Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age PDF
Preview Comic Book Women: Characters, Creators, and Culture in the Golden Age
PEYTON BRUNET BLAIR DAVIS AND FOREWORD BY TRINA ROBBINS COMIC BOOK WOMEN world comics and graphic nonfiction series Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González, editors The World Comics and Graphic Nonfiction series includes monographs and edited volumes that focus on the analysis and interpretation of comic books and graphic nonfiction from around the world. The books pub- lished in the series use analytical approaches from literature, art history, cultural studies, communication studies, media studies, and film studies, among other fields, to help define the comic book studies field at a time of great vitality and growth. other books in the series Mark Cotta Vaz, Empire of the Superheroes: America’s Comic Book Creators and the Making of a Billion-Dollar Industry Anna Peppard, ed., Supersex: Sexuality, Fantasy, and the Superhero Allan W. Austin and Patrick L. Hamilton, All New, All Different? A History of Race and the American Superhero Jorge Santos, Graphic Memories of the Civil Rights Movement: Reframing History in Comics Benjamin Fraser, The Art of Pere Joan: Space, Landscape, and Comics Form Jan Baetens, The Film Photonovel: A Cultural History of Forgotten Adaptations Marc Singer, Breaking the Frames: Populism and Prestige in Comics Studies Matt Yockey, ed., Make Ours Marvel: Media Convergence and a Comics Universe Mark Heimermann and Brittany Tullis, eds., Picturing Childhood: Youth in Transnational Comics David William Foster, El Eternauta, Daytripper, and Beyond: Graphic Narrative in Argentina and Brazil Christopher Pizzino, Arresting Development: Comics at the Boundaries of Literature Frederick Luis Aldama and Christopher González, eds., Graphic Borders: Latino Comic Books Past, Present, and Future COMIC BOOK WOMEN characters, creators, and culture in the golden age Peyton Brunet and Blair Davis Foreword by Trina Robbins University of Texas Press Austin Copyright © 2022 by the University of Texas Press Foreword copyright 2022 © by Trina Robbins All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America First edition, 2022 Requests for permission to reproduce material from this work should be sent to: Permissions University of Texas Press P.O. Box 7819 Austin, TX 78713-7819 utpress.utexas.edu/rp-form The paper used in this book meets the minimum requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48- 1992 (R1997) (Permanence of Paper). Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Brunet, Peyton, author. | Davis, Blair, 1975– author. | Robbins, Trina, writer of foreword. Title: Comic book women : characters, creators, and culture in the Golden Age / Peyton Brunet and Blair Davis. Other titles: World comics and graphic nonfiction series. Description: First edition. | Austin : University of Texas Press, 2022. | Series: World comics and graphic nonfiction series | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2021027221 ISBN 978-1-4773-2411-0 (cloth) ISBN 978-1-4773-2412-7 (paperback) ISBN 978-1-4773-2413-4 (PDF) ISBN 978-1-4773-2414-1 (ePub) Subjects: LCSH: Women cartoonists—United States—History—20th century. | Comic books, strips, etc.—United States—Women authors—History—20th century. | Comic strip characters—United States—History—20th century. | Women superheroes—United States—Comic books, strips, etc.—History—20th century. | Comic books, strips, etc.— Social aspects—United States. | Women in literature—History—20th century. | Heroines in literature—History—20th century. Classification: LCC PN6725 .B78 2022 | DDC 741.5/973—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021027221 doi:10.7560/324110 peyton For my superheroine sisters, Paige and Perrin. blair For my Mum. And yours, too. CONTENTS FOREWORD by Trina Robbins ix INTRODUCTION 1 CHAPTER 1 Superhero Comics 21 CHAPTER 2 Jungle Comics 55 CHAPTER 3 Crime Comics 79 CHAPTER 4 Horror Comics 111 CHAPTER 5 Western Comics 139 CHAPTER 6 Title Characters 171 CHAPTER 7 Science Fiction Comics 201 CHAPTER 8 Romance Comics 225 CONCLUSION 251 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 261 NOTES 263 BIBLIOGRAPHY 287 INDEX 303 FOREWORD Trina Robbins I was lucky enough to have a schoolteacher mother who not only taught me to read at the age of four but who supplied me with books—and comics—to read, and I did, avidly. But the comics, while beautifully drawn and absolutely charming, were the kind mothers approved of: funny animals, Raggedy Ann and Andy, cute kids’ comics like Our Gang. The candy store that sold comics was two blocks away, which meant I had grown big enough to cross two streets before I could choose and buy comics on my own. When I did, for the first time, I was faced with a dizzying array of choices: superheroes, teen humor, mystery and adventure, cowboys! What to choose? The decision was automatic and easy. I chose any comic with a girl or woman on the cover, but not the pretty girls tied to a chair so the hero could rescue them. I went for the women who had their own comic, with their own name on the cover, women who could take care of them- selves. And there were plenty: of course Wonder Woman, but also Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, with her flowing golden hair and her leopard skin dress, and Mary Marvel, a preteen girl who said the magic word “Sha- zam” to become a girl who could fly and punch out the bad guys. I played with the idea that maybe if I could find my magic word, my “Shazam,” I too could gain superpowers. And there were the teenagers: Patsy Walker, Millie the Model, Katy Keene, who you could even design clothes for if you were brave enough to mail them to Katy’s creator, Bill Woggon. I was never brave enough, but I enjoyed the sometimes bizarre designs other kids sent in, and I quietly drew my own paper dolls and fashions at home. IX
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