“Mike Madrid gives these forgotten superheroines their due.  These ‘lost’ heroines are now found– to the delight of comicbook lovers everywhere.”—Stan Lee

Wonder Woman, Mary Marvel, and Sheena, Queen of the Jungle ruled the pages of comic books in the 1940s. But many heroines of the WWII era have been forgotten. Through twenty-eight full reproductions of vintage Golden Age comics, Divas, Dames & Daredevils reintroduces their ingenious abilities to mete out justice to Nazis, aliens, and evildoers of all kinds.
Each spine-tingling chapter opens with Mike Madrid’s insightful commen- tary about heroines at the dawn of the comic book industry and reveals a uni- verse populated by extraordinary women—superheroes, reporters, galactic warriors, daring detectives, and ace fighter pilots—who protected America and the world with wit and guile.

In these pages, fans will also meet heroines with striking similarities to more modern superheroes, including The Spider Queen, who deployed web shooters twenty years before Spider Man, and Marga the Panther Woman, whose feral instincts and sharp claws tore up the bad guys long before Wolverine. These women may have been overlooked in the annals of history, but their influence on popular culture, and the heroes we’re passionate about today, is unmistakable. Includes a foreword by Maria Elena Buszek, PhD.

Mike Madrid is the author of The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines, an NPR “Best Book To Share With Your Friends” and American Library Association Amelia Bloomer Project Notable Book. Madrid, a San Francisco native and lifelong fan of comic books and popular culture, also appears in the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines.

A fully illustrated and thrilling look back at the lost supergirls of Golden Age comics.

COMICS & GRAPHIC NOVELS / LITERARY CRITICISM
7×9
240 pp
B&W illustrations throughout
Trade Paper US $16.95 | CAN $18.50
ISBN: 978-1-935259-23-7
eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-24-4

INTRODUCTION-A CAST OF THOUSANDS

Imagine you are in a present-day comic book shop. Take a glance over the shelves of comic books and you’re likely to see many familiar titles – Superman, Batman, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Fantastic Four, Iron Man, Catwoman, and X-Men. These are all names and faces and colorful costumes that we’ve come to expect to see on comic book shelves for decades.

Now imagine you’re looking at a similar rack of comic books from 70 years ago. First off, there were no specialty comic book shops—those didn’t appear in America in great numbers until the 1970’s. So if this were the 1940’s, you’d be looking at comics at a newsstand, a drug store or a candy shop. And the assortment of titles would look different from what we’re used to seeing— Champion Comics, Crackajack Funnies, Hit Comics, Heroic Comics, Wings Comics, Planet Comics, Military Comics, Jungle Comics, Wonderworld Comics, All-American Comics, Thrilling Comics, Air Fighters Comics. These were anthology titles, and they were the mainstay of the comic book industry from the late 1930’s to the mid 50’s– the era that has come to be known as the Golden Age of comic books.

The comic book industry in great part grew out of pulp magazines. Pulps offered cheap, often titillating fiction. Whether it was detective stories, science fiction or horror tales, fantasies or westerns, each issue featured several stories by different writers. After Superman made his 1938 debut, comic books became the hot ticket on the newsstand. Pulp magazine publishers began switching formats from written stories to illustrated stories, still using the same formula of presenting several different stories per issue.

The anthology concept made sense in the early days of comics, when publishers were trying to figure out what would attract readers to the fledgling medium. Rather than bank on the appeal of a single character, publishers would offer readers an assortment of stories in each anthology title. Very few of these stories continued from issue to issue. Most were self-contained, and were told in few pages, sometimes six or less. This was a new medium, and writers knew their readers had no prior history with these characters. So the writing was tight and well handled. The reader was taken on a journey filled with action, danger, plot twists, and some humor, all wrapped up in less than ten pages.

Since superheroes were such an exciting new concept, most of the anthology titles had a popular crime-fighting hero as their headliner. So, Superman starred in Action Comics, Batman in Detective Comics, and Captain Marvel in Whiz Comics. The characters featured in the rest of the issue could have been another superhero or two, a detective, perhaps a tuxedo-clad sorcerer, dashing soldier of fortune or a science fiction hero. A humor or “funny animal” feature usually rounded out the issue. These comics were 48, 52, 64 or more pages for a dime– a fantastic variety show in every issue. If any of these features proved to be unpopular with readers, the publisher could simply replace it with a new one. And if any heroes proved to be very popular, like Superman or Batman, they could be spun off into their own titles.

