Although I really enjoyed The Mysterious Underground Men, I was really irritated to find that
we were reading another story with little to no female characters. Although the
Queen of the underground world could be considered female, she’s a secondary
character with not much character development. I was really excited when Mimi
appeared to save the day and insist that even though it might not look like it
she’s “still a first-class engineer.” So even though the twist that Mimi was
actually Mimio was a cool surprise, I was really disappointed that the story
lost one of its two female characters. I can’t help but wonder why the only
comics we’ve read so far with more than one or two female characters have been
comics like Wonder Woman or Little Lulu, where the main character is female.
How is it that there are so few representations of women in comics?
I agree and share your frustration, Kelsey. Therein lies/was the problem with the industry in global terms in early 20th century -- there seems to be a lack of women artists and female protagonists. With the exception of Little Lulu, the Brinkley girl, we don't really see much nor much with profound effects on popular culture as Wonder Woman. As the documentary that we saw a few weeks ago, She Makes Comics, discussed there were women (as artists and primary characters) and but they don't really come into play until the 1950s in the US and then abroad. When we get to week 9 w/Jackie Ormes and then Tardi's Adèle Blanc-Sec in this course, there will be an interesting shift that lays the groundwork for the explosion of the 1990s where the terms & parameters undergo a change.
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