Comics has a long and fraught history with censorship, which brought the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund into existence. A non-profit determined to protect the First Amendment rights of comics as a whole, their work takes them beyond the courtroom. They created She Changed Comics as a series of tumblr posts to educate people on female comic authors and artists during Women’s History Month before it became a book helmed by Betsy Gomez. It made the Amelia Bloomer Book List this year, an awards list for feminist literature.
The UGL is excited to host She Changed Comics panelists in the Media Commons on Monday April 24th at 4pm! Our panelists will talk about the influence women have had on comics and how they built the format into the diverse and empowering storytelling medium it is today.
Betsy Gomez will be joining cartoonist Nina Paley, comic historian Carol Tilley, and international librarian Mara Thacker on Monday to talk feminism, censorship, and intersectionality in the comic industry around the world.
Interested in reading more feminist comics before our event? The UGL’s got you covered. Not only do we have the book She Changed Comics, but we have intersectional comics to recommend!
She Changed Comics: The Untold Story of the Women Who Changed Free Expression in Comics. Presented by Comic Book Legal Defense Fund; edited by Betsy Gomez
Undergrad: PN6710 .S34 2016
She Changed Comics celebrates the women who changed free expression in comics, with profiles of more than sixty groundbreaking female professionals and interviews with the women who are changing today’s medium, including Raina Telgemeier, Noelle Stevenson, G. Willow Wilson, and more! She Changed Comics also examines the plights of women imprisoned and threatened for making comics and explores the work of women whose work is being banned here in the United States.
Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson and Grace Ellis
Undergrad: PN6720.L863 L863 2015
Friendship to the max! Jo, April, Mal, Molly and Ripley are five best pals determined to have an awesome summer together…and they’re not gonna let any insane quest or an array of supernatural critters get in their way! It’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls and features five butt-kicking, rad teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a mystery with the whole world at stake.
Bitch Planet, Vol 1: Extraordinary Machine by Kelly Sue DeConnick and Valentine De Landro
Undergrad: PN6720.B5834 B5834 2015 v.1
In a future just a few years down the road in the wrong direction, a woman’s failure to comply with her patriarchal overlords will result in exile to the meanest penal planet in the galaxy. When the newest crop of fresh femmes arrive, can they work together to stay alive or will hidden agendas, crooked guards, and the deadliest sport on (or off!) Earth take them to their maker?
Monstress, Vol 1: Awakening by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda
Illinois Street Residence Hall: 741.5 L7405mo
Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900’s Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steam punk, Monstress tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both and make them the target of both human and otherworldly powers.
The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl, Vol 1: Squirrel Power by Ryan North and Erica Henderson
Undergrad: PN6720.S695 S695 2015 v.1
Doctor Doom, Deadpool, even Thanos: There’s one hero who’s beaten them all — and now she’s starring in her own series! That’s right, it’s SQUIRREL GIRL! The nuttiest and most upbeat super hero in the world is starting college! And as if meeting her new roommate and getting to class on time isn’t hard enough, now she has to deal with Kraven the Hunter, too? At least her squirrel friend Tippy-Toe is on hand to help out. But what can one girl, and one squirrel, do when a hungry Galactus heads toward Earth? You’d be surprised! With time running out and Iron Man lending a helping hand (sort of), who will win in the battle between the Power Cosmic and the Power Chestnut?
Have thoughts on She Changed Comics? Let us know on our Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram pages, and don’t forget to attend the She Changed Comics panel in the Media Commons on Monday April 24th at 4pm!