Since the 1960’s, two publishers–DC Comics and Marvel–have dominated the comic book industry. During the Golden Age, there were over 40 different publishers competing for a reader’s dime. So over 40 publishers, over a span of roughly fifteen years, produced multiple anthology titles every month, each one averaging about seven features per issue. This produced a literal flood of characters on the newsstands–a colorful cast of thousands for comic book readers to enjoy. Some of these anthology titles were popular and lasted for years, others lasted one year or even only one issue. Some characters like Superman, Batman, and Captain America have survived until today. But there are scores of obscure heroes like The Iron Skull, Doctor Frost, Minimidget, Human Meteor, Mr. Justice, Yank and Doodle, Steel Fist, The Phantom Sphinx, and Blackout that didn’t hit the big time, and are forgotten now.

And then there were the women. Only a handful of women headlined their own anthology titles, most notably Sheena, the Queen of the Jungle in Jumbo Comics, Mary Marvel in Wow Comics, and of course Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics. But, the anthology titles provided a home for many other women. Many of the anthology titles had a woman as one of their features, presumably to attract female readers. Modern day comic book readers might be surprised at the broad spectrum of heroines in Golden Age comics—daring masked vigilantes, queens of lost civilizations and intergalactic warriors, crafty reporters and master spies, witches and jungle princesses, goddesses and regular gals. The common perception is that Wonder Woman was the only heroine to fight for justice in the 1940’s. While she is the most well-known and enduring heroine, there were lots of others. Characters like Lady Fairplay, Miss Espionage, Margo the Magician, Senorita Rio, Iron Lady, and X of the Underground also paraded across the comic book page. Their time may have been brief, but they no doubt inspired some young reader with their combination of bravery and beauty.

In these very early days of comic books, there weren’t as many established rules about how women should or shouldn’t act. As a result, many of these Golden Age heroines feel bold and modern as we read them today. They are presented as fearless and unapologetic about their strength. They can fly a plane as easily as most people can drive a car. They’re smart, competent, and funny. While many are drawn in a sexy manner, they are the heroic centerpieces of their stories. They don’t waiting for a man to make the decisions for them. When a crisis occurs, these heroines take action, no matter how dangerous the situation is. Those around them have confidence in their abilities. “I knew I could count on you!” a grateful man tells Pat Patriot, after she has accepted an assignment that everyone else has refused. In truth, many of these female characters possess the same sort of authority and confidence as males. “That’s how you really want to measure an action heroine—can that role be replaced by a male?” notes sociologist Katy Gilpatric in the documentary Wonder Women! The Untold Story of American Superheroines. Many modern day readers feel that superheroines have always been the second-class citizens of the comic book world. But the portrayal of women as less powerful, less capable, and less heroic than men didn’t become widespread until the 1950’s, when heroines like Batwoman were told that fighting crime was too dangerous for a female. It took the Women’s Liberation Movement of the 1970’s to change the representation of women in comics, and return more to the way they had been depicted 30 years earlier.

Another stereotype about women in comics is that they are obsessed with love and romance, and want nothing more than to settle down and get married. Again, this was a character trait that began to be written into stories more regularly starting in the 1950’s. Heroines like the Invisible Girl and the Wasp were portrayed as marriage-minded women who let the men in their lives order them around. But the heroines in this book are different. Romance is often not even an element of their stories. These women lead the same kinds of adventurous lives that men do, and they don’t express any need to change that in order to get married. Some of these heroines, like the space pilot Gale Allen, even push romantic liaisons aside when they interfere with her job. That’s not to say that these women don’t express emotions. It’s just that they show that they can control those emotions, in the same way a man can. Overall, these stories don’t express the idea that it’s a hindrance to be a woman, which was the case in the 50’s and much of the 60’s.

