From The Eagle #2 (1941) Art by Pierce Rice

From The Eagle #2 (1941) Art by Pierce Rice

WOMEN ARTISTS IN THE COMICS

Women had been working as cartoonists since the early years of the 20th century, often specializing in fanciful comic strips about children or pretty young flappers. When Tarpe Mills created her superheroine Miss Fury in 1941, it signaled a change for female comic artists. By the early 1940s, artists like Ruth Atkinson, Ann Brewster, Barbara Hall and Fran Hopper were drawing superhero stories for a number of different comic books. When male artists were drafted to serve in WWII, it provided even more opportunities for women to draw heroic stories in comics. Artists Lily Renée, Nina Albright, Pauline Loth, and Jill Elgin often illustrated the adventures of daring wartime heroines like Senorita Rio, Miss Victory, and the Girl Commandos. When male artists returned from the war, they took back the job of drawing adventure comics. The women moved on to draw romance comics, or left the industry entirely.

After twenty years most of these women artists’ names would be largely forgotten, just like the heroines they had illustrated. It wasn’t until the 1980s that female artists began to once more become a presence in mainstream superhero comics.

Miss Victory by Nina Albright

Miss Victory by Nina Albright

Senorita Rio by Lily Renée

Senorita Rio by Lily Renée