The Incredible Nellie Bly: Journalist, Investigator, Feminist, and Philanthropist

A visual biography of the groundbreaking investigative journalist



Born in 1864, Nellie Bly was a woman who did not allow herself to be
defined by the time she lived in, she rewrote the narrative and made her
own way.

Luciana Cimino's meticulously researched graphic-novel
biography tells Bly's story through Miriam, a fictionalized female
student at the Columbia School of Journalism in 1921. While interviewing
the famous journalist, Miriam learns not only about Bly's more
sensational adventures, but also about her focus on self-reliance from
an early age, the scathing letter to the editor that jump-started her
career as a newspaper columnist, and her dedication to the empowerment
of women. In fact, in 1884, Bly was one of the few journalists who
interviewed Belva Ann Lockwood, who was the first woman candidate for a
presidential election-a contest that was ultimately won by Grover
Cleveland-and Bly predicted correctly that women would not get the vote
until 1920.

Of course Bly's most well-known exploits are also
covered-how she pretended to be mad in order to get institutionalized so
she could carry out an undercover investigation in an insane asylum,
and Bly's greatest feat of all, her journey around the world in 72
days-alone-which was unthinkable for a woman in the late 19th century.
As Miriam learns more of Bly's story, she realizes that the most
important stories are necessarily the ones with the most dramatic
headlines, but the ones that, in Nellie's words, "come from a deep
feeling."

This beautifully executed graphic novel paints a portrait
of a woman who defied societal expectations-not only with her
investigative journalism, but with her keen mind for industry, and her
original inventions.