The heroines that you will meet in this book are not among the most famous in comic book history. They are, as the book’s title calls them “lost” heroines. Some had long careers, some made only one appearance. What these women may lack in big names they make up with heroic swagger. They stride through these stories in larger-than-life style, modern day heirs of American tall tale heroes. But they are also a reflection of their times. Keep in mind that the majority of these stories were produced during WWII. Everyone needed to take part in helping the war effort, including women. During WWII, women were stepping out of traditional roles to work in war plants, serve in the military, and fly planes. So it makes sense that women in comic books would be presented in a heroic fashion.

Still, not all comic book readers during the Golden Age were ready for strong female heroes. Beginning in 1940, the aviation-themed anthology Wings Comics featured the adventures of Jane Martin, a gallant nurse turned spy who could fly a plane and handle a gun. Perusing the pages where readers’ letters were printed reveals some differences of opinions between male and female readers regarding a proper woman’s role in comic books. The sentiments expressed in these letters sound strangely similar to those of today’s female comic book readers:

In Wings #31 (1943) a male readersreader named John writes:

“Someone is going to drop a high explosive bomb if you don’t get rid of Jane Martin, Secret Agent (ha, ha!). A woman’s place is in the home or maybe a nurse, and I mean a NURSE.”

A few months later in Wings #35 (1943), a pair of female readers respond. One writesreader named Evelyn writes:

“We girls are sick and tired of boy heroes.”

In that same issue, Charlotte adds her opinion, including a call for sisterhood among female readers:

“I believe that any and every comic book needs the feminine touch…To my way of thinking we girls should stick together!”

In Wings #43 (1944),  male Clyde expresses his desire for Jane Martin to curb her violent ways:

“I think Jane Martin could be tuned down or removed permanently…It’s not that I don’t like girls. The more the merrier, but I just don’t go for a ‘Pistol-packin’ mamma’!”

And finally, in Wings #46 (1945), Barbara has a message for publishers who don’t think females read comic books:

“I’d like to say that we girls don’t sit home reading the wallpaper. You know we like comic books too. What do you say, girls?”

Publishers did know that girls read comics. When superheroes became less popular after the end of WWII, publishers began to create new comics that would attract female readers. But they produced romantic stories, not heroic ones. It was felt that girls would find stories about dating and marriage more appealing than tales of adventurous women. When the Comics Code was instituted in 1954 in an effort to clean up comic books, it further affected the way women were portrayed. The Comic Code not only made sure that women were no longer drawn in an overly sexualized manner, but also that they be written in more traditional roles. And so, for the next decade or more, pretty but demure women who took a backseat to men populated comic books.

The stories in this book come before that era.  These stories give us a glimpse into comic books in their infancy. Like other mediums that developed in the 20^th century –– movies, television, and rock ‘n’ roll –– the earliest works often feel crude by today’s standards. The writing in these stories is often raw and the art is sometimes simplistic. But there is a real vibrant quality to these stories. This is before comics were intended just as reading for kids, when they were simply entertainment. This was era when women could still be bold and powerful, and even dangerous. These women could crack a joke one minute and a crook’s jaw the next. This was a time before comic books became corporate, and marketing plans, toy lines, and big summer blockbuster movies determined what types of stories would be told. This was a time when comics were fun.

by Richard James Bentley

“The situations are cleverly contrived, the characters likeable, and the over-the-top premise worked out in careful detail. . . [Greenbeard] keeps moving along and pulling the reader with it.” —Publishers Weekly

Captain Sylvestre de Greybagges is your typical seventeenth-century Cambridge-educated lawyer turned Caribbean pirate, as comfortable debating the virtues of William Shakespeare, Isaac Newton, and compound interest as he is wielding a cutlass, needling archrival Henry Morgan, and parsing rum-soaked gossip for his next target. When a pepper monger’s loose tongue lets out a rumor about a fleet loaded with silver, the Captain sets sail only to find himself in a close encounter of a very different kind.

After escaping with his sanity barely intact and his beard transformed an alarming bright green, Greybagges rallies The Ark de Triomphe crew for a revenge-fueled, thrill-a-minute adventure to the ends of the earth and beyond.

Destined to become a cult favorite, this frolicsome tale of skullduggery, jiggery-pokery, and chicanery upon Ye High Seas is brimming with hilarious puns, masterful historical allusions, and nonstop literary hijinks. Including sly references to Thomas Pynchon, Treasure Island, 1940s cinema, and notable historical figures, this mélange of delights will captivate readers with its rollicking adventure, rich descriptions of food and fashion, and learned asides into scientific, philosophical, and colonial history.

