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

by Michelle Ann Abate

Overview

For several generations, comics were regarded as a boy's 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 protagonists of some of the earliest, most successful, and most influential comics. In Funny Girls: Guffaws, Guts, and Gender in Classic American Comics, Michelle Ann Abate examines the important but long-overlooked cadre of young female protagonists in US comics during the first half of the twentieth century. She treats characters ranging from Little Orphan Annie and Nancy to Little Lulu, Little Audrey of the Harvey Girls, and Li'l Tomboy--a group that collectively forms a tradition of funny girls in American comics.

Abate demonstrates the massive popularity these funny girls enjoyed, revealing their unexplored narrative richness, aesthetic complexity, and critical possibility. Much of the humor in these comics arose from questioning gender roles, challenging social manners, and defying the status quo. Further, they embodied powerful points of collection about both the construction and intersection of race, class, gender, and age, as well as popular perceptions about children, representations of girlhood, and changing attitudes regarding youth. Finally, but just as importantly, these strips shed light on another major phenomenon within comics: branding, licensing, and merchandising. Collectively, these comics did far more than provide amusement--they were serious agents for cultural commentary and sociopolitical change.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781496820730
Publisher:	University Press of Mississippi
Publication date:	12/10/2018
Pages:	210
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

Michelle Ann Abate, Columbus, Ohio, is associate professor of literature for children and young adults at The Ohio State University. She is coeditor with Gwen Athene Tarbox of Graphic Novels for Children and Young Adults: A Collection of Critical Essays, published by University Press of Mississippi, and author of four books of literary criticism about children's and young adult literature.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments vii

Introduction "It's a Bird! It's a Plane! It's an Elementary-Aged Girl!" Remembering a Time in American Comics When Young Female Protagonists Ruled 3

1 "Then I Could Have a Real Papa and Mama like Other Kids" Little Orphan Annie, the Orphan Girl Formula, and the Nanny State 15

2 "I Slant My Gags to the Lawrence Welk Gum Chewers" Nancy and the Vaudeville Aesthetic 41

3 From Battling Adult Authority to Battling the Opposite Sex Little Lulu as Gag Panel and Comic Book 63

4 In Your Dreams Little Audrey, Freudian Psychoanalysis, and Postwar Child Psychology 90

5 "From the Top, Stupid!" The Li'l Tomboy Comic Book Series, Female Juvenile Delinquency, and the Comics Code 114

Epilogue From Li'l to Big The Legacy of Classic American Comics Starring Girls 152

Notes 171

Works Cited 178

Index 191