Dauntless Dames: High-Heeled Heroes of the Comic Strips

by Trina Robbins (Editor), Peter Maresca (Editor)

Overview

The audacious exploits of ten great adventurous female stars from the Golden Age of comic strips.

In the 1920s they were socialites and flappers. In the 1960s they were homemakers and heartthrobs. But from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, female stars of the newspaper comic strips were detectives, spies, soldiers of fortune, even superheroes. Accomplishing everything the male comics stars of the time achieved, except they did it in high-heels and flowing skirts. Follow the daring exploits of these smart, tough, independent AND sexy Dauntless Dames.

Both a product of their era and ahead of their time, the women in these stories gave their audience just what they needed. Through the Sunday Comics readers could escape from the woes of the Depression, travel to exotic foreign lands, feel the glamor and gangsters of the entertainment world, and support the Allied efforts in World War II.

Presented in an extra-large format, here are the colorful, pulse-pounding tales of ten incredible women, both known and unknown to comics fans — and most are reprinted here for the first time in three-quarters of a century! The book also includes a special bonus: an insert section with a dozen paper doll cutouts starring the most popular women comic strip characters of the day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781683967804
Publisher:	Fantagraphics Books
Publication date:	10/17/2023
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	946,921
Product dimensions:	16.60(w) x 13.00(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Comics herstorian Trina Robbins (1939-2024) was an American cartoonist. She was an early participant and one of the first women in the underground comix movement. She co-produced the 1970 underground comic It Ain't Me, Babe, which was the first comic book entirely created by women. She co-founded the Wimmen's Comix collective, wrote for Wonder Woman, and produced adaptations of Dope and The Silver Metal Lover. She was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013 and received Eisner Awards in 2017 and 2021. As a scholar and historian, Robbins researched the history of women in cartooning. She wrote several nonfiction books including Pretty In Ink (2013), and Flapper Queens: Women Cartoonists of the Jazz Age (2020).

Peter Maresca is the multiple Eisner and Harvey Award-winning publisher of high-quality, full-sized collections of classic American newspaper strips. His Sunday Press books represent a high-water mark in the reproduction and preservation of American comic strips. Maresca changed the concept of comic reprints in 2005 with his original-sized Little Nemo in Slumberland: So Many Splendid Sundays, Winsor McCay’s groundbreaking strip. He continued with Sundays with Walt & Skeezix (Frank King’s Gasoline Alley), George Herriman’s Krazy Kat, Chester Gould’s Dick Tracy, and a dozen others. Maresca lives a relatively non-virtual life in Palo Alto, CA.

Editorial Reviews

"The real treasures are the obscurities. Who knew one of the earliest superhero strips in newspapers was Russell Stamm’s Invisible Scarlett O’Neill, let alone that it’s illustrated in a charmingly goofy style? Even more remarkable is the bonkers Deathless Deer. ... As a curated collection with introductory essays Dauntless Dames is first rate."

The Slings & Arrows

"Anyone interested in the history of women in comics — or pop culture — will love this huge collection of newspaper comic strips from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, a golden era of adventurous female protagonists in the funny pages."

Shondaland

"Dauntless Dames is a fascinating collection of little-known Golden Age comic strips [starring adventurous women] presented in a stunning oversized format."

Cinema Sentries