She Makes Comics - Post 5

     Throughout the course of research for my final project, I stumbled across a very appropriate documentary called 'She Makes Comics' which focuses on the pioneering accomplishments of various women who have worked in the comics industry from the 1950s to today. I highly recommend this documentary to the students of our class, or really anyone who is interested in media history. While the movie touches on many careers, for the purposes of this post I have decided to showcase three of the artists featured.

     Early on in the film we are introduced to Ramona Fradon, a comic book artist who started drawing for DC comics in the 1950s. Ramona was known for being one of the first women to regularly illustrate a superhero title for a major publisher. Her breakout superhero was Aquaman. She was also the creator of the hero 'Metamorpho'. It becomes clear during the interviews with other artists, that Ramona was hugely influential to them personally, and is also credited with making room for women artists during the early days of the industry.

 

     Another artist we meet is cosplay pioneer Wendy Pini. During the first comic-cons in the 1970s, Wendy would perform a stage show as the fantasy character 'Red Sonja' for the con audience. The show became so popular that other women started to also dress like Sonja during the conventions. This in turn inspired others to create costumes of their favorite heroes and gave them the confidence to share their creations with other fans. The documentary frames this as the birth of cosplay and it makes sense as it's presented within the context of comic and fantasy conventions.

     Wendy's first job in the comic industry was to write an issue of the 'Red Sonja' comic book because the publishers had been so impressed with her live performances as Sonja that they approached her to come up with a story. It was this gig that gave Wendy the inspiration to create her own series ElfQuest. When pitched to DC and Marvel, ElfQuest was rejected by them as being too strange, so Wendy decided to self publish the series ElfQuest, which was and still is supremely popular among young girls. ElfQuest has been running for 36+ years, and was one of the very first comic books to be created and self published by a woman.

     In 1976 DC Comics hired 28 year old Jenette Kahn as publisher, and she went on to become president of DC in 1981, the youngest person in the company to ever be president of a division and the first woman. Before Kahn, the prevailing idea behind selling comic books were that they were made for children. Jenette had the approach that comics were a medium for telling stories, and that these stories could be crafted for people of all ages. This was revolutionary in the world of comics, as it was the first time we had comics for adults that were legitimate, and not the product of underground comics movements.

 

     Because of this radical change, the medium itself of comics and graphic novels was pushed to new horizons that resulted in some of the most influential comics of all time. The movie lists 'The Watchmen' and 'The Dark Knight Returns' as the best products of this period. This emphasis on storytelling led to the creation of the 'Vertigo' imprint which brought comic storytelling to adults, and paved the way for other adult themed imprints.

She Makes Comics ($10)