A01=Michelle Ann Abate
Author_Michelle Ann Abate
Category=AKLC
Category=DNT
Category=DSB
Category=DSBH
Category=DSRC
Category=DSY
Category=JBCC1
Category=JBSF1
Category=XY
childhood and youth
Comics Code
Comics Studies
eq_anthologies-novellas-short-stories
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
eq_biography-true-stories
eq_fiction
eq_graphic-novels-manga
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
female juvenile delinquency
female protagonists in comics
Freud
gender roles
graphic novels
Great Depression
Harvey Girls
Li'l Tomboy
Lil Orphan Annie
little audrey
little lulu
Popular Culture
postwar child psychology
race in comics
racial dynamics
vaudeville
Women's Studies
Product details
- ISBN 9781496820747
- Weight: 322g
- Dimensions: 152 x 228mm
- Publication Date: 30 Dec 2018
- Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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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.
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.
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.
