‘The Red Virgin and the Vision of Utopia’ is the latest graphic novel from Bryan and Mary Talbot, chronicling the life of Louise Michel, the revolutionary feminist dubbed ‘The Red Virgin of Montmartre’.

Louise was an extraordinary woman, but little known in the Anglophone world. She was a utopian dreamer, notorious anarchist, teacher, orator and poet, decades ahead of her time. Always a radical, she fights on the barricades defending the short-lived Paris Commune of 1871. Deported to a penal colony, she takes up the cause of the indigenous population against French colonial oppression.

Find out more from Bryan and Mary – described by comics culture site Bleeding Cool as ‘true powerhouses of the British graphic novel scene’ – as they talk in detail about their work in general, their latest project, and the extraordinary woman at its heart. Followed by a Q&A.

About The Authors

Bryan Talbot

Bryan Talbot has written and drawn comics and graphic novels since 1975, including ‘Judge Dredd’, ‘Batman’, ‘Sandman’, ‘Luther Arkwright’, ‘The Tale of One Bad Rat’, ‘Alice in Sunderland’, ‘Dotter of Her Father’s Eyes’ (with Mary Talbot) and the Grandville detective thrillers.

Mary Talbot

Mary Talbot is an academic who now writes graphic novels. Her first, ‘Dotter of her Father’s Eyes’ (with Bryan Talbot), won the 2012 Costa Biography Award. Her second, ‘Sally Heathcote, Suffragette’ (with Kate Charlesworth and Bryan Talbot), came out in 2014. Her academic books deal with language, gender, media and power.

 

Contributor

Mike McKenny

Mike McKenny is the co-author of ‘The Marvel Studios Phenomenon: Inside a Transmedia Universe’. He lives in Bradford, where he works with children and young people in various capacities. He believes that today’s youth will shape tomorrow’s world, and that today’s popular culture is incredibly important to the development of that youth.