Girl Comics
Girl Comics | |
---|---|
Photographic cover of Girl Comics #1 (Oct. 1949) | |
Publication information | |
Publisher |
(1949) Timely Comics Girl Confessions Atlas Comics (2010) Marvel Comics |
Schedule |
(1949) Bi-monthly (2010) Monthly |
Format |
(1949) Ongoing series (2010) Limited series |
Genre |
(1949) Romance comics (2010) Superhero comics |
Publication date |
(1949) October 1949 – August 1954 (2010) May 2010— |
Number of issues |
(1949) 35 (2010) 1 (of 3) |
Editor(s) |
(1949) Stan Lee (2010) Sana Amanat Rachel Pinnelas Lauren Sankovitch Jeanine Schaefer |
Girl Comics is the name of two comic-book series published by Marvel Comics and its forerunners, Timely Comics and Atlas Comics. The first, debuting in 1949, ran 35 issues, changing its title to Girl Confessions with issue #13 (March 1952). The second was a three-issue limited series published in 2010.
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 (Oct. 1949 - Jan. 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,[1] Bob Brown[2] and Bill Everett in #3,[3] Russ Heath in #5,[2] Ann Brewster, Mike Esposito, and Dick Rockwell in #8,[1][2] and Bernard Krigstein in #12.[2] Contributors to multiple issues of Girl Confessions included Hartley, Jay Scott Pike, Morris Weiss, and Golden Age Batman artist Jerry Robinson.[4][5]
Girl Comics
The first four issues of Girl Comics were written as typical romance comics,[6] valuing plot over character development.[7] Most narratives were recycled, not changing drastically between issues.[7] Issues 5 through 12, however, adopted a new subtitle, Mystery, Adventure, Suspense! and featured plot-lines similar to those in Nancy Drew novels.[6]
Issue | Title | Publication date |
---|---|---|
1 | I Couldn't Escape From Love | October 1949 |
2 | Blind Date | 1949 |
3 | Liz Taylor | 1949 |
4 | Borrowed Love | June 1950 |
5 | The Man Who Followed, The Haunted Terror, The Death Plunge | October 1950[8] |
6-9 | Mystery, Adventure, Suspense! | 1950 |
10 | The Deadly Double-Cross | 1951 |
11 | Love Stories | 1951 |
12 | BK, The Dark Hallway | January 1952 |
Girl Confessions
Issue | Title | Publication date |
---|---|---|
13 | Bride with a Broken Heart | March 1952[6] |
14 | Love or Infatuation? | 1952 |
15 | Untitled | 1952 |
16 | I'll Never Forget You! | 1952 |
17 | The Soldier's Wife! | 1952 |
18 | We Both Loved Jerry! | 1952 |
19 | Wallflower | 1952 |
20 | His Last Goodbye | 1952 |
21 | Unwanted | 1952 |
22 | Untitled | 1952 |
23 | The Man Who Kissed Me | 1952 |
24 | The Way You Kiss, Martha's Man, The Lonely Night, Love Note | 1952 |
25 | Back Into His Arms | 1952 |
26 | The Man I Must Marry | 1952 |
27 | Grounds for Marriage" | 1952 |
28 | Love Me or Leave Me | 1952 |
29 | The Truth About Thelma Johnson | 1952 |
30 | Tall, Dark and Hands Off | 1952 |
31 | When the Real Thing Comes Along | 1952 |
32 | Schoolgirl Crush | 1952 |
33 | A Boy and a Girl | 1952 |
34 | Affair of the Heart | 1952 |
35 | Going Steady | 1952 |
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.[9] Girl Comics was entirely written, colored, illustrated and lettered by female authors and artists.[9] Sister titles published during this period under the Marvel Women project,[10] included the limited series and one-shots Heralds, Black Widow, Namora, Lady Deadpool, and Her-oes.[11] It ran three issues cover-dated May to September 2010.[12] The collection was originally conceived as a celebration of both the 30th anniversary of She-Hulk and the National Women's History Project.[9]
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...."[13] 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."[13]
The 2010 series contains contributions from Devin K. Grayson, Louise Simonson, Amanda Conner, Jill Thompson, Trina Robbins, and Molly Crabapple, among others.[11][14] 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.[15] In addition, a two-page text article spotlighted Marvel Comics' Silver Age secretary and later independent comics publisher Flo Steinberg.[15]
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,[16] whose work appeared in the first issue of the 1949 series.
References
- 1 2 'Girl Comics (Marvel, Atlas [Cornell Publishing Corp.] imprint, 1949 Series) at the Grand Comics Database
- 1 2 3 4 Girl Comics October 1949 to January 1952 at AtlasTales.com
- ↑ Girl Comics #3 at AtlasTales.com
- ↑ 'Girl Confessions' at the Grand Comics Database
- ↑ Girl Confessions at AtlasTales.com
- 1 2 3 Michelle Nolan (2008). Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics. MarFarlane. p. 67. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- 1 2 Matthew Pustz (2012). Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Bloomberg Publishing USA. p. 96. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ↑ Tony Isabella (2009). 1,000 Comic Books You Must Read. Krause Publications. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- 1 2 3 Laura Hudson (1 March 2010). "The Lady Editors of Marvel Talk ‘Girl Comics’ [Girl Week]". Comics Alliance. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
- ↑ Women of Marvel (brand) at the Grand Comics Database
- 1 2 MacDonald, Heidi (December 15, 2009). "Exclusive: Marvel announces Girl Comics". Publishers Weekly. The Beat. Archived from the original on April 30, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
- ↑ 'Girl Comics (Marvel, 2010 series) at the Grand Comics Database
- 1 2 Richards, Dave (February 19, 2010). "Jeanine Schaefer on "Girl Comics"". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on June 16, 2011. Retrieved May 1, 2010.
- ↑ Truitt, Brian (March 1, 2010). "'Girl Comics' shines spotlight on female creators". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 23, 2012. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
- 1 2 'Girl Comics (Marvel, 2010 Series) at the Grand Comics Database
- ↑ The Art of Stephanie Buscema (official site). WebCite archive.
External links
- Girl Comics (1949) at the Comic Book DB
- Girl Confessions at the Comic Book DB
- Girl Comics (2010) at the Comic Book DB
- Zawisza, Doug. Review: Girl Comics #1, Comic Book Resources, March 3, 2010
- McDonald, Amanda, and Jeff Marsick, "Best Shots Comic Reviews", Girl Comics #1 (two reviews), Newsarama, March 8, 2010