Today, Kazoo Magazine’s Noisemakers: 25 Women Who Raised Their Voices & Changed the World arrives on store shelves, a graphic novel anthology showcasing the lives of 25 extraordinary women who changed the world through courageousness, assembling some incredible talent in telling these individuals’ possibly-unknown stories.
The Noisemakers collection features 25 different creators, including Emil Ferris (My Favorite Thing is Monsters), Rosemary Valero-O’Connell (Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up With Me), Brittney Williams (Patsy Walker, A.K.A. Hellcat!) and Chan Chau (Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Sirens). The book celebrates extraordinary women throughout history including Rosa Parks, Bessie Coleman, Mary Shelley, Julia Child, and Frida Kahlo. But it’s Kate Warne, the first female detective in America who highlights our exclusive preview.
The story by Molly Brooks (Sanity & Tallulah). Warne was the United States’ first female detective working with the Pinkerton National Detective Agency. Widowed at 23 years old, Warne walked into the Pinkerton offices responding to an ad about needing a detective. She told the agency she could go places men cannot and befriend female witnesses. Most importantly, she stressed her intelligence and ability as an actress – which would make her “very good” at the job. In 1961, she was responsible for uncovering the 1861 Baltimore Plot to assassinate Abraham Lincoln. She gathered intel that convinced Allan Pinkerton that there was going to be an assassination attempt on the president-elect by secessionists. It’s a story that should be known, and readers can find our preview of the tale below:
Noisemakers is the first-ever book from the indie print magazine Kazoo. Past contributors to Kazoo include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Ellen DeGeneres, Elizabeth Warren, Shonda Rhimes, Misty Copeland, and Dolores Huerta. Kazoo made history by becoming the highest-funded journalism Kickstarter campaign of all-time in 2016 – later winning the National Magazine Award for General Excellence in 2019.
Ferris discussed Kazoo Magazine as necessary for “building the strength of girls.”
Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For) said she wished Noisemakers was around when she was growing up.
The reason I (secretly) think of Kazoo Magazine as ‘Vitamin K’ is because it’s so necessary for building the strength of girls. I’m truly proud to have a piece (beside so many artists whose work I sincerely LOVE) in Kazoo’s delicious new anthology - NOISEMAKERS.
Noisemakers: 25 Women Who Raised Their Voices & Changed the World from Randomhouse’s Knopf Books for Young Readers Imprint will hit bookshelves on February 4, 2020. Interested readers can find more information here.
All the women in this book were discouraged from doing the work they were born to do. Fortunately, they didn’t let that stop them. Here are their riveting stories, told in unputdownable comics. I wish I’d had NOISEMAKERS when I was growing up.
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