Becoming Unbecoming

This challenging debut graphic novel is dense with facts, figures, and exposition, but the issues it explores—sexual violence and the public response to it—are what make it truly difficult to read. U.K. artist Una juxtaposes her own formative years with the hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper, who murdered over a dozen women in England in the late 1970s. And though the artist thankfully didn’t meet such a grisly fate, her own early encounters with male sexuality left an enduring mark, which she explores through a rich collage of drawing styles. The book is largely expositional, as Una digs deep into her memories, the words and images seemingly pouring out of her pen as she unflinchingly explores a nation’s scramble to stop a serial killer and her emotional struggles with her own sexual abuse. It’s as well crafted as it is difficult—and an important document of the lingering effects of male violence against women. [em](Jan.) [/em]