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Girl Comics

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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 — September 2010
No. of issues(1949)
35
(2010)
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

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First series (1949–1954)

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The initial Marvel Comics publication entitled Girl Comics was an ongoing romance comics/girls'-adventure series edited by Stan Lee that ran 12 issues (October 1949 - January 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

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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 January 1950
3 Liz Taylor April 1950
4 Borrowed Love June 1950
5 The Man Who Followed, The Haunted Terror, The Death Plunge October 1950
6-9 Mystery, Adventure, Suspense! January/March/May/July 1951
10 The Deadly Double-Cross September 1951
11 Love Stories November 1951
12 BK, The Dark Hallway January 1952

Girl Confessions

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Issue Title Publication date
13 Bride with a Broken Heart March 1952[6]
14 Love or Infatuation? May 1952
15 Untitled June 1952
16 I'll Never Forget You! July 1952
17 The Soldier's Wife! August 1952
18 We Both Loved Jerry! September 1952
19 Wallflower October 1952
20 His Last Goodbye November 1952
21 Unwanted December 1952
22 Untitled January 1953
23 The Man Who Kissed Me February 1953
24 The Way You Kiss, Martha's Man, The Lonely Night, Love Note March 1953
25 Back Into His Arms April 1953
26 The Man I Must Marry June 1953
27 Grounds for Marriage" August 1953
28 Love Me or Leave Me September 1953
29 The Truth About Thelma Johnson October 1953
30 Tall, Dark and Hands Off January 1954
31 When the Real Thing Comes Along February 1954
32 Schoolgirl Crush March 1954
33 A Boy and a Girl April 1954
34 Affair of the Heart June 1954
35 Going Steady August 1954

Second series (2010)

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Girl Comics vol. 2, #1 (May 2010). Cover art by Amanda Conner.

The second Girl Comics was a three-issue limited series released as a part of Marvel's year-long Marvel Women project.[8] Girl Comics was entirely written, colored, illustrated and lettered by female authors and artists.[8] Sister titles published during this period under the Marvel Women project,[9] included the limited series and one-shots Heralds, Black Widow, Namora, Lady Deadpool, and Her-oes.[10] It ran three issues cover-dated May to September 2010.[11] The collection was originally conceived as a celebration of both the 30th anniversary of She-Hulk and the National Women's History Project.[8]

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...."[12] 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".[12]

The 2010 series contains contributions from Devin K. Grayson, Louise Simonson, Amanda Conner, Jill Thompson, Trina Robbins, and Molly Crabapple, among others.[10][13] 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.[14] In addition, a two-page text article spotlighted Marvel Comics' Silver Age secretary and later independent comics publisher Flo Steinberg[14]

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,[15] whose work appeared in the first issue of the 1949 series.

References

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  1. ^ a b Girl Comics (Marvel, Atlas [Cornell Publishing Corp.] imprint, 1949 series) at the Grand Comics Database
  2. ^ a b c d Girl Comics October 1949 to January 1952 at AtlasTales.com
  3. ^ Girl Comics #3 at AtlasTales.com
  4. ^ Girl Confessions at the Grand Comics Database
  5. ^ Girl Confessions at AtlasTales.com
  6. ^ a b c Michelle Nolan (2008). Love on the Racks: A History of American Romance Comics. MarFarlane. p. 67. ISBN 9781476604909. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  7. ^ a b Matthew Pustz (2012). Comic Books and American Cultural History: An Anthology. Bloomberg Publishing USA. p. 96. ISBN 9781441197573. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  8. ^ a b c Laura Hudson (1 March 2010). "The Lady Editors of Marvel Talk 'Girl Comics' [Girl Week]". Comics Alliance. Archived from the original on 28 September 2015. Retrieved 30 April 2015.
  9. ^ Women of Marvel (brand) at the Grand Comics Database
  10. ^ a b 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.
  11. ^ Girl Comics (Marvel, 2010 series) at the Grand Comics Database
  12. ^ a b 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.
  13. ^ Truitt, Brian (March 1, 2010). "'Girl Comics' shines spotlight on female creators". USA Today. Archived from the original on October 26, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2010.
  14. ^ a b Girl Comics (Marvel, 2010 Series) at the Grand Comics Database
  15. ^ The Art of Stephanie Buscema (official site). WebCite archive
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