If you ask the average person who’s Stan Lee or Jack Kirby, chances are they’d know who those legendary men are. However, if you then ask ‘who’s your favorite female cartoonist?‘ chances are they couldn’t come up with an answer, at least without a little research. Truth be told I love comics, but I still have much to learn when it comes to the women who broke barriers in the comic book industry. This became clear to me when I learned of Wonder Woman’s origins a few years ago and the amazing work of Trina Robbins (specifically her lack of notoriety for being the first woman to draw Wonder Woman in the 1980s). One online exhibit is here to help comic book fans (and the general public) with the issue of gender in comics.
Accordinghttps://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/29/women-in-comics-online-exhibition-cartoonists-society-of-illustrators to The Guardian:
Women in Comics: Looking Forward and Back is a group exhibition at the Society of Illustrators featuring more than 50 female cartoonists, from the early 20th century trailblazers to plus-size superheroes, queer graphic novels, wartime romances and flapper-era cartoons, all of which go outside your typical superhero format.
The exhibit will be divided into two parts: a section to showcase the history of female cartoonists who were trailblazers, dating back to the early 1900s. Then in the second part it’ll showcase more contemporary work, showing work from the 70’s to the present day. Ultimately a well-rounded lesson; but due to the current pandemic there’s an online showing of the exhibit which will last until October 24th (plus be on the look out for a video tour pretty soon!). Trina Robbins has even produced several pieces from her personal collection to be in the first part of the exhibit.
Toronto-based artist Fiona Smyth notes:
There’s a history of sexism in comics just like every other arts scene or industry.The history of comics has slowly been rewritten to include the women, LGBTQ2S creators, trans folks, folks with disabilities, people of color and indigenous cartoonists who weren’t previously included but created work, along the way.
This exhibit isn’t the end all be all for sexism in the comic book industry, but it’s an amazing step in the right direction.
Featured image via Showbiz Cheat Sheet
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