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    The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Revised and Updated)
    Unavailable
    The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Revised and Updated)
    Unavailable
    The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Revised and Updated)
    Ebook369 pages4 hours

    The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Revised and Updated)

    By Mike Madrid

    4/5

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    Currently unavailable

    Currently unavailable

    About this ebook

    "Mike Madrid is doing God's work. . . . mak[ing] accessible a lost, heady land of female adventure." ComicsAlliance

    "Sharp and lively . . . [Madrid] clearly loves this stuff. And he's enough of a historian to be able to trace the ways in which the portrayal of sirens and supergirls has echoed society's ever-changing feelings about women and sex."Entertainment Weekly

    "A long overdue tribute to [those] fabulous fighting females." Stan Lee

    Mike Madrid has become known as a champion of women in comics and as the expert in Golden Age female characters. And now here is where it all began, as informative and entertaining as ever, in a revised and updated edition, including new illustrations and a new introduction, as well as an afterword bringing us up-to-date on what's happening with women in comics now.

    Mike Madrid is the author of Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics; Vixens, Vamps & Vipers: Lost Villainesses of Golden Age Comics; and the original The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines, an NPR "Best Book To Share With Your Friends" and American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book. A San Francisco native and lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture, Madrid also appears in the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines and is the illustrator of two of The History of Arcadia books: Lily the Silent and The Lizard Princess.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherExterminating Angel Press
    Release dateSep 19, 2016
    ISBN9781935259350
    Unavailable
    The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Revised and Updated)

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    Reviews for The Supergirls

