Bridgeen Gillespie has a great article in the literary review journal Verbal which has just been published in Derry, explaining just why comics, contrary to popular misconceptions, are not exclusively for boys and that real women do read 2000 AD and Hellblazer and why the wonderful world of independent comics presses is worthy of support:
“When asked to write this article, I balked at the general brief, to write something about women and comics. Where do I start? ‘Write about what you know’, I was told. So it seems only fitting to begin with the popular misconception that all comics are for boys, written by boys and littered with macho superheros. I’ll assure you now dear reader, this simply isn’t the case. As a girl who grew up reading 2000ad, Hell blazer and the Sandman I know what it’s like to feel like an alien species any time I walk in to a comic store.”
(Robot Rabbit from the fine Accent UK Robots anthology; art (c) Bridgeen Gillespie and borrowed from her site)
“The industry may be male dominated, especially the mainstream, that isn’t to say there aren’t any women working in this field. A few notable examples include Leah Moore (daughter of Alan) who frequently writes zombie themed comics with husband John Reppion, and Lynn Varley colourist (and now ex-wife) of Frank Millar without whom The Dark Knight Returns and 300 would be no where near as iconic. However there is a whole other side of the comics ‘scene’. A side where everyone has freedom of expression. Welcome to the world of Independent comics.”
(page from My Dead and Me by Lee Kennedy, borrowed from the Girly Comic archives and (c) Lee Kennedy)
Bridgeen then moves on from discovering Indy presses like Drawn & Quarterly and Top Shelf (a couple of our favourites too) to the UK small press scene (another favourite area of ours), focusing on three of her favourite female comics creators working in the UK small press scene, CAPTION regular and Whores of Mensa contributor Jeremy Dennis, artist and animator (and no stranger to this blog) Cliodhna Lyons and another CAPTION regular and editor of the Girly Comic, Selina Lock. There’s a PDF available online and Bridgeen’s article can be found on page 17. I’d also recommend having a look through the rest of Verbal – as well as a review of a recent Jonah Hex collection there are some other interesting non-comics articles and wonderful poetry by Alicia Stallings. Bridgeen does note that the details of her art on show at the end of her article is actually wrong, though, so if you want to see her art (she’s part of the Liveline exhibition I blogged about a while back) check the corrected details on her blog. (thanks to Matthew Badham for passing on the link)
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