FEMINISM 217
writers and artists. Th e Female Cartoonists Hall of Fame is self-explanatory. Previous
winners of the hall of fame award include pioneering cartoonists Marie Severin
( Doctor Strange ), Ramona Fradon ( Aquaman ), Dale Messick (Brenda Starr), and
Hilda Terry (Teena).
Th e fi rst issue of Wimmen’s Comix , in 1972, included the work of eight women
cartoonists. When the last issue hit the stands in 1992, there were more women draw-
ing comics than ever before. Wimmen’s Comix had opened the door for them. Today
it would be almost impossible to count the number of women drawing comics in the
United States, but despite their vast numbers, women cartoonists have not achieved
true equality. Although the numbers have risen, still very few women work as artists or
writers for the high-paying mainstream superhero books. Most women comics creators
are either self-published, or they are published by small independent presses that pay
either very little or nothing at all. In comparison, large numbers of male artists and
writers are employed by mainstream comics for a decent living wage. Th is means that
while men are paid to do what they like best, draw and write comics, most women comics
creators must have a day job and squeeze their creativity into nights and weekends.
Women comics creators have also traditionally had a hard time getting their work
distributed. Most comic shops in the United States are owned or managed by male
superhero fans, who cater to other male superhero fans. Comic books that diff er from
traditional superhero comics, especially comics that are obviously by and for women, are
given short shrift. If the owners or managers order any copies of these books at all, they
are usually very few, and they don’t reorder once the few comics are bought. Th us, the
audience for whom these books were intended often never sees them. Add this to the
fact that comic shops, full of young men, with posters of hypersexualized superheroines
on the wall, are so intimidating to potential female fans that they often will not go in-
side. Th e lack of women and girls in comic book stores has led to the oft-repeated (but
untrue) notion that girls don’t read comics.
A bright spot of hope for women comics fans is the arrival of Japanese manga c o m i c s
in the United States in the late 1990s, and the popularity of graphic novels, starting
at about the same period. At least half of all Japanese comics are aimed at girls (shojo
manga), and previously comic-deprived girls and young women are reading them in
volume, proving at last that when they are given comics they like to read, girls will
read comics. Manga and comics in graphic novel format can be carried in bookstores
and libraries, rather than merely in comic shops, and unlike the latter, bookstores and
libraries are female-friendly places.
As long as there is a never-ending supply of boys and young men, there will always be
superhero comics. However, organizations like Friends of Lulu, Web sites like Sequen-
tial Tart and Girl-Wonder.org, along with manga and graphic novels, are fi nally forging
a new road for women and feminism in comics.
Selected Bibliography: Mitchell, Claudia A., and Reid-Walsh, Jaqueline, eds. Girl Cul-
ture, an Encyclopedia. 2 vols. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2008; Robbins, Trina.
