Dauntless Dames: High-Heeled Heroes of the Comics - Hardcover

Various Artists

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1683967801 ISBN 13: 9781683967804

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books, 2023

Synopsis

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 insert: a fold-out section with a dozen paper doll cutouts starring the most popular women comic strip characters of the day.

About this title

About the Authors

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Fantagraphics Books
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1683967801
• ISBN 13: 9781683967804
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 160
• Editor: Robbins Trina, Maresca Peter