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The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines

The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines

by Mike Madrid (Author)

  • Used

    Paperback 2009

    $8.70
Synopsis

The Supergirls is a long overdue tribute to the fabulous fighting females whose beauty and bravery brighten the pages of your favorite comics. --STAN LEE A thoughtful, comprehensive history of women in comics ...The Supergirls gleefully celebrates the medium itself, in all its goofy, glorious excess. --NPR Best Five Books To Share With Your Friends citation Sharp and lively--and just obsessive enough about women who wear capes and boots to be cool but not creepy. [Madrid] clearly loves this stuff. And he's enough of a historian to be able to trace the ways in which the portrayal of sirens and supergirls has echoed society's ever-changing feelings about women and sex. --Entertainment Weekly Has Wonder Woman hit the comic book glass ceiling? Is that the one opposition that even her Amazonian strength can't defeat? Entertaining and informative, The Supergirls explores iconic superheroines and what it means for the culture when they do everything the superhero does, only in thongs and high heels. This much-needed alternative history of American comic book icons--from Wonder Woman to Supergirl and beyond--delves into where these crime-fighting females fit in popular culture and why, and what their stories say about the role of women in society from their creation to now, and into the future. Mike Madrid is the author of Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics (forthcoming from Exterminating Angel Press in October 2013) and The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines, an NPR Best Book To Share With Your Friends and American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book. Madrid, a San Francisco native and lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture, also appears in the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
 Pages: 334
 Publisher: Exterminating Angel Press
Published: Sep 2009
ISBN 10: 1935259032
ISBN 13: 9781935259039

Media Reviews
National Public Radio Best Book To Share With Your Friends American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book The Supergirls is a long overdue tribute to the fabulous fighting females whose beauty and bravery brighten the pages of your favorite comics. --STAN LEE A thoughtful, comprehensive history of women in comics ... The Supergirls gleefully celebrates the medium itself, in all its goofy, glorious excess. --NPR Best Book To Share With Your Friends citation From the super heroines of today to 'Goddesses of Tomorrow,' Madrid questions the position of women in the world of superhero fantasy, showing the parallels between society's expectations and the depiction of American women in comic fiction. --American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book citation Sharp and lively--and just obsessive enough about women who wear capes and boots to be cool but not creepy. [Madrid] clearly loves this stuff. And he's enough of a historian to be able to trace the ways in which the portrayal of sirens and supergirls has echoed society's ever-changing feelings about women and sex. --Entertainment Weekly Weird and wonderful all the way through. --Portland Mercury There comes a time in every comic book geek slash fashionista's life when she must ask herself 'What do costumes and couture have in common?' The Supergirls sets out to answer that question... A quick read that skims over the history of publishing powerhouses Marvel and DC, making it informative enough and providing sufficient cultural context for those who may have no prior comic book knowledge. --WORN Fashion Journal (Canada) Any comics or graphic novel library needs The Supergirls. It provides a cultural history of comic book heroines and asks whether their fantasy world has any connection to our own, offering a fine survey of different super-women in comic history and crime fighting. Any long-time comic book reader will relish this blend of scene re-creation and social analysis. --Midwest Book Review Mike Madrid's fast-moving, encyclopedic, and often funny Supergirls shows the author's lifelong affection for these heroines on every page. He has a great feel for the genre and its history, with evident sensitivity to issues of female power and powerlessness. The section on the She-Hulk is not to be missed! --LARRY GONICK, author of Cartoon History of the Universe Entertaining and informative, Supergirls is a breezy and thoroughly accessible history of the comic book heroine. A great resource! --MARC ANDREYKO, author of the DC Comics Manhunter series
Author Bio
Mike Madrid is the author of Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines of Golden Age Comics (forthcoming from Exterminating Angel Press in October 2013) and The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines, an NPR Best Book To Share With Your Friends and American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book. Madrid, a San Francisco native and lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture, also appears in the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines.