10 Comic Books by Women You Really, Really Need to Read!

Fantastic creator-owned or non-mainstream comic books written by women who aren't Gail Simone (not that there's anything wrong with Gail, but she'd be the first to tell you she's far from the only mondo-talented woman in comic books). These are books from a few years ago and books from now, and books from even more than a few years ago still worth reading...

The Book of Mer -- Afua Richardson

Simply, breathtakingly beautiful book. Perhaps one of the finest comics artists working today. Afua has done beautiful work for others, and it's a joy to see her telling her original mermaid story here. 

Monstress -- Marjorie Liu

Another epic tale of looking past the surface of situations and people. This dark fantasy is full of longing and wonder. 

Pretty Deadly -- Kelly Sue DeConnick

Cerebral, oddball fantasy that really crosses a lot of genres. It's a sci-fi, western, fantasy, dystopian, utopian nightmare as only Kelly Sue can create it.

Grindhouse/Grindhouse Drive-In, Bleed Out -- Alex De Campi

Perhaps the best anthology to come out since the old Witching Hour and House of Secrets/Mysteries books. A little bit of many genres cover covered, from horror to sci-fi to exploitation to you name it, and all with the best kind of drive-in style.

Go-Girl -- Trina Robbins

People who said there weren't any fun, awesome books for girls must have never seen this phenomenal book. She flies, that's it, but it's also a story about kids and parents, generational issues, fun adventures, and super cute art. 

Peepland -- Christa Faust

Perhaps her only bio says it best, "A Veronica in a world of Bettys." And it shows. Any work Christa touches feels the special kind of grimy only she can deliver. But it's totally the best kind of grimy. 

Lady Killer -- Joëlle Jones

This is the pulpy masterpiece I wish I had written. Housewife by day, assassin by night. She can bring home the bacon and kill her prey with a pan. The weaker sex?! I don't think so. 

Relative Heroes -- Devon Grayson

Fun, super-hero action that really deserved broader attention. Grayson's super-powered family of adolescents tours the DC Universe and learns to get along with each other, It's the super hero version of "ohana means family."

Cairo -- G. Willow Wilson

Writing a book this good is how you land sweet Ms. Marvel and Wonder Woman gigs. Breathtaking story. Beautiful art. Literature told in pictures. One of the best graphics to come out in years. 

Elfquest -- Wendy Pini

The original and still the highpoint for classic fantasy comic books. I originally didn't include this on the list because I figured it was already so well known. 

[Link] Women Who Conquered the Comics World

by Lisa Hix

The day after she returns from the 2014 San Diego Comic-Con International, comics icon Trina Robbins sits down with me outside at a café just around the corner from her home in San Francisco’s Castro District. As we talk and eat, trains from the Muni Metro railway come thundering by. Robbins’ partner, Steve Leialoha, a comic artist for Marvel and an inker for the DC/Vertigo series “Fables,” arrives fresh from Comic Con with his bags and joins us at the table for half an hour or so.

“When I got to San Francisco in 1970, I discovered that maybe it was the mecca of underground comix for the guys, but not for the girls.”

As both a comics creator and historian, Robbins is particularly interested in the unknown history of female cartoonists and the ways they were celebrated and thwarted throughout the last century. Late last year, Robbins published a Fantagraphics book called Pretty in Ink: North American Women Cartoonists, 1896-2013, and now, the Cartoon Art Museum in San Francisco is presenting an exhibition of Robbins’ personal collection based on the book.

The subject is particularly relevant right now, given that new comic-book-based movies are hitting the big screen every few months, yet not a single one has revolved around a female hero. Marvel has taken bold steps by making a Pakistani American teen the new Ms. Marvel, in a comic-book series written by a woman, and turning Thor into a woman in its upcoming revamp of the series. At the same time, the major publisher raised feminist ire with a sexualized variant cover of its new Spider-Woman series. If a woman had drawn Spider-Woman instead of a man, it’s unlikely she would have sacrificed the hero’s comfort and mobility in favor of an erotic pose.

Robbins knows something about the glass ceiling for women cartoonists because she first hit it herself in the early 1970s, when she tried to join the male-dominated “underground comix” movement based in San Francisco. After the men cartoonists shut her out, Robbins joined forces with other women cartoonists to create their own women’s-lib comic books. She went on to become a well-respected mainstream comic artist and writer, as well as a feminist comics critic who’s written myriad nonfiction books on the subject of great women cartoonists and the powerful female characters they created. Naturally, Robbins has spent some time hunting down the original cartoons from the women who paved the way for her career, and as luck would have it, she found the very first comic strip ever drawn by a woman, “The Old Subscriber Calls” by Rose O’Neill, practically in her backyard.

Read the full article: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/women-who-conquered-the-comics-world/