Richard James Bentley, who happens to look the part of a salty English sea captain, has trodden many paths and worn many hats. From his early work as a dealer in dodgy motorcars, he progressed to being a design engineer on a zeppelin project. Computers then caught his attention and he authored a number of incomprehensible technical manuals before turning to fiction. He has lived in Switzerland and the Netherlands and now spins yarns in the north of England. Greenbeard is his first novel.

$14.95 / 296 pages / May 2012

Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-21-3 / eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-22-0

Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution: 1-800-283-3572

Read an excerpt of GREENBEARD now…

A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Civilization, by Brian Griffith

Will the Greatest Women’s Counterculture on Earth Please Stand Up

As in any culture, people are constantly deciding which traditions to keep, and which to forget. The simplistic Cultural Revolution answer was to just dump everything old. But most people want a more careful selection of what’s helpful or oppressive. And many feel that the traditions of village wise women are a lot more helpful that those of dominator warlords. Of course warlord-style power still has its admirers. As Julia Ching warned after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre, “In my opinion, Chinese history has been moving toward more rather than less concentration of power in the hands of the few.” Others such as Bo Yang (in The Ugly Chinaman and the Crisis of Chinese Culture) blamed the people as much as the rulers for China’s top-down system, accusing his countrymen of being petty, mean, filthy, muddleheaded, cruel, childish, racist, belligerent, pusillanimous, backward, duplicitous, paranoid, and sadistic (Parfitt, 2011, 225). And many women would agree. But when people choose which values they prefer for themselves, most will probably go for values of partnership and equality. As dissident leader Ren Wanding predicted, “The democracy movement of 1989 is the mid-wife for a new party … Perhaps the infant girl democracy may be killed in its cradle, but she will definitely be born again in the next storm” (Ching, 1990, 98–99). Many Westerners assumed that the “goddess of liberty” erected by students in Tiananmen Square was a copy of the American statue of liberty. But many Chinese people saw it as a socialist-realism-style sculpture of a female people’s hero, or an image of the goddess Guanyin (Weller, 1994, 195).

As in the past, a whole side of China’s evolving civilization is made by women, for women. Women’s traditions from a time before patriarchy are alive and growing. And as China exerts rising influence across the world, its counterculture of women’s values may bring a better balance, both in China and elsewhere. Women’s traditions of bodily and spiritual health, harmony with nature, peace of mind, compassion, and freedom of spirit are something the world needs. After working for decades in hyper-developing Taiwan, a Jesuit father named Louis Guthheinz reflected that the driving passions of the modern world—of empires, maximized growth, “this ultimate wanting to control everything” was so yang. And the whole world needed more balance with yin (Ching and Küng, 1989, 269–270). Western practitioners of Daoism like Michael Winn felt they were doing something about that:

“Neidan [or Inner Alchemy] opens the door to understanding exactly how the human soul, like the brain, is binary in nature. We are divided into yin-yang aspects at many different levels of the body and psyche, polarities often in conflict. The purpose of internal alchemy is to speed up the integration of the warring halves of our soul as part of human evolution. (2009, 199)”

In Micheal Saso’s opinion, the blend of popular Chinese religions offered a balanced message to the world: “The person who is filled with respect and benevolence for others and compassion for all living things, and who lives in close harmony with nature, lives long and is filled with inner peace and blessing” (Saso, 1995, 1). Or, as Livia Kohn explains of the Daoist Eight Immortals, “Accepting life and death as a single flow, they take neither seriously and make the best of all they meet. Their happy attitude, their playful way of being, is characteristic of the popular image of the immortal today” (Kohn, 1993, 281). At least that’s one version of Chinese tradition, which many Westerners find increasingly attractive.

