Table Of ContentPEYTON 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
