Funny Girls: Guffaws, Guts, and Gender in Classic American Comics

For several generations, comics were regarded as a boys’ club—created by, for, and about men and boys. In the twenty-first century, however, comics have seen a rise of female creators, characters, and readers. While this sudden presence of women and girls in comics is being regarded as new and noteworthy, the observation is not true for the genre’s entire history.

Throughout the first half of the twentieth century, the medium was enjoyed equally by both sexes, and girls were the protagonist...