Dauntless Dames: High-Heeled Heroes of the Comics

by Various, Peter Maresca (Editor)

The audacious exploits of ten great adventurous female stars from the Golden Age of comic strips. In the 1920s they were socialites and flappers. In the 1960s they were homemakers and heartthrobs. But from the late 1930s to the early 1950s, female stars of the newspaper comic strips were detectives, spies, soldiers of fortune, even superheroes. Accomplishing everything the male comics stars of the time achieved, except they did it in high-heels and flowing skirts. Follow the daring exploits of these smart, tough, independent AND sexy Dauntless Dames . Both a product of their era and ahead of their time, the women in these stories gave their audience just what they needed. Through the Sunday Comics readers could escape from the woes of the Depression, travel to exotic foreign lands, feel the glamor and gangsters of the entertainment world, and support the Allied efforts in World War II. Presented in an extra-large format, here are the colorful, pulse-pounding tales of ten incredible women, both known and unknown to comics fans ― and most are reprinted here for the first time in three-quarters of a century! The book also includes a special an insert section with a dozen paper doll cutouts starring the most popular women comic strip characters of the day. Full-color illustrations throughout

Genres: Comics

160 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2023

About the author

Various is the correct author for any book with multiple unknown authors, and is acceptable for books with multiple known authors, especially if not all are known or the list is very long (over 50).

If an editor is known, however, Various is not necessary. List the name of the editor as the primary author (with role "editor"). Contributing authors' names follow it.

Note: WorldCat is an excellent resource for finding author information and contents of anthologies.

Reviews

[Norman Cook · Rating 4 out of 5]

2024 Eisner Award winner - Best Archival Collection/Project – Strips

This is a historical document that looks at some known, and many more unknown, newspaper comic strips from the 1930s-1950s that feature female protagonists, and in some cases, female creators, proving that men didn't have a monopoly on action and adventure. These women were detectives, spies, soldiers, and superheroes. They were smart, tough, and independent. The book features these characters: Brenda Starr, Torchy Brown, Myra North: Special Nurse, Invisible Scarlet O’Neill, Miss Fury, Flyin’ Jenny, Deathless Deer, Connie, Claire Voyant, and Miss Cairo Jones. Despite their focus on adventure, most of the strips nevertheless rely on cheesecake, fashion, and romance in ways that male-oriented strips of the time do not. The quality of the art is generally good to excellent, but the overall stories often leave a lot to be desired--there are good reasons many of these strips are long forgotten. Sunday Press does its usual excellent job of reprinting strips in full size and with good color. The overall book design is excellent. Each section gets about 10-20 pages of excerpts from longer story runs, so in some cases we don't see storylines resolved. There are short essays at the beginning of each section about the creators--these probably should have been expanded, as this book may be the only exposure some of these creators will get. Because of the time period in which these strips originally appeared, there are numerous ethnic stereotypes that are offensive. The proofreading on this book is below standard, with a number of typos, and one huge mistake where a week's Flyin' Jenny is repeated on a subsequent page.

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Congratulations for the 2024 Eisner Award for Best Archival Collection/Project—Strips: Dauntless Dames: High-Heeled Heroes of the Comic Strips, edited by Peter Maresca and Trina Robbins (Fantagraphics)!!

I don’t know--but give respect to --Peter Maresca but kudos to him for working with the iconic women’s comics artist and archivist Trina Robbins in their oversized gorgeous collection of ten women’s comics strips, many of which I had never heard of, most reprinted here for the first time, including Miss Fury, Connie, Brenda Starr, Flyin’ Jenny, Invisible Scarlet O’Neill, Myra North: Special Nurse, Cairo Jones, Deathless Deer, and Torchy Brown!

Okay, I did not read every single strip here but I read a lot of it, and it is an amazing pop cultural and comics history document. Maybe I was most struck by Jackie Ormes' "Torchy in Heartbeats," a romantic strip about a Black woman facing racism in the 1950s, but it was all interesting. You probably get your library to buy this and borrow it, but yay to this team for the gift.

[Bill Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sunday Press books always remind me of just how pretty a printed book can be. Oversized and meticulous in its color work, this volume like others from the company offers samples of some of the most exciting Sunday comic work of the 20th century. This volume, edited by the queen of comix, is about female adventurers and their creators. My favorite is "Deathless Deer," about a reincarnated Egyptian princess with an immortal pet hawk, but the most remarkable creation is probably Jackie Ormes' "Torchy in Heartbeats," a romantic strip about a Black woman confronting urban crime and Southern racism in the 1950s. The other contents are all entertaining too.

Recommended for anyone with an interest in comic strip art.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book from the publisher through Edelweiss.

[Macomfort · Rating 4 out of 5]

Flying Jenny and Cairo Jones were my favorites