Girl Comics

Publication history

First series (1949–1954)

The initial Marvel Comics publication entitled Girl Comics was an ongoing romance comics/girls'-adventure series edited by Stan Lee that ran 12 issues (October 1949 - January 1952), first by Marvel's 1940s predecessor, Timely Comics, and shortly afterward by the company's 1950s iteration, Atlas Comics. It was renamed Girl Confessions with issue #13 (March 1952) and ran a total 35 issues, through cover-date August 1954.

Artist contributors to this series included John Buscema and Al Hartley in issue #1, Bob Brown and Bill Everett in #3, Russ Heath in #5,

''Girl Comics''

The first four issues of Girl Comics were written as typical romance comics, valuing plot over character development. Most narratives were recycled, not changing drastically between issues. Issues #5 through #12, however, adopted a new subtitle, Mystery, Adventure, Suspense! and featured plot-lines similar to those in Nancy Drew novels.

''Girl Confessions''

Second series (2010)

The second Girl Comics was a three-issue limited series released as a part of Marvel's year-long Marvel Women project. Girl Comics was entirely written, colored, illustrated and lettered by female authors and artists. included the limited series and one-shots Heralds, Black Widow, Namora, Lady Deadpool, and Her-oes. The collection was originally conceived as a celebration of both the 30th anniversary of She-Hulk and the National Women's History Project.

Jeanine Schaefer, one of the editors, said of the initiative's timing: "Because 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the first appearance of She-Hulk, we got together to brainstorm some ideas for a celebration of women at Marvel Comics, much like we did for the 70th anniversary...." She said the publisher felt the potentially controversial word "girl" in the title could be reclaimed: "It was one of the first titles we thought of (the actual first one, I think), because it pulled double-duty: Not only was it the name of an old Marvel romance title, it has a word in it that we could take back".

The 2010 series contains contributions from Devin K. Grayson, Louise Simonson, Amanda Conner, Jill Thompson, Trina Robbins, and Molly Crabapple, among others. The 52-page first issue included stories of the male characters Nightcrawler, the Punisher, and Spider-Man in addition to stories of the superheroines She-Hulk, Venus, and Jean Grey. In addition, a two-page text article spotlighted Marvel Comics' Silver Age secretary and later independent comics publisher Flo Steinberg

Illustrator and cartoonist Stephanie Buscema, who penciled and inked the eight-page story featuring Venus, is a granddaughter of the major comics artist John Buscema, whose work appeared in the first issue of the 1949 series.

References

References

1. "''Girl Comics'' (Marvel, Atlas [Cornell Publishing Corp.] imprint, 1949 series)".
2. [https://www.atlastales.com/sT/95 ''Girl Comics'' October 1949 to January 1952] at AtlasTales.com
3. [https://www.atlastales.com/sI/953 ''Girl Comics'' #3] at AtlasTales.com
4. "''Girl Confessions''".
5. [https://www.atlastales.com/sT/96 ''Girl Confessions''] at AtlasTales.com
6. Michelle Nolan. (2008). "Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics". MarFarlane.
7. Matthew Pustz. (2012). "Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology". Bloomberg Publishing USA.
8. Laura Hudson. (1 March 2010). "The Lady Editors of Marvel Talk 'Girl Comics' [Girl Week]". Comics Alliance.
9. Sister titles published during this period under the ''Marvel Women'' project,[http://www.comics.org/brand/583/ Women of Marvel (brand)] at the Grand Comics Database
10. "''Girl Comics'' (Marvel, 2010 series)".
11. Richards, Dave. (February 19, 2010). "Jeanine Schaefer on "Girl Comics"". [[Comic Book Resources]].
12. MacDonald, Heidi. (December 15, 2009). "Exclusive: Marvel announces Girl Comics". [[Publishers Weekly]].
13. Truitt, Brian. (March 1, 2010). "'Girl Comics' shines spotlight on female creators". [[USA Today]].
14. "''Girl Comics'' (Marvel, 2010 Series)".
15. [http://www.stephaniebuscema.com The Art of Stephanie Buscema] (official site). [https://web.archive.org/web/20080502054853/http://www.stephaniebuscema.com/ WebCite archive]