital arcs of graphic novels is often tricky because often they are not in colour and/or the text is hard to read. Still, I think this book is amazing and highly recommend putting it on your radar for when it comes out in March 2021. Translated from the Italian, it is the story of Nellie Bly seen through the eyes of a student Miriam called Miriam who interviews Nellie in 1921 and so discovers her amazing life. I thought, this was just a neat touch to tackle this biography. Definitely shall be getting this one when it comes out.

Really cute art style and a nice concept, however it didn’t really grip me. It was just a little boring to read about. Would try other works of the author though.

As someone with a deep interest in both journalism and feminism, I've always admired Nellie Bly. If you asked most people to name a famous female journalist in history, Bly's name might be the first (and only) name off their lips. And with good reason! She was amazing! I knew the broad strokes of Bly's story: her beginnings in journalism, the stories she broke, and how she made history by traveling around the world in under 80 days. Therefore, I was excited to dive into this graphic novel biography of Bly by Luciana Cimino (originally published in Italian and now translated into English).

I am a little skeptical of calling this a biography considering it has a framing device of a fictional, younger female journalist who seeks Bly out to hear about how she investigated and exposed the mismanagement/cruelty of the woman's asylum on Blackwell's Island. Instead, Miriam gets Bly's life story from the now retired Bly as the two women bond. I didn't really need this framing device. Bly is a fascinating enough figure whose investigative reporting still feels ballsy and relevant even in 2020. There is no need to have a fictional character to hook us into Bly's life story.

The word biography is also misleading because it also implies depth. I'm not sure I came away with a deeper or richer understanding of Bly as a women or reporter. Instead, I got a summary of her greatest hits. And while they were not all known to me, I still felt like Cimino never got to the center of Bly. What was her relationship with her mother like? With other writers of her time? With her husband? Cimino does make a point to highlight how Bly's social class shaped her work and worldview. Unlike other female reporters of the time, Bly came from a working class background and actually worked for a living. As a result, she strove to write about workers and particularly working women with compassion and humanity that they didn't receive from the press in general. I loved this insight from Cimino, but I wish there had been more of it. Also, the biography pretty much ends with Bly getting married, but that's not where her live ended. She lead a company, she was a columnist, she filed patents... I'm not sure why Cimino decided nothing after Bly's marriage was interesting, but she is certainly wrong.

Side note: I read this on my Kindle, and the text was almost illegible. The excerpts of Bly's writing (which I like and wanted to read) were completely illegible. Whoever is charge of fonts for this book better rethink this or fix it fast because it will not work for any e-readers in its current form.

Still, I did enjoy reading The Incredible Nellie Bly. Cimino has clear love and affectation for her subject, and Sergio Algozzino's artwork is fantastic. I'm sure it will be even more impressive in color (my version was in black & white). I'd still recommend The Incredible Nellie Bly for anyone looking to learn about her. I just wouldn't recommend it as a biography.

*Thank you to NetGalley, who sent me an ARC in exchange for an honest review*

This is a really love brief graphic historical fiction that wove the life of Nellie Bly with an early 20th century female journalist in the making. Nice illustrations in a wide variety of styles-- I love the pages that look like newsprint. Would be really interesting to use in a classroom environment, especially with the introductory notes which help explain much of the general premise of the graphic novel.

I will definitely be doing some research on Nellie Bly. Sadly I could only read the first few pages because of the digital copy I received. Though I did read through the graphic novel by just looking at the fantastic artwork. I can't wait to find a finished copy and read more about it!

I am a bit of a Nellie Bly fan, having rad a book about ten years ago about her trip around the world in considerably less than eighties days. This is an Italian graphic novel biography of Nellie, and manages to touch all the core milestones of her life in an accessible if not altogether deep way. The greatest hits are all here, ten days in an asylum, her stints in factories to talk about working conditions of a new class of women in New York. Her trip around the world is possibly the be best presented here, as the art plays nicely with paper dolls to depict her sensible yet feminine attire, and a few of the landmarks along the way.

There is a framing device of a female journalist about thirty years later being inspired by Nellie, and interviewing her. Of course getting tot he twenties and thirties there will be barely any improvement in the rights of women beyond suffrage and plenty of soft discrimination still within journalism. It is interesting to think though that without Nellie Bly there probably isn't a Lois Lane, Bly invented the famous crusading, dare-devil journalist archetype and made her female. Rights notwithstanding, its a link that the format made for me, but not one I have seen explicitly elsewhere. By taking a strictly chronological route as well the narrative flags a touch past around the world as Bly finds herself criticised as attention seeking, and her marriage which the book has little time for (though her influence around women's and workers rights definately continues).

