Typical Girls: the Rhetoric of Womanhood in Comic Strips Susan E
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Typical girls The Rhetoric of Womanhood in Comic Strips Susan E. Kirtley TYPICAL GIRLS STUDIES IN COMICS AND CARTOONS Jared Gardner and Charles Hatfield, Series Editors TYPICAL GIRLS The Rhetoric of Womanhood in Comic Strips SUSAN E. KIRTLEY THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY PRESS COLUMBUS COPYRIGHT © 2021 BY THE OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY. THIS EDITION LICENSED UNDER A CREATIVE COMMONS ATTRIBUTION- NONCOMMERCIAL-NODERIVS LICENSE. THE VARIOUS CHARACTERS, LOGOS, AND OTHER TRADEMARKS APPEARING IN THIS BOOK ARE THE PROPERTY OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS AND ARE PRESENTED HERE STRICTLY FOR SCHOLARLY ANALYSIS. NO INFRINGEMENT IS INTENDED OR SHOULD BE IMPLIED. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Kirtley, Susan E., 1972– author. Title: Typical girls : the rhetoric of womanhood in comic strips / Susan E. Kirtley. Other titles: Studies in comics and cartoons. Description: Columbus : The Ohio State University Press, [2021] | Series: Studies in comics and cartoons | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: “Drawing from the work of Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Nicole Hollander (Sylvia), Lynda Barry (Ernie Pook’s Comeek), Barbara Brandon-Croft (Where I’m Coming From), Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For), and Jan Eliot (Stone Soup), Typical Girls examines the development of womanhood and women’s rights in popular comic strips”—Provided by publisher. Identifiers: LCCN 2020052823 | ISBN 9780814214572 (cloth) | ISBN 0814214576 (cloth) | ISBN 9780814281222 (ebook) | ISBN 0814281222 (ebook) Subjects: LCSH: Comic strip characters—Women. | Women in literature. | Women’s rights in literature. | Comic books, strips, etc.—History and criticism. Classification: LCC PN6714 .K47 2021 | DDC 741.5/3522—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020052823 COVER DESIGN BY ANGELA MOODY TEXT DESIGN BY JULIET WILLIAMS TYPE SET IN PALATINO For my favorite superhero team—Evelyn, Leone, and Tamasone Castigat ridendo mores. —Jean-Baptiste de Santeul CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix Acknowledgments xiii INTRODUCTION The Women’s Liberation Movement in Comic Strips 1 CHAPTER 1 Crocodilites and Cathy: The Worst of Both Worlds 32 CHAPTER 2 Visualizing Motherhood in the Comic Frame: For Better or For Worse 73 CHAPTER 3 Punk Rock Girl: Constituting Community in Barry’s Girls and Boys 106 CHAPTER 4 Nicole Hollander’s Sylvia: Menippean Satire in the Mainstream 136 CHAPTER 5 “The Lesbian Rule” in Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For 159 CHAPTER 6 Establishing Community through Dis/Association in Barbara Brandon-Croft’s Where I’m Coming From 187 CHAPTER 7 Something from Nothing: The Inductive Argument of Stone Soup 212 Works Cited 235 Index 247 ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 1.1 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. August 28, 1979. 35 FIGURE 1.2 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. November 22, 1976. 45 FIGURE 1.3 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. October 3, 2010. 47 FIGURE 1.4 Cathy Guisewite. The Cathy Chronicles. Kansas City: Sheed Andrews and McMeel, 1978, p. 133. 50 FIGURE 1.5 Cathy: Twentieth Anniversary Collection. Kansas City: Andrews and McMeel, 1996, p. 21. 51 FIGURE 1.6 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. October 23, 1980. 53 FIGURE 1.7 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. October 28, 1980. 55 FIGURE 1.8 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. October 29, 1980. 55 FIGURE 1.9 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. November 8, 1980. 57 FIGURE 1.10 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. November 11, 1980. 59 FIGURE 1.11 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. October 27, 1988. 63 FIGURE 1.12 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. November 2, 1988. 65 FIGURE 1.13 Cathy Guisewite. Cathy. November 6, 1988. 67 FIGURE 2.1 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. January 31, 1981. 85 ix x • ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 2.2 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. April 22, 1980. 87 FIGURE 2.3 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. May 11, 1980. 87 FIGURE 2.4 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. August 5, 1980. 90 FIGURE 2.5 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. September 24, 1979. 91 FIGURE 2.6 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. April 5, 1981. 92 FIGURE 2.7 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. August 20, 1980. 93 FIGURE 2.8 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. August 21, 1980. 94 FIGURE 2.9 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. September 15, 1979. 97 FIGURE 2.10 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. March 9, 1980. 99 FIGURE 2.11 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. November 5, 1980. 101 FIGURE 2.12 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. September 17, 1982. 102 FIGURE 2.13 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. October 6, 1982. 