My sentimental favorite example of positive influence is from Macau, where the Portuguese government offered the city a farewell present in 1997. It erected a 20-meter-high statue of Guanyin overlooking the harbor. But the artist, Cristina Leiria, clearly melded the goddesses of China and Portugal into one figure. It was both the Virgin Mary and Guanyin at the same time, symbolizing a fusion of the best and most beautiful from both the East and the West (Palmer, et al., 2009, xi–xx). Here, I suspect, is an early sign of a coming planetary religion, in which no tradition, authority, or sex prevails, but all things beautiful and good share the world’s admiration. ]]> http://exterminatingangel.com/blog/2012/08/07/552/feed/ 0 http://exterminatingangel.com/blog/2012/07/25/dirk-quigbys-guide-to-the-afterlife-all-you-need-to-know-to-choose-the-right-heaven/ http://exterminatingangel.com/blog/2012/07/25/dirk-quigbys-guide-to-the-afterlife-all-you-need-to-know-to-choose-the-right-heaven/#comments Wed, 25 Jul 2012 18:53:38 +0000 admin http://exterminatingangel.com/?p=313 Continue reading →]]> by E. E. King

“Impish and delightful—a hilarious Zagat’s guide to Heaven.”—Ray Bradbury

“A fantastical, profound, hilarious and rollicking good ride through the heavens and hells of the afterlife! A wonderful book.”—Margaret Cho

“A mixture of fact and fiction, faith and mysticism at its best.”—New York Journal of Books

Hell is too full of lost souls. So the Devil hires ad man Dirk Quigby to pen a travel guide that will entice travelers to different heavens: Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Scientologist and more. But will Dirk write a book resulting in a Pulitzer Prize. . .or the Apocalypse?And how many stars does Dirk’s guide give to each afterlife, anyway—all thirty of them.

E. E. King has been a ballet dancer, actor, comic, teacher, artist, biologist, horticulturalist, mushroom hunter, free diver, art & science director, and wild animal rehabilitator. She has won various awards, but is far too modest to mention them here. She was raised in a household that doesn’t force religion on kids. This book is the result.

$15/ 238 pages
Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-08-4 / eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-11-4

Media Contact: Molly Mikolowski, (612) 728-1692, molly.mikolowski@gmail.com

Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution: 1-800-283-3572

illustrated by Alex Cox

“It definitely rocks! I ought to know.”
—Iggy Pop

“3 Dead Princes follows the fairy tale narrative with personal challenges, serious battle preparation, and more brave moments than the movie Brave. But every time you think you have it all figured out, Nobacon throws a curve ball, forcing the reader to rethink what a fairy tale can be . . . while also posing a lot of subtle questions about society, culture, and evolution. . . . With Alex Cox’s illustrations along to spice things up even more, it’s a very enjoyable, and unorthodox, read.”—COLLEEN MONDOR, Bookslut

“An alternative fairy tale for anarchist/punk/fellow traveler parents to read with their kids.”—Jessica Mills, author of My Mother Wears Combat Boots

Media Contact: Molly Mikolowski, (612) 728-1692, molly.mikolowski@gmail.com

Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution: 1-800-283-3572

Praise for Tod Davies’ Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You’ve Got

“Tod Davies takes a physicist’s approach to social change . . . like the minds behind a particle accelerator, her primary goal is to cause collisions.” —Portland Mercury

“Davies’s creative joy in food and the world around her is infectious.” —Bookslut

“Delightful . . . written by a woman who values food, family and friends.” —Shelf Awareness

 “Jam Today, whose title is culled from a line in one of Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland books, isn’t so much a cookbook as it is ruminations on food preparation and living right.”—Cascadia Weekly

“Jam Today is just my kind of book—one of those rare trackings of the healthy human animal rustling about the kitchen then settling in at the table. In addition to some great meals made to satisfy desires, needs, whims or simply to make use of what’s at hand, Jam Today is a complete pleasure to read.”—Deborah Madison, author of Local Flavors and What We Eat When We Eat Alone

“The spirit of M.F.K. Fisher surely hovers over this book, amused and beguiled by a cook whose prose has the same artful composure, and whose cooking possesses a similar innate sense of style. I believe that good cooks are born, not made—but steep your culinary self long enough in the pages of Jam Today and it might just be born again.”
—John Thorne, author of Outlaw Cook and Mouth Wide Open