I'm never quite sure how I feel about biographical comics, they are a decent introduction to a subject and Nellie Bly isn't that well known these days. But they rarely get into the meet of motivation. That said the graphical content here isn't just representational, there is some good work down around the asylum part where the ideas of loneliness and the treatment are given a strong visual backing. The artist - Sergio Algozzino - is not credited on the cover which is a great pity as in many ways he is doing the heavy lifting here, and there is a feeling that something that is quite novel in Italian is rendered a little less special in translation. Still it inspired me to go back and read more Bly - most of which is on the web - which was well worth it.

Thank to Netgalley for a digital copy in exchange for an honest review.

The comic sounds very interesting and I want to find even more about this Nellie Bly. I will definitely do some of my own research as well, which is amazing. It is presented in an interview format and it is interesting to follow the story. Nellie is a very interesting woman ans her journey and accomplishements are incredible. Unfortunately I have lost some important aspects of the story due to the state of the digital copy I received. It was very hard to read it and I found myself struggling to understand the words. In this case, I cannot really rate the book more than 3 stars and I think it is a shame, but I am sure the final result will be great.

It is a great idea and I think people will benefit from reading this book.

The Incredible Nellie Bly by Luciana Cimino is a graphic novel covering the life and career of journalist Nellie Bly. Bly, most famous, for her investigative journalism, especially into American psychiatric asylums, notably by having herself admitted as a patient and chronicling her experience. Bly was a strong and courageous woman and this graphic novel strove to emphasize her contributions to the field of journalism and women's suffrage.

The book had good intentions, but at times the story focused overly long on certain experiences while not covering enough of others. However, sadly, the most difficult issue to overcome was the book format itself. There were issues with the formatting, including text size, zoom optimization and coloring. This is not the fault of the author, but I feel it will discourage others, who might be interested in the subject matter, from delving further into it. That would be sad because the author clearly did extensive research to bring a fully formed character to life. I hope that these publication issues can be resolved before the wide release later in 2021.

Note: I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my honest review from Netgalley.

Feedback is based on the beginning pages I managed to read.
Sadly I was unable to finish this as when I tried to re-acces I could not get into the book.

To say I was excited going into this book, would be a little bit of an understatement especially given my deep held want to bring the wonder of reading to everyone. Also I am a bit of a nerd for this type of historical fiction

Luciana Cimino's graphic novel was incredibly interesting and is the type of book I wish I saw more of. Historical Fiction, that gets history right, and also comes in the more "digestible" form of a graphic novel. Which is more likely to appeal to audiences that may have otherwise been missed which is really awesome.

The other thing I love about this book is that the fact it is a graphic novel brought me into this story in a way that I don't think would have happened had it been a traditional novel.

I don't know who will see this, but the text on the e-version of this graphic novel is unreadable. I read the letter at the beginning and the preface, but I can't read the graphic novel. I downloaded and tried in Pocketbooks, the Netgalley reader, and Kindle. I would like to read this when a better copy is available. Please consider uploading a better draft to Netgalley.

I was kindly provided with an e-arc of this book via NetGalley with thanks to Abrams ComicArts.

I have had to DNF this book. I was really looking forward to The Incredible Nellie Bly, however the e-book version makes it near impossible to read. I am reading this on my iPad and I have tried both the kindle app and the NetGalley Shelf app, however both are illegible. The writing is blurry and my eyes really have to strain to be able to read the words. I believe this is a formatting issue for the publishers to resolve.

I got 25 pages in and found that I was having to skip many of the dialogue boxes because they were unreadable. Even on the dialogue boxes that I could read, I was still having to skip some words and guess what they were. The illustrations are beautiful, though and that just makes me more excited for when it comes out and I can read the book properly.

Though I am not able to finish this book, due to this, I do hope to pick up a physical copy when it is out. I still have high hopes for this book and my choice to DNF has nothing to do with the content of the book and purely because of the formatting issues.

Because I have to pick a star rating, I am selecting a three stars for the illustrations alone and this does not reflect what my star rating would be if I could properly read the book.

Having heard about Nellie Bly from The West Wing, I was excited to review this book when the opportunity arose, sadly in the e-arc, the text, especially the speech is illegible. It is so thin and faint that even if you increase the size it just blurs and disintegrates. Which is such a pity because hers in as inspiring story although only her pioneering journalistic life is covered in this book. The images are well drawn and some are really gorgeous but the inability to read it, has lost it a star. Hopefully they'll sort this before publication otherwise buy a paper copy...