103 FIGURE 2.14 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. December 2, 1979. 104 FIGURE 2.15 Lynn Johnston. For Better or For Worse. August 28, 1980. 105 FIGURE 3.1 Lynda Barry. “How to Draw Cartoons.” Girls and Boys. Seattle: Real Comet Press, 1981, pp. 6–7. 117 FIGURE 3.2 Lynda Barry. “I Remember.” Girls and Boys. Seattle: Real Comet Press, 1981, pp. 30–31. 121 FIGURE 3.3 Lynda Barry. “I’m Going Out.” Girls and Boys. Seattle: Real Comet Press, 1981, pp. 8–9. 123 FIGURE 3.4a Lynda Barry. “Finding Your Perfect Love Mate.” Girls and Boys. Seattle: Real Comet Press, 1981, pp. 40–41. 128 FIGURE 3.4b Lynda Barry. “Finding Your Perfect Love Mate.” Girls and Boys. Seattle: Real Comet Press, 1981, pp. 42–43. 129 FIGURE 4.1 Hollander’s First Comic for The Spokeswoman. 1978. Republished in The Whole Enchilada, p. 8. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 1986. 138 ILLUSTRATIONS • xi FIGURE 4.2 Nicole Hollander. “A Political Questionnaire.” Comic Strip originally published September 7, 1988. Republished in The Sylvia Chronicles, p. 15. The Sylvia Chronicles: 30 Years of Graphic Misbehavior from Reagan to Obama. New York: New Press, 2010. 141 FIGURE 4.3 Nicole Hollander. “Are You an Optimist?” Originally published May 27, 2004. Reprinted in The Sylvia Chronicles, p. 94. 148 FIGURE 4.4 Nicole Hollander. “The Sylvia School.” Comic Strip originally published February 18, 1983. Republished in The Sylvia Chronicles, p. 24. 148 FIGURE 4.5 Nicole Hollander. “Sylvia Gets Offensive.” Comic Strip originally published September 11, 1984. Republished in The Sylvia Chronicles, p. 37. 149 FIGURE 4.6 Nicole Hollander. “Good Old Days.” Reprinted from That Woman Must be On Drugs. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981. 151 FIGURE 4.7 Nicole Hollander. “Equal Rights for Women is Unnatural.” Reprinted from That Woman Must Be on Drugs. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981. 153 FIGURE 4.8 Nicole Hollander. “Getting Married.” Reprinted from That Woman Must Be on Drugs. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1981. 155 FIGURE 4.9 Nicole Hollander. “Culture Alone.” Originally published July 13, 1983. Reprinted in The Sylvia Chronicles, p. 26. 155 FIGURE 4.10 Nicole Hollander. “Bad Girl Political Chats.” Originally published February 7, 2001. Reprinted in The Sylvia Chronicles, p. 91. 157 FIGURE 5.1 Alison Bechdel. “Pride and Prejudice.” The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008, p. 10. 171 FIGURE 5.2 Alison Bechdel. “Feelings.” The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008, p. 58. 175 FIGURE 5.3 Alison Bechdel. “Au Courant.” The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008, p. 125. 178 xii • ILLUSTRATIONS FIGURE 5.4 Alison Bechdel. “I. D. Fixe?” The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For. New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2008, p. 230. 182 FIGURE 6.1 Barbara Brandon-Croft. “NOW Literature.” Where I’m Still Coming From. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel Publishers, 1994, p. 79. 189 FIGURE 6.2 Barbara Brandon-Croft. “Sorry I’m Late, Cheryl.” Where I’m Coming From, p. 27. 201 FIGURE 6.3 Barbara Brandon-Croft. “Ain’t Life a Trip?!” Where I’m Coming From, p. 26. 202 FIGURE 6.4 Barbara Brandon-Croft. “Can You Believe My Boss . .” Where I’m Coming From, p. 68. 204 FIGURE 6.5 Barbara Brandon-Croft. “My Boss Said to Me . .” Where I’m Coming From, p. 17. Originally published March 23, 1992. 207 FIGURE 7.1 Jan Eliot. Stone Soup. Oregonian. December 5, 2014. 215 FIGURE 7.2 Jan Eliot. “Sarah Resents.” Patience and Sarah. 1981. From Jan Eliot’s blog entry, “Beginnings.” 221 FIGURE 7.3 Jan Eliot. “Don’t Worry.” Stone Soup: The First Collection. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 1997, p. 36. 222 FIGURE 7.4 Jan Eliot. “Ms. Stone.” Stone Soup: The First Collection. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 1997, p. 123. 224 FIGURE 7.5 Jan Eliot. “Do You Ever Think?” Stone Soup: The First Collection. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 1997, p. 12. 226 FIGURE 7.6 Jan Eliot. “If You’d Buy Polyester.” Stone Soup: The First Collection. Kansas City: Andrews McMeel, 1997, p. 114. 227 FIGURE 7.7 Jan Eliot. “How’d Your Book Club Go?” Not So Picture Perfect: Book Five of the Syndicated Cartoon Stone Soup. Eugene: Four Panel Press, 2005, p. 191. 229 FIGURE 7.8 Jan Eliot. “Mom, Are You a Feminist?” The Oregonian. September 24, 2017. 231 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS As a bookworm girl, I relished the friends I found in the pages of the comics. I felt a profound kinship with Charlie Brown and his longing to kick the football, although I must admit that, strangely enough, I identified most strongly with the quiet loyalty of Woodstock. I also adored Opus the Penguin and shared his love of odd infotainment devices. Later, I connected with the tragic melodrama of Rogue of the X-Men, imagining myself a similarly lonely spirit who was cursed to suck the energy from others. Over time I formed attachments to Grendel, Concrete, Tankgirl, and Dream, to name only a few. These fictional friends sustained and encouraged me, and, in ways I never could have imagined, led me to new friends and mentors, many of whom inspired this book.