It’s a cookbook, no it’s a memoir, no it’s a treasure chest overflowing with recipes, encouragement, and sheer joy in living. Tod says: “Here are my secrets for cooking without recipes. Know what you want to eat. Keep it simple. Enjoy yourself. Come to think of it, those are my secrets for having a good life, too. Today the kitchen. Tomorrow the world…”

About the Author 

TOD DAVIES lives with her husband, Alex Cox, and their two dogs, in the alpine valley of Colestin, Oregon, and at the foot of the Rocky Mountains, in Boulder, Colorado. She is the author of the cooking memoir Jam Today: A Diary of Cooking With What You’ve Got, as well as Snotty Saves the Day and Lily the Silent, the first two books in The History of Arcadia series. Unsurprisingly, her attitude toward literature is the same as her attitude toward cooking—it’s all about working with what you have to find new ways of looking and new ways of being.

Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-04-6 / eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-01-5

Media Contact: Molly Mikolowski, (612) 728-1692, molly.mikolowski@gmail.com

Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution: 1-800-283-3572

Praise for THE SUPERGIRLS:

The San Francisco Chronicle on THE SUPERGIRLS:  “San Francisco writer and Amazing Fantasy regular Mike Madrid was always partial to the superhero women so often forced to sit on the sidelines, and it was his dream to write about them.” Lisa Hix|Feb 7

The Amelia Bloomer Project picks SUPERGIRLS: “From the super heroines of today to “Goddesses of Tomorrow,” Madrid questions the position of women in the world of superhero fantasy, showing the parallels between society’s expectations and the depiction of American women in comic fiction.”

WORN Fashion Journal sees the chic in SUPERGIRLS: “There comes a time in every comic book geek slash fashionista’s life when she must ask herself ‘What do costumes and couture have in common?’ THE SUPERGIRLS sets out to answer that question….a quick read that skims over the history of publishing powerhouses Marvel and DC, making it informative enough and providing sufficient cultural context for those who may have no prior comic book knowledge.” WORN| issue no. 9

The Best Five Books to Share With Your Friends: “Of Satin Tights and Equal Rights: [E]ven as it delivers its clear-eyed critique of the way mainstream superhero comics have alternately eroticized or deified female characters, The Supergirls, gleefully celebrates the medium itself, in all its goofy, glorious excess.” Glen Weldon | NPR | Dec 2

Excerpt: ‘The Supergirls’ “I had a vague idea who Superman was… I was more fascinated, however, by Supergirl. She could fly and was incredibly strong, and I could tell from the way she was drawn that she was brave and noble. I thought she was great. Although I wasn’t sure exactly what her relationship to Superman was, I could tell that she was somehow considered inferior. And I didn’t understand why…” NPR | Nov 30

What About Super Women?: “Mike Madrid has written a comprehensive survey of superheroines. I talk with him about what drew him to them, how they reflect cultural images of women, and where superheroines might be headed…”Kim de Vries | Sequential Tart | Nov 30

I Need a Heroine: “It’s been a long and rocky road for super heroines. But thanks to intrepid online activism and a new generation of creators, it might finally be their time to shine.” Erin Polgreen | Campus Progress | Nov 12

The Supergirls: “The Supergirls, Mike Madrid’s book about the evolution of female comic-book characters, is sharp and lively — and just obsessive enough about women who wear capes and boots to be cool but not creepy. The guy clearly loves this stuff…” Jeff Guiles | Entertainment Weekly | Oct 6

The Supergirls: A feminist response to catsuits? “There’s a surprising gap of research, let alone feminist research, on female superheroes from comics. Trina Robbins has turned out some amazing books on women and comics, including one on female superheroes, but she can’t do it alone…” Kjerstin Johnson| Bitch Magazine | Sept 16

Tough Babes: “If you’ve ever wondered about the history of the female superhero, then the upcoming The Supergirls: Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines (Exterminating Angel Press, September 2009, $16.95) may just be the book for you…” Chris Zuga | Portland Mercury | Sept 10

When Comics and Cleavage Collide: “Mike Madrid’s visual companion to his new book The Supergirls, a history of comic book superheroines, is as thorough and captivating a graphic account as the book is a verbal one…” Jane Carlen| Portland Mercury | Sept 11

