The Great Women Cartoonists by Trina Robbins

The book contains no bibliography (which, according to Robbins was the editor's decision) the sources used, therefore, are not available to other researchers. If one were to find any fault with the work, it would have to be the absence of any reference information. It also contains some obscure histories and fills in some gaps from previous works on women and girls' comics. Robbins also discusses the parallels between changing social movements, the rise of feminism, and changes in comics, including the undergrounds of the 1960s and 1970s and the alternatives of the 1980s and 1990s. The reader learns, among other things, that girls' comics began with Archie, in 1941, about the importance and influence of Katy Keene, and the fact that at one time girls' comics outsold boys' comics. The book contains many illustrations of covers and story excerpts from the comics discussed. From Girls to Grrrlz details the many genres of comics for girls and women, social trends, and the background of authors and writers for these comics (who were not always women). The chapters are arranged according to periods defined by Robbins, Girls' Comics (1941-1957), Women's Comics (1947-1977), Womyn's Comix (1970-1989), and Grrrlz' Comix (1990s). This work chronicles the history of women comics from 1941 until 1998. Her newest endeavor is From Girls to Grrrls: A History of Girls' Comics from Teens to Zines. Her works, in addition to many published articles and interviews, include Women and the Comics (jointly written with Catherine Yronwode), A Century of Women Cartoonists, and The Great Women Superheroes. She has given comics scholarship many valuable resources in this area. One writer of comics history who has worked diligently over the years to rectify this omission from at least one contributing group, women, is Trina Robbins. Histories of comics often by-pass or gloss over the contributions made by minorities. Reviewed by Jeff Williams (Facultad de Lenguas, Universidad Nacional de Cordoba) San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books, 1999. From Girls to Grrrls: A History of Girls' Comics from Teens to Zines.

The Great Women Cartoonists by Trina Robbins