To them birthing children is just a woman’s lot in life. Or Mike Huckabee! They-and a frightening number of men-in-charge throughout history and across the world-care very little for women’s reproductive health or any of the suffering and courage it actually takes to get through a pregnancy. So why are there so few comics or graphic novels that dare to include pregnant characters? Does pregnancy lack a type of hipness or bravery because it’s so common? Or maybe our culture doesn’t take much interest in women’s bodies unless they’re strutting down runways in bustiers and angel wings. There’s magic in that moment, and a kind of heroism in getting there. Even the most misanthropic grumpus would shed a tear to see a newborn baby look into the eyes of its mother for the first time. But it’s also breathtaking and life-affirming. Sometimes it’s literally shitty, and more often it’s figuratively shitty.

But for all the comics out there that recount the tales of socially awkward teenage boys or the travails of caring for elderly parents, there is a dearth of comics about giving birth or that even include pregnant characters.īirth happens all the time-about four kids are born per second, actually-but as common as that is, it rarely makes an appearance in comics.

Half of the world’s population is capable of doing it and every single one of us has been through it, even if we have no memory of it. Aside from defecating or having sex, giving birth is one of the most common life experiences.

Rumpus fursuit