Hat Week: The Hats of Romance Comics Explained

Hats and head-wear play an important role in romance comics. By studying the trends of the era, and using hats as signifyers we can gain understanding about social norms and the political climate in romance comics.

In other words, let's look at the crazy crap people put on their heads in the Silver Age.

Head wraps were a popular look that seems to have pretty much died out. I like it. It'd be cool to just wrap a towel around your head after you get out of the shower and not have to worry about blow-drying or flat-ironing or curling your hair.

The head wrap diminished in popularity when girls began to discover that having so much warmth around their heads affected their brains, sometimes turning them violent.

The swim cap is another obsolete head piece you'll see a lot of in romance comics.

I understand the practicality of it: you can go for a swim, but still have your hairdo looking fine when you're relaxing on the beach afterward.

But to me, those swim-hats seem to make a girl look like ol' Cabbage Head.

Men's hats are often a subtle indication of their personalities, or their likes and dislikes.

Most pervasive head-piece of the Silver Age? The headband, hands down. But there are distinct differences between the types of headbands, and the way they're worn.

There's the evening headband:

A girl's got to wear a bow to bed, in case Dennis (or Arthur or Tommy) show up in the middle of the night.

The basic headband, worn across the top of the head, is incredibly common, and indicates an average, demure, chaste girl.

But flip that thing down, and wear it across your forehead, and oh boy. That's the way hippies wear headbands, so a girl rocking that style is in for crazy, European sex parties:

And getting caught up in dangerous revolutionary politics:

Wear a headband across your forehead and you'll undoubtedly find yourself in a situation like this:

Lastly, romance comics have lead me to believe that there was some sort of baldness epidemic in the Silver Age because wig ads are everywhere.

Wigs are the hats of yesteryear. I wish I could find a hat with a built in scalp that looks like skin.

But even wigs could lead a good girl down the bad path of political rabble-rousing.

So if you're having trouble following the complex plot of an issue of Teen Age Love, Sweethearts, or Secrets of Young Brides, take a look at head-wear, and that'll clear everything right up.

FAT WEEK: Millie's fat friend

Having played the role in real life more than a few times myself, I have great affection for the fat friend character in all forms of fiction. One of my favourites is Millie the Model's chunky pal and roommate, Daisy. Daisy is full of sass and kindness. She features prominently in the comics, but never gets her own fashion pin-up page (even though her clothes are pretty cool).

Actually, one of the positive things about Daisy is that she isn't always talking about food or eating. But, sadly, a lot of jokes are self-depreciating or are made at her expense.

People are generally complete assholes to her, particularly the loser she has a crush on, Marvin. It's kind of a Jughead and Ethel type of relationship, and she should really just forget about this asshole.

He, for whatever reason, agrees to go on the occasional date with her (although he claims he can only stomach one date per week). The dates are less than magical.

The worst part is that Marvin isn't the only one scoring points off her while they are out on dates.

Seriously, camera guy? Seriously?

Seriously, horse guy? Seriously?

Daisy lives in a cruel world where people are not even concerned when she plummets from a tall building.

"Haha! Good one! Should we call an ambulance?"

"Better call two!"

I love Daisy, but she needs to raise her dating standards.

And, of course, the only men who find her attractive are total freakshows:

So my main wish for Daisy is to raise her standards, and stop dating this jackhole:

Ladies' Night at the Comic Shop

Last week, at Strange Adventures (the comic shop that keeps this blog knee-deep in Superman), we held our first ever Ladies' Night. Thursday evening, after regular store hours ended, Ladies' Night began. No dudes were allowed, and anyone who considers themselves a woman was welcomed in. It was only lady staff members working, and even the owner, Cal, was sent to near by bar to read comics and hang out with any dads, boyfriends or brothers who were dropping ladies off at the store.

The idea behind this event was that, I've found, when talking to women about comics, a lot of them tend to be super interested and excited about comics, but unsure where to start, and nervous about going into a shop and asking for recommendations. I love comics, and I work in comic shop, but I've still felt weird, uncomfortable and frustrated going into other shops. Why would I want some douche talking down to me about comics—something I love, and something that's supposed to fun? While I think Strange Adventures works pretty hard to be a welcoming place for anyone, all the time, comic shops on the whole tend to be unpleasant places for women. So we wanted a night where women could come in and browse, and ask myself and the other lady staff members for recommendations. 

Besides introducing the uninitiated to comics, we also wanted a night where women who are big comic fans could hang out, eat some snacks, get some freebies and buy some stuff on sale. Strange Adventures has quite a few women customers, and we thought it would be fun for them to get to meet each other.

So we bought snacks (chocolate—'cause ladies love that stuff, right?), made up a bunch of gift bags, did up a display of comics by female creators and comics that might appeal to women, sent the dudes away, opened the doors at 7pm and....

IT! WAS! OFF! THE! HOOK!

The first hour, the store was wall to wall, full of people. Our shop isn't huge, but you literally couldn't turn around without bumping into someone. We had over an hundred women in the store during this two hour event, and, if you're interested in bottom line, we made about as much money as we do on a busy Saturday, in a quarter of the time. It was insanely awesome.

