My thanks to NetGalley and Fantagraphics Books for an advance sampler of this biography and art book featuring one of the female trailblazers in the art of cartoons, who is finally getting the acknowledgment this artist richly deserves.

I grew up reading comics, cartoons, and the Sunday funnies. Newspapers used to be full of them, and so did magazines. I came to appreciate the work of single panel cartoonists as they had so much to do. They had to create a piece of art that told a story, with set up and punchline, sometimes with words, sometimes without. Even the bad jokes still had something too them, and maybe they weren't bad, I was too young, or naïve. Cartoons are starting to make a bit of a comeback, books are starting to appear about cartoons, and it history though many of this people still are unknown. I had not been aware of the pioneering works of Barbara Shermund, who started cartooning for The New Yorker in its first year. Nor the interesting life she lead. Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund is written by Caitlin McGurk a professor and curator, and tells of this woman her life, and of course her art.

I was granted a sample by Fantagraphics, which tells of Barbara Shermund's time in New York city, establishing herself. Around this time a new idea for a magazine was begun, with a lot of hope, a lot of talent but not much money. This magazine was The New Yorker, and was about the city, the culture and the people. Many of the articles came from friends of the publisher, and people who were known, but not well known. To fill the magazines cartoons were needed, and Shermund's work caught their eye. Shermund's sex was not a problem, and soon her work started appearing in The New Yorker. Most of her cartoons dealt with women discussing fashion, men, dating, men, and shopping along with a few mentions of men. Barbara Shermund drew flappers, and the art seems to capture a moment where women were testing limits and ideas, especially in the captions she wrote.

The book is both a biography and collection of Barbara Shermund's cartoons, some of which must have confused a few people and delighted others. Shermund drew male characters that seemed to be gay men, and if the art didn't give it away, the captions might have. They are told in such a way that maybe the idea slipped past most of the populous of the time, but now look rather obvious. This might tie in with Shermund's personal life, which was mentioned but not really investigated in the sampler. I enjoyed what I read, and enjoyed the cartoons. Not being an artist I can really describe them well, but they have that look of old advertising and color, but the women seem so much more free in what they say and what they think. Even now, these women seem to see a future where they can be who they want to be, not the way they are treated by politicians.

I will be picking this book up when it comes out, as what I read I really enjoyed, and like I said the cartoons are very good. Funny, different, dated, and yet there seems such a possible future for women here. Recommended for cartoon fans, fans of women artists who have gone under the radar, and supporters of Fantagraphics for creating books like this.