Good Comics for Kids: (This is just a short one folks, so here’s the whole blurb for you:) “Here’s a useful resource: Mike Madrid has posted some image galleries to accompany his book Supergirls: Fashion, feminism, fantasy, and the history of comic book heroines.” School Library Journal | Sept 16

The Comix/Graphic Novel Shelf: “Any comics or graphic movel library needs THE SUPERGIRLS… It provides a cultural history of comic book heroines and asks whether their fantasy world has any connection to our own, offering a fine survey of different super-women in comic history and crime fighting. Any long-time comic book reader will relish this blend of scene re-creation and social analysis.” Midwest Book Review | Nov 2009

$16.95 / 336 pages
Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-03-9/  eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-00-8

Media Contact: Molly Mikolowski, (612) 728-1692, molly.mikolowski@gmail.com

Distributed to the trade by Consortium Book Sales and Distribution: 1-800-283-3572

And don’t miss the AUDIO BOOK download version of THE SUPERGIRLS, by Last Word Audio, ISBN 978-1-935259-13-8

“As a child in Sunday school, Brian Griffith noticed a contrast between what Jesus said in the Bible and the way his community worshipped. . . . In Correcting Jesus: 2000 Years of Changing the Story Griffith notes how—starting with the disciples themselves—Jesus has been second-guessed.” —Oregonian

“[Griffith] is a thorough independent scholar, and his concise writing makes historical facts engaging and relevant. His most important take-home message: it is not verboten for people of faith to ask why beliefs and practices developed in a specific way. In fact, it could even be considered an obligation for healthy, committed believers to do so.” —Publishers Weekly

 “Brian Griffith’s Correcting Jesus is a fiercely moral, highly learned, and very welcome entry into public conversations about Christianity and social life. Focusing on the way in which Christian interpreters—even as early as the apostles themselves—have “corrected” and adjusted Jesus’ words and ministry to suit their needs, Griffith chronicles this sleight of hand whereby the “hard sayings” of justice and charity are forsaken . . . Where all too many books get sucked into juvenile rants against theism as such, or retreat into the safety of methodological foxholes, Griffith’s book is the real deal.” —JASON C. BIVINS, author of Religion of Fear

 “I love Brian Griffith for having the heart to try to scrape away the barnacles of ideology and prejudice that keep attaching themselves to those four, frail little gospel boats. Part of this book will break your heart as he describes how little compromises and strategic emphases grow into huge errors and disasters.”—FRANK COTTRELL BOYCE, author of Millions, a Carnegie Medal award-winning book adapted into a feature film directed by Danny Boyle

“The Christ of today is not the Jesus of history. The man—along with his message—became radically altered along the way. In this readable and insightful book that spans the centuries, Brian Griffith carefully documents how Jesus’ teachings became changed to suit the predilections and fads of later audiences. This book is an excellent read for anyone concerned with moving beyond popular preaching to what the Jesus of Nazareth really taught.”—BARRIE A. WILSON, PhD, author of How Jesus Became Christian

As a historian following cultural stories, Brian Griffith notices when people retell those stories and, in the process, totally change their meaning. In Correcting Jesus, he looks at the story of Christianity as we know it, and the record of Christians as they correct Jesus on subjects like Judaism, forgiveness, women, freedom, war, and charity. What, he asks, have been the results of correcting Jesus on these things? If you ever have wondered how the Jesus who urges ‘think for yourselves’ was turned into the Jesus who thunders ‘my way or the highway,’ Correcting Jesus tells us in plain language how that transformation began—and how it’s continuing today.

Brian Griffith is an independent historian who’s interested in the whole world’s ‘culture wars,’ scavenging history books for 25 years to learn more about them. His two previous books are The Garden of Their Dreams: Desertification and Culture in World History, and Different Visions of Love: Partnership and Dominator Values in Christian History, with a foreword by Riane Eisler. He’s married and lives near Toronto, Ontario. And his latest book, also by Exterminating Angel Press, is a history of the stories of Chinese goddesses, A Galaxy of Immortal Women: The Yin Side of Chinese Civilization. 

$16.95/336 pages
Trade Paperback Original ISBN: 978-1-935259-02-2/  eBook ISBN: 978-1-935259-05-3

Media Contact: Molly Mikolowski, (612) 728-1692, molly.mikolowski@gmail.com

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