People were seriously so stoked, to the point where one lady was shaking my hand, thanking me excitedly, saying, "I'm forty-five years old and I've never been a comic shop before! I love this stuff, but I've always felt too scared! You ladies are amazing!" I felt like someone paid her to come tell me exactly what I wanted to hear.

 After the first hour, the crowd settled into a busy-but-less-insane level, and I was actually able to make recommendations and have some good talks with people. We sold tons of stuff by women creators—lots of Alison Bechdel, and Faith Erin Hicks, who was at the event, hanging out and talking to ladies. Lots of Brian K. Vaughn, Neil Gaiman and Joss Whedon went too, and then all sorts of other stuff—almost as much variety as on a normal day.

It was nice to see solid proof of what I already know: women like comics! They like all different kinds of comics! They want to buy comics, so stop actively discouraging them! The masses of women that came to this event really showed how much it was needed. Everyone kept asking when the next Ladies' Night would be.

I know the comics industry is still a total sausage fest. It's changing, for sure, but it needs a big push. And as someone on the retail end of things, I'm trying my best to help.

You can check out more pictures on the Strange Adventures site, and read some press here and here. 

A Gem From the Bottom of a Long Box

My boss at Strange Adventures suggested I read Deadline, this four issue mini-series from 2002, which was in with a huge collection someone sold to the store. I was wary of the cheesy cover by Greg Horn (who is only slightly more tolerable than that other Greg), but once I dove in, I found an awesome little book, with a story driven by an enthralling mystery and an irresistibly like-able main character, Kat Farrell. Kat's a reporter for the Daily Bugle in Marvel-New York. She works the superhero beat, where she's assigned to report mostly on hero gossip, since any of the exciting stuff is left to the crime division of the paper. While she's a brilliant reporter, she's a rookie, so she's stuck writing puff pieces about Spidey and the Avengers, who she sees as self-centered celebrities, too wrapped up in their own superhero drama to notice when they bust up property all over town.

Kat's got her eye on the prize: a position in the crime department, and when villains start dropping dead all around town, she figures that breaking this story could land her that dream job. But when Kat encounters Judge Micheal Hart, who was murdered, then brought back from the dead in a spooky new form, she ends up embroiled in a supernatural mystery that she has to solve.

 

Kat is that rare sort of female character who is totally cool and compelling, but still entirely relate-able. Bill Rosemann writes her to be intelligent and driven, but fallible, like how she's trying to quit smoking for the whole book. And Guy Davis is on right on point—Kat is that nerdy sort of cute—adorable, but not boobilicous. She's like Gert from the Runaways, if Gert got to grow up and live a (semi) normal life.

There are hints of romance in Deadline, but this story is about Kat's job, and her solving this mystery. She's the everyman who manages to be heroic which is a refreshing role for a female character.

I like seeing normal people in a superhero world. I loved Gotham Central, and the idea of the how a regular precinct has to deal with extraordinary crimes. Deadline is a lot lighter, but along those same lines. It's always fun to get a different perspective (really, what would be our perspective) on a superhero story, where the superheros all seem sort of annoyoing, and they screw stuff up for us normies.

If you can get your hands on this series, do it. And who knows? Maybe Kat will show up again? In Girl Comics? Please?

Fun with Romance Comics: A Confusing Lesson in Morality

The stories in romance comics tend to function as life lessons that teach young ladies how to behave properly in relationships. There's usually an undercurrent of right-wing moral bullying, like an episode of Dr. Phil. I just don't follow this one:

Is it supposed to be ironic? Like, "if you're trying to shock a guy with a crazy revealing outfit, then the joke's on you, girl, because any dude will be all over that"? Or is this comic seriously suggesting that a mesh shirt is the answer to your problems if you're dating a boring ol' banker's son? Is this the hippest, sexiest strip ever to be printed in an issue of For Lovers Only? You decide.

What If...Women Could Write and Draw Comics?

Marvel announced an upcoming mini-series called GIRL COMICS. The title is somewhat unfortunate, though admittedly playful, but the books will include contributions from a list of impressive female creators, including Amanda Conner, Colleen Coover, and Kathryn Immonen.

The first cover, by Amanda Conner (see above), is completely awesome.

This is what I am truly hoping for with Girl Comics: I want the comics to be ridiculous enough to match the ridiculous title. I want it to be silly and fun and gratuitous and shamelessly girly. I want the male superheroes exploited. I want a shirtless Daredevil centrefold. I want a soft focus every time Winter Soldier appears. I want a round table "Who would you do?" discussion between all of the women on that cover (especially Sue Storm, because you know it would make her uncomfortable at first). I want Namor to appear in this series for whatever reason. I want a bunch of ladies to pull a prank on Tony Stark because he deserves it. I want to see dating and drinking and shopping punctuated by the occasional ass-kicking. I want Iron Man and Captain America to finally kiss.

Marvel has taken a few stabs at making comics for women lately. MARVEL DIVAS had a promising start, and nice artwork, but quickly turned into a story about breast cancer, which is not my favourite premise for a superhero story. As far as I know, proceeds from that comic weren't even going to breast cancer research, so it really was just a complete downer with no purpose.

So what I am saying is that I am going to be optimistic about Girl Comics, because the talent line-up is mostly pretty exciting, and because it might be fun! Or it might be about breast cancer. I hope not.