Louisa May Alcott’s Little Women Are Back, and They’re Multi-Racial and LGBTQIA-Inclusive

We recently saw the announcement of Nancy Drew coming to comics, but she’s not the only childhood favorite making her sequential art debut. Little, Brown Books for Young Readers and Tapas Media have released Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy a modern-day adaptation of Louisa May Alcott’s classic novel Little Women as a full-color graphic novel, to celebrate its 150th anniversary with a new generation of readers.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy is adapted by Rey Terciero with art by Bre Indigo, and will be available TODAY. Little, Brown and Tapas Media have provided us with some preview images from the graphic novel, which gives us a first glimpse at this sweet-looking update.

Art by Bre Indigo.

I love that this version of the March family is an interracial one, and I love the subtle variation of skin tones among the daughters. These girls could all be (and are) the daughters of Robert and Maddie, and we get to see that “multi-racial” or “bi-racial” doesn’t have one specific look.

For artist Bre Indigo, it was important that the girls visually reflect a modern readership. “Meg, Joe, Beth and Amy have so much in common with today’s youth,” she says. “And hopefully when young readers pick up the book they can find themselves in the girls, and apply their growth to their own lives. My personal goal as an artist is to help others to embrace empathy, to relate to one another and grow as individuals. And I think our book does just that.”

Art by Bre Indigo.

Writer Rey Terciero brings another element to the story, particularly where Jo is concerned. She explains:

“I loved Little Women growing up. Their struggles felt universal to me, especially feeling like I always had less than others. So it’s an absolute honor to be writing a re-telling of it. But Bre and I wanted to see ourselves in the characters too, which is why we made the family diverse and one of the characters LGBTQ. Jo is my favorite, so I wanted to play with the subtext that may not have been available 150 years ago, but that we can speak openly about these days. Being LGBT myself, I’m just happy to be creating a book that I wish I could have read as a young reader. But it’s also very PG, and very sweet. I wanted to be sensitive with the heavy topics while staying true to Alcott’s vision of empowering young women.”

Art by Bre Indigo.

Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy will be fully available at the Tapas Media at 9:00AM TODAY, but right now, you can check out a longer preview over at the Tapas Media website.

Happy New Comic Book Day, and Happy Anniversary, Little Women!

(image: Little, Brown/Tapas Media)

Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!

—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—