Bryan and Mary M. Talbot’s next joint project, Lo! An Amazon! The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Mary Wollstonecraft, will be published by SelfMadeHero in September 2026.
The new graphic novel, which Mary first revealed the duo were working on last February, offers another thought-provoking biography from the creative partnership that previously brought us acclaimed titles such as the award-winning Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes, along with The Red Virgin, and, in 2023, Armed With Madness: The Surreal Leonora Carrington.
In the Age of Revolutions demanding greater liberties for mankind, author Mary Wollstonecraft spoke out for the other “one-half of the human race”: that of womankind. In 1792, her manifesto, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, took the world by storm: “It is time to effect a revolution in female manners – time to restore to them their dignity”.
Forthright and fearless, she mingled with other radical thinkers of her time and travelled widely, including to Paris, alone – into the Reign of Terror.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797) was a pioneering British feminist and writer who fought for the rights of women in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Born in London in 1759, she was the second of seven children. She received little formal education, but was well read and developed her own progressive views on society and education.
In 1787, Mary Wollstonecraft wrote her most famous work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman, which argued that women should be allowed the same educational and economic opportunities as men. Her arguments were radical for the time and she was heavily criticised for her views. Nonetheless, her work had a lasting impact on the struggle for women’s rights and she is now considered one of the most influential feminists of the modern era.
In addition to A Vindication of the Rights of Women, Mary produced several other works, including Thoughts on the Education of Daughters (1786), An Historical and Moral View of the Origin and Progress of the French Revolution (1794) and Maria (1798), a novel about a woman’s struggle for independence.
Mary Wollstonecraft died in 1797, shortly after giving birth to her second daughter, Mary Shelley, who would later become a famous writer in her own right, particularly as the creator of Frankenstein.
Mary Wollstonecraft’s legacy remains a powerful influence in the fight for women’s rights and her work is still widely read and discussed today.
Neither creator of this new graphic novel about Mary’s life should need introduction to regular downthetubes readers, but for newcomers, multiple award-winning artist Bryan Talbot has been working in comics for over forty years. He’s produced underground, fantasy and superhero stories such as Batman and (with Neil Gaiman) Sandman, and graphic novels including The Adventures of Luther Arkwright, The Tale of One Bad Rat, Alice in Sunderland, the Grandville series (including, most recently, a prequel, The Casebook of Stamford Hawksmoor) as well as illustrating the books written by Mary.
Mary M. Talbot is an academic turned graphic novelist. Her first graphic novel, Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes (with Bryan), won the 2012 Costa Biography Award. Rain (2019, also created with Bryan), is a rallying cry to protect the planet. Her previous graphic novels are Sally Heathcote, Suffragette (2014, with Kate Charlesworth and Bryan) and The Red Virgin (2016, with Bryan).
They are both founding patrons of The Lakes International Comic Art Festival. Bryan was awarded a Doctorate in Arts and another in Letters and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
Lo! An Amazon! The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Mary Wollstonecraft, will be published by award-winning publisher SelfMadeHero in September 2026 | Web: selfmadehero.com
Head downthetubes for…
- Works by Mary Wollstonecraft in eBook form at Standard Ebooks
- Works by Mary Wollstonecraft at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about Mary Wollstonecraft at the Internet Archive
- About the Author
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John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.
He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: British Comics, British Comics - Current British Publishers, British Comics - Graphic Novels, Comic Previews, Comics, Creating Comics, downthetubes Comics News, downthetubes News
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