This collection spotlights awesome female superheroes, detectives, gals-next-door, and other characters from the earliest comics to the present day. Complete with vintage art, publication details, and enthusiastic commentary by comics publisher and researcher Hope Nicholson.
Think comic books can't feature strong female protagonists? Think again! Everyone knows about Wonder Woman and Batgirl. But they're just the most prominent examples of the powerful, compelling, heroic female characters that have populated comic books from the very beginning. Tough-talking detectives, sarcastic social critics, ordinary teenagers, cape-wearing crimebusters…female protagonists have filled just about every role there is in comics. Yet too few of them got the chance to achieve the high-level pop-culture status of their male counterparts. It's finally time to give these creatively successful, but largely unknown characters their due…and prove that not only do strong female protagonists belong in comics, they've always been there.
- A celebration of the most awesome female characters in the history of comics, drawing on the entire history of the medium. Focusing on characters that are largely unknown, but including the most influential and iconic characters too (Wonder Woman, Supergirl).
- Each character gets an individual write-up, paired with vintage art.
- A pro-comics examination of female heroes, showcasing the creative successes while acknowledging the medium's historic shortcomings in presenting women protagonists.
- Includes recommended reading lists to find out more about the characters.
- Resonates well with the increasing number of female superheroes and other female characters being adapted from comics into TV and film.
- A companion title to Quirk's League of Regrettable Superheroes and Legion of Regrettable Superheroes, but exploring a different aspect of comic book history.
- An eye-popping clear colored acetate jacket, which reveals the all-art case beneath, makes this book an exciting object to have on the shelf as well as a fun and fascinating read.
About the Author: Hope Nicholson is the owner and founder of Bedside Press, specializing in archival and anthology comics collections. Past projects have included Moonshot (A collection of Inuit, Metis, and First Nations comic book stories, June 2015), Lost Heroes (a documentary film on the history of Canadian superheroes) Nelvana of the Northern Lights (a reprint of 1940s Canadian comic book featuring an Inuit demigoddess), and The Secret Loves of Geek Girls, (an all-female comic and text anthology of true stories; contributors include Margaret Atwood, Kate Leth, Trina Robbins, and Sam Maggs). Hope was named one of Flare Magazine's Top 30 Female Entrepreneurs in Canada (2014), has been featured in the Winnipeg Free Press, Toronto Star, the Globe & Mail, Comics Alliance, Bleeding Cool, Comic Book Resources, and io9. She's discussed comic book history on national television news programs (CBC, Global, Space Television), travelled across Canada and the U.S. for press tours and book promotions, and speaks frequently at conventions and other events on women in fandom, Canadian comic book history, and self-publishing. Before starting her own business, she worked in the film industry as a researcher and marketer.