FairSquare Comics to Publish 'No Kidding' A Timely Graphic Novel About Women and Pregnancy

French Creators Véro Cazot and Madeleine Martin (Marguerite Sauvage) Offer a Thoughtful and Lighthearted Take on Pregnancy, Children, and the Right to Choose This Fall.

Last week, the United States Supreme Court announced a move to overturn the landmark decision of Roe v. Wade, which granted women nearly five decades of safe access to abortion. Just before this decision was announced, the inclusive publisher that was introduced to the world just over two years ago by way of the successful and celebrated Noir is the New Black graphic novel solicited their planned Fall release of No Kidding; a brand-new graphic novel from writer Véro Cazot (About Betty’s Boob) and superstar artist Marguerite Sauvage under her pen name of Madeleine Martin.

To baby or not to baby? Meet Jane, a 35-year-old woman who knows she doesn't want to be a mother. She doesn't want to wake up at all hours of the night and sacrifice her personal life and identity for a mini-tyrant child! Then there’s Lucy. She didn’t plan on having a kid but became pregnant anyway. What to do? Her boyfriend wants to keep the baby but she’s young and barely started College. Abortion seems like the obvious choice. But is it? No Kidding is a real story about real women and their right to choose without the interference of politics or the notion of a ticking biological clock.

“While a historical regression in Human Rights hits America, where a handful of individuals can still deprive millions of women of their most intimate and fundamental freedom, I am both proud and happy that our book will meet the American public,” says writer Véro Cazot.

Artist Madeleine Martin (Marguerite Sauvage) adds “I hope that it will be a support and a smile for the readers concerned by the matter. I also wish that it will help the people around them to understand their choices and accept their differences. And if this book can be an eye-opener for even one person, I will consider it a big success.”

“While living in North America, in a very feminist city, I was not imagining that the generation of my daughter will have to fight as well as the previous ones for a right that has been acquired decades ago. I hope this book will be a little drop in this fight, bringing awareness in the most delicate way, humor, and tenderness, to the fact that women's rights are human rights, as it has to be repeated.”

No Kidding is a journey into the heart, mind, and soul of these women opting out of motherhood and how they find their place in a world full of children and laws about their bodies.

FairSquare Co-Owner and Brand Manager Kristal Adams Sapolsky comments “I have personally witnessed first-hand how the health care system in the US has, over and over, failed black women. So, while abortion is the tip of the iceberg for black women in the health care system, I consider it reckless to label abortion by anything other than what it is: health care. Like Jane, I chose to opt-out of pregnancy. And I'm proud that our first slice of life graphic novel at FairSquare Comics will cover this specific slice.”

FairSquare Publisher Fabrice Sapolsky adds “I’ve known and admired Marguerite Sauvage, or as she presents herself here, Madeleine Martin, for years. As I was looking for new slice-of-life books to publish, I found NO KIDDING and immediately made an offer to French publisher Fluide Glacial to secure rights for the US market. Though it was a coincidence, we’re proud to release this volume created with finesse and clarity by two extremely talented women at a time when conversation about women’s rights is needed more than ever.”

No Kidding will be released in bookstores everywhere on September 21, and available two weeks earlier at your friendly neighborhood comic shop on September 7. Preorder your copy with your favorite reading emporium today!