Feminist Comic Primer

This is what a feminist comic looks like. Pretty cool, huh? 

Howdy folks,  I've decided to post here today entirely to refer you do a different post that I've been enjoying thoroughly.  Over at Comic Book Resources, writer Casey Gilly has compiled fifteen examples of feminist comics and there's a lot of intriguing stuff on this list.  Feminism is increasingly moving into the conversation about video games and other media, and it's not going away any time soon.  I've always loved a good, strong female character, so I welcome it.  

For those of you who get a headache whenever you hear the word 'feminism,'  I think you will be fine with this article.  She doesn't spend time on complex critical breakdown or apply the Bechdel Test to each item on the list.  Instead the writer includes a paragraph or two about the content of each comic book series,  many of which were written by men.   The titles span a range of styles, including coming of age stories, goofy summer camp stories to high fantasy action series and other mixtures and blends.  Gilly pays attention to strong female characters, and rich story content but doesn't hit you over the head with it.  

You can skip right to the list, or you can read Gilly's first page of writing where she summarizes her own relationship to feminism.  She isn't preachy or judgmental, but instead very personal.  She clearly loves comics, but can't ignore that most comics are aimed toward males, adolescent and adult, and a lot of the girl-oriented fare has been lackluster at best.  

I'm happy to say I'm familiar with a few titles from this list, including the Maxx, Death, Locas: The Maggie and Hopey Stories and Hark! A Vagrant.  Of the new (to me) titles, I'm very interested in checking out I Kill Giants, Anyas Ghost, Princeless, Rat Queens and Red Sonja.  And special points to Saga for having an image of a woman breast feeding with one hand and holding a gun in the other.  I've never seen that one before!  

I'll leave you with a few of the more intriguing covers- from which it is easier to judge a book, in the comic world.  

Lumberjanes

-D

Many thanks to Casey Gilly at Comic Resources for this great article.  And for JP Bruneau for referring me to it.