    4/5

    24 ratings10 reviews

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    • 3/5
      Its a great review of the super heroines, from the first bored socialites killing time until marriage, to a more balanced woman balancing home and work. Its well written, well researched, and an enjoyable read.
    • 3/5
      I received a copy of this book through Library Thing's Early Reviewers Program in exchange for an honest review.Overall, I enjoyed this book. I learned a few things about the history of my favorite superheroes that I didn't know. I was, however, somewhat disappointed in the lack of feminist commentary to go along with it. This presents more of a look back on Things That Happened than what those things actually meant.
    • 4/5
      Not what I was expecting, better. I really enjoyed learning the history of superheroines, and the author's in-depth study of the history and meaning of each generation and hero. I learned about a few new ones and a lot about why they have changed so much over the decades.
    • 4/5
      This is an interesting book on the history of comic books, particularly female superheroes in comic books. It goes into detail about how the vision of female superheroes has changed over time as society's views on appropriate behavior for women has changed, and how their costumes have changed in response to to changing fashions and sexual mores. It makes for essential reading for any comic book fan.
    • 4/5
      As a huge fan of comics, and of female comic characters in particular, I was very excited to receive "The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines." Overall I think this book does a fantastic job of introducing readers to the history behind some of the genre's most iconic female characters. However, if you're looking for in-depth literary analysis or an academic exploration of female super heroes from an interdisciplinary point of view, this book is not for you. Having said that, however, I very much enjoyed Madrid's thoroughly researched accounts of the origins of some of my favorite characters. An interesting book for new or old fans.
    • 4/5
      Chapters alternate being a progressing decades history and topics. The shift can be rather jarring as the topic chapter will cover the topic from beginning to present and doesn't concern itself with where the decade history is currently.Overall it is a strong and informative offering.
    • 5/5
      In The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines, Mike Madrid presents a cultural history of female superheroes. Madrid begins with a quick description of the origins of comic books before delving into the Golden Age and the various archetypes it introduced to the new medium. Madrid progresses chronologically through comics history with the occasional breakout chapter to focus on a character or topic in more detail. He spends most of him time on Wonder Woman, Supergirl, and Batgirl as they are the longest-lived female superheroes. In each chapter, Madrid examines artifacts from the time in which the characters appear, often in the form of music or film, thereby situating these characters in the gender portrayals of their time. This “Revised & Updated Edition” furthers Madrid’s discussion up to March 2016, when Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice entered theaters and Wonder Woman made her first big-screen debut. Madrid’s exploration of these characters and how they reflect ideas of feminism and femininity would greatly benefit from more panels or pages from the comics themselves. As it is, his Golden Age sections have the largest collection of images to support the text, but this is likely due to the trouble of licensing the copyrighted works and the fact that many of the comics that did not last long into the 1950s have entered the public domain. Despite this minor criticism, Madrid’s work offers a new perspective on comics, one not dominated by Superman or Iron Man, but by characters that have struggled to remain relevant (Madrid’s account of DC’s reboots of Wonder Woman is a perfect example of this) and only now receive serious attention from their publishers. Both comics fans and comics scholars will find this a valuable addition to their bookshelves.
    • 4/5
      I appreciated getting "The Supergirls: Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines" through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program. While I had read the previous edition several years ago, I didn't have a lot of memories about it (in the book's defense, I think it was because it was part of an ongoing book binge while I was traveling, so all of the books started to blend together). What I did remember about the book was that it was enjoyable but a trifle problematic. This reactions remains true on reading the new edition, but I also have a greater appreciation for Madrid's work and scope.As others have noted, the book delves into the history of heroines in comic books, with the chapters alternating between an overview of the different decades (from the 1940s to "2000 and Beyond") and chapters that take a more in-depth look at specific characters, including Supergirl and Wonder Woman, and trends, such as the relationships among the female members of the Legion of Superheroes. The chapters offer social and historical context and describe how these elements are reflected in the portrayals of the comic book heroines during this time, with the decade-based chapters providing an overview of the characters, their comics, and the social trends and conventions of the time. The character and trend based chapters take this analysis further through an examination of a particular heroine or group of heroines.The book makes for an approachable and fun introduction to the history of comic book heroines, especially for those who don’t have a great deal of knowledge or experience on the topic. While the book can drag in places a bit, Madrid shows a great capability of describing the characters and the times in a way that is relaxed and enjoyable. For instance, “Supergirl and the Ballad of American Youth” juxtaposes the history and origins of Supergirl with the songs of pop singers. Although this seemed a little labored at first, Madrid was able to use this association to his advantage as he traced the evolution of Supergirl from the 1950s to the present day.However, there are limitations with “Supergirls,” some of which are a direct consequence of its strengths. For instance, the analysis is somewhat limited; while the lack of depth or nuance makes the book a good fit for some readers, those looking for more substantive exploration of themes might be disappointed. The other notable issue is the tone that Madrid takes with the subject. While it is obvious that he has a great love for comic book heroines, his language and word choice become somewhat flippant, which can translate into an unexpected pettiness. A prime example of this is in the “Sirens and Suffragettes” chapter, where he explores the character of Ms. Marvel. When describing the 1970s incarnation of the character, he states that “she was written as a bit of a cold bitch.” Later in the chapter, when explaining a convoluted storyline involving Ms. Marvel and an alien who seduced and impregnated her, Madrid includes the rhetorical question, “Hmmm, sounds kind of like rape, right?” Although I think that this is Madrid’s way of calling attention to an awful storyline and situation while also keeping the narrative moving, it also seemed incongruous.On a lighter note, it would have been helpful if there had been more pictures, which could have illustrated some of Madrid’s points and allowed him to limit his descriptions of the superheroines’ clothing choices. Although the costumes are important part of the characters, some of the descriptions further exacerbate the tone issues mentioned earlier. For instance, on the first page, Madrid describes the Phantom Lady’s costume in very sexual terms, including its skimpiness and its low-cut neckline. This does paint a mental picture for the reader, but it also undercuts the feminism stated in the subtitle.Despite these complaints, I found “Supergirls” to be an enjoyable and enlightening read, and I’d recommend it to people who want to learn more about superheroines in comic books. However, I’d also want to make them aware of some of the book’s drawbacks so that they have an accurate idea of what they are getting into when reading it.
    • 4/5
      A wise boss once lent me his copy of the first edition of this book when I was just getting into reading superhero comics. I found it to be a great overview and introduction to this world, and I was glad to have my eyes on a history specific to female characters. It led me straight to Alias, which became my favorite comic.In light of recent events in comics-land, specifically the rise of the MCU and Jill Lepore's The Secret History of Wonder Woman, I was very interested in this updated edition. But perhaps I should have tempered my expectations based on Madrid's scope. It's specific- less about costuming and art, more about story lines and character development; less about adaptations and comic world accouterments and more about textual evidence. Consider it a synopsis of the Marvel and DC superheroes over time and in the context of their creation and the zeitgeist around them. He simplifies the company histories and character retcons so as not to pull focus from our heroes and his examination of the strength of their voices and messages sent to readers.It has almost no illustration or images (read it with one hand on the book and the other on google image search). If you're looking for an analysis that encompasses all the ways women and feminism impact the comics industry (incorporating MCU and adaptations, other publishing imprints, and the role of women behind the scenes as artists and writers), that work may still need to be written. What this will give you is insight into the evolution of characters you know and love and glimpses into female heroes forgotten or undiscovered.
    • 4/5
      This book explores the history of superheroines in comic books from the 1940s to the 2000s and how they reflected (or didn't) the attitudes of the times.The chapters alternate between overviews of a decade and ones focused on a character or two or a more specific topic, such as fashion and costumes or sex and sexuality. For the most part, the chapters are reasonably good overviews of their topics, although the decade ones try to attach attitude shifts a bit too firmly to changes in the calendar year rather than events that affected comic publishing (the end of World War II, the creation of the Comics Code, the rise of the direct market, and others). At some points, he takes viewpoints which are at odds with conventional wisdom, but which I think are accurate. For example, while Marvel are regarded as having been more forward-thinking and DC more stuck in older attitudes when the earlier Marvel superhero titles came out, he correctly points out that this was distinctly not true regarding prominent female characters.There are a few minor details which might be mistakes, although I can't check them easily (specifically, I'm not sure the author is correct about whether Wasp was regarded as a proper member of the Avengers at first, and I think he's incorrect about what Professor X said to convince Storm to join the X-Men), but these don't affect the overall overviews. There are also a couple of editorial decisions which I found a bit distracting. Although it was almost certainly due to licensing issues, the absence of any illustrations of any characters from Marvel, DC (or their predecessor companies), or post-WWII characters results in oddities like a 200 page stretch with no illustrations apart from chapter splash pages (created for the book) after two reasonably illustration-heavy chapters or a chapter contrasting Wonder Woman and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle having numerous illustrations of the latter and none of the former (while Wonder Woman is better known, her appearance has changed since the 1940s). Somewhat more annoying is the use of 'female' and 'male' as nouns; as well as the usage being problematic in respect to humans, it just reads strangely to me. None of these problems should deter people interested in the topic, however.