With thanks to Netgalley for the arc for review.

I've been on a biographical graphic novel kick lately, and The Incredible Nelly Bly didn't disappoint! This is a woman who many people know the name of, but not much past what made her known. With incredible skill, Algozzino and Cimino provide an excellent coupling of sparse but critical text and beautifully emotional illustration. I will say that having the physical copy released in full color will likely make this graphic novel even more impactful, as the words could get a bit lost in the black and white style.

Nellie Bly was an American journalist, inventor, and charity worker in the late 19th century. She is probably best known for her trip around the world in 72 days.

I loved the illustrations of The Incredible Nellie Bly. But unfortunately the formatting of the e-ARC wasn't very good.. The book is unreadable (on my phone, tablet, laptop and e-reader). I can't review this graphic novel honestly if I can't read what is written. So I give this book 3 stars. I hope the issues will be resolved before release.

Really inspiring and fun book about Nellie Bly and the incredible things she's done. Truly an inspiring and brave figure who I think all students should learn about.

Book Review for The Incredible Nellie Bly by Luciana Cimino
Full review for this title can be found at: @fyebooks on Instagram!

I've always loved Nellie Bly. Her bravery, determination, dedication, passion, and intelligence has been something I've alwas aspired. So, reading about her achievements in a graphic form was an amazing opportunity.

The graphic novel did a great job of showing glimpses of her life and career. The art was gorgeous even though it was an Advanced Reader Copy and was unfinished.

However, her character was not fully explored. I understand that the graphic form doesn't allow that much depth, but having her character reduced to only her achievements was not great. Nellie was more than a journalist, an investigator, and a feminist. She was a fierce woman with a challenging life who overcame each obstacle with grace.

The incredible Nellie Bly is a comic book biography of the extraordinary contribution to woman’s emancipation of that impressive person Nellie Bly was. I will humbly admit that I knew nothing about that courageous woman before seeing this graphic novel, but I am always interested in learning and reading about strong women of the past, so I was very eager to start this read.

The graphic novel is written like an interview of Nellie Bly by a feminist activist distraught that “things have not changed”. The message to keep our chins up and keep fighting, that we might have more steps to go, but that we must keep moving our feet is a good one. I liked that the pioneer, who did the heavy lifting, keeps nudging us in the right direction. Because when you think about it, this is exactly what those role models do, even long gone, they provide a strong motivation to fight for a world they hoped one day would exist.

Nellie Bly was an investigative journalist in a world where women couldn’t do anything without a chaperon, she did it by sheer will and talent, always having to fight, and deserving our biggest respect. I liked all the little insights we got into her life, even if some did feel much too short and I would have loved to know more: like the way she supported women workers that were seen as disreputable for no reason other than not being able to protect themselves and working themselves to the bone. Lots of anecdotes in that book remind us how far we have come, but that there is still very vulnerable people, and that the divide between classes around the world when we look at it hasn’t really improved. It is a very topical book, because many of the fronts on which Nellie Bly fought still need advocates. I am really glad I got to discover her contribution to humanity, because a step forward for womanhood means a step forward for everybody. When everyone is valued at the same level is when humanity will have finally reached adulthood and be what it should be. Everyone deserves the same chance no matter sex, gender, skin, beliefs, orientations or wallet.

The illustrations were done well, black and painted grey shades, simple, flowing and proportioned lines. Nothing extremely fancy, there is little action so there is little movement in the images, but the text is more “tell” than “show” so it’s not the fault of the artist. There is no great detail but the story comes across very clearly. There is something also very feminine about it, maybe because the lines feel curving rather than sharp, like using a paintbrush and the grey shading enforces that painted quality. I really like the organic feel of the shading.

Overall I really recommend this graphic novel to everyone who is interested in strong women characters. It does come across as more of a listing of merits sometimes, than a real story, which I regret. I would have loved to be plunged into the action of such a life, but I learnt a lot of things and it made me want to learn more about Nellie Bly and maybe do a little investigation of my own. I’m sure I’m not the only one who will feel that way after reading that book!

This graphic novel portrays such an excellent story and of course it is based on the true story of Nellie Bly. It is so important for us to be aware of these incredible women of the past who fought stereotypes and paved the way for women's rights. As a teacher and mother to two girls, I completely endorse this book and the way in which the story is so carefully presented. An excellent piece of work.