Why Penelope Bagieu’s new graphic novel ‘Brazen’ is a highly inspiring International Women’s Day read

IT WOULD be eminently easy for “Brazen,” the new graphic novel that profiles historically heroic women, not to be brilliant.

The new work from French cartoonist Penelope Bagieu, subtitled “Rebel Ladies Who Rocked the World” (First Second Books), offers 29 separate comics — one devoted to each woman — and if they were not so beguilingly engaging, “Brazen” could feel like a graphical textbook that summons the requisite trumpets for each lofty lady featured.