The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines

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The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (eBook) Pub. Date: 8/1/2009 Publisher: Exterminating Angel Press
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The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines Pub. Date: 9/1/2009 Publisher: Exterminating Angel Press

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The Supergirls Pub. Date: 6/29/2010 Publisher: ReadHowYouWant, LLC

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Overview

“The Supergirls is a long overdue tribute to the fabulous fighting females whose beauty and bravery brighten the pages of your favorite comics.”—Stan Lee

“Mike Madrid's fast-moving, encyclopedic, and often funny Supergirls shows the author's lifelong affection for these heroines on every page. He has a great feel for the genre and its history, with evident sensitivity to issues of female power and powerlessness. The section on the She-Hulk is not to be missed!”—Larry Gonick, Cartoon History of the Universe

“Entertaining and informative, Supergirls is a breezy and thoroughly accessible history of the comic book heroine. A great resource!”—Marc Andreyko, Manhunter and Torso

“The Supergirls, Mike Madrid's book about the evolution of female comic-book characters, is sharp and lively — and just obsessive enough about women who wear capes and boots to be cool but not creepy. The guy 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. The book has some illustrations, but no comic-book art. That's a bit of a drag, but presumably a function of how much the rights to the artwork would have cost. In any case, all the lovely crime fighters that Madrid champions are as close as a comic-book store.”—Entertainment Weekly

“...Even as it delivers its clear-eyed critique of the way mainstream superhero comics have alternately eroticized or deified female characters, The Supergirls gleefully celebrates the medium itself, in all its goofy, glorious excess.”—NPR

A much-needed alternative history of American comic book superheroines—from Wonder Woman to Supergirl and beyond—where they fit in popular culture and why, and what these crime-fighting females say about the role of women in American society from their creation to now, and into the future. The Supergirls is an entertaining and informative look at these modern-day icons, exploring how superheroines fare in American comics, and what it means for the culture when they do everything the superhero does, but in thongs and high heels.

Has Wonder Woman hit the comic book glass ceiling? Is that the one opposition that even her Amazonian strength can’t defeat?

Mike Madrid, a San Francisco–based refugee from the world of advertising, is a lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture. His goal is to inform and entertain readers with a new look at modern-day icons. He’s popular culture editor for Exterminating Angel Press and the creator of www.heaven4heroes.com, where comic book fantasies come to life.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781935259039
Publisher: Exterminating Angel Press
Publication date: 9/1/2009
Pages: 334
Sales rank: 399,326
Product dimensions: 5.40 (w) x 7.50 (h) x 0.70 (d)

Meet the Author

Mike Madrid, a San Francisco-based refugee from the world of advertising, is a lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture whose goal is to inform and entertain readers with a new look at modern day icons. He is popular culture editor for Exterminating Angel Press, and the creator of heaven4heroes.com, where comic book fantasies come to life.

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craso

Posted May 23, 2010

more from this reviewer

I Also Recommend:

The Social History of Supergirls

This was a short fun read. The author starts each chapter with a plot description from a super heroines comic book. Then he discusses how the heroic ladies were depicted in a specific decade and how their depiction depended on what was going on in society and sales of comic books. Female super heroes were usually written and drawn to be non-threatening to young men because they are the ones who purchased the comics. After publishers decided to only sell their comics at comic book shops, instead of magazine racks at convenience stores, female characters became more like women and less like young girls because more adults were buying the books. The way they are drawn depends on how society views women. For example; in the 1940's women were working in factories on the home front while men were at war so the lady superheroes were drawn as strong all-American gals battling the Nazi threat.

The women and girls discussed in this book range from iconic characters like Wonder Woman and lesser know characters like the Phantom Lady. I read comics with strong female characters and enjoyed learning about the societal influences on the plot lines that shaped their characters.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
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Anonymous

Posted January 18, 2012

Not a bad history of Super Women

Goes over history of comics focussing on superheroines and cultural impact on comics. Wish it was a little longer.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.
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Posted October 13, 2009

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