comic-book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, ...
series published by
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
and its forerunners,
Timely Comics
Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...
and
Atlas Comics Atlas Comics may refer to:
* Atlas Comics (1950s), one of the two comic publishing companies that would be the forerunner of Marvel Comics
* Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Atlas/Seaboard Comics is a line of comic books published by the American company S ...
. The first, debuting in 1949, ran 35 issues, changing its title to ''Girl Confessions'' with issue #13 (March 1952). The second was a three-issue
limited series
In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...
published in 2010.
Publication history
First series (1949–1954)
The initial
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
publication entitled ''Girl Comics'' was an ongoing
romance comics
Romance comics are a genre of comic book, comic books that were most popular during the Golden Age of Comics. The market for comics, which had been growing rapidly throughout the 1940s, began to plummet after the end of World War II when military ...
/girls'-adventure series edited by
Stan Lee
Stan Lee (born Stanley Martin Lieber ; December 28, 1922 – November 12, 2018) was an American comic book author, writer, editor, publisher, and producer. He rose through the ranks of a family-run business called Timely Comics which later bec ...
that ran 12 issues (October 1949 - January 1952), first by Marvel's 1940s predecessor,
Timely Comics
Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...
, and shortly afterward by the company's 1950s iteration,
Atlas Comics Atlas Comics may refer to:
* Atlas Comics (1950s), one of the two comic publishing companies that would be the forerunner of Marvel Comics
* Atlas/Seaboard Comics
Atlas/Seaboard Comics is a line of comic books published by the American company S ...
. It was renamed ''Girl Confessions'' with issue #13 (March 1952) and ran a total 35 issues, through
cover-date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...
August 1954.
Artist contributors to this series included
John Buscema
John Buscema ( ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema, ; December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)Social Se ...
Bob Brown
Robert James Brown (born 27 December 1944) is an Australian former politician, medical doctor and environmentalist. He was a Australian Senate, senator and the parliamentary leader of the Australian Greens. Brown was elected to the Australian ...
Bill Everett
William Blake Everett (; May 18, 1917 – February 27, 1973) was an American comic book writer-artist best known for creating Namor the Sub-Mariner as well as co-creating Zombie (comics), Zombie and Daredevil (Marvel Comics character), Daredevil ...
in #3,
Russ Heath
Russell Heath Jr. (September 29, 1926 – August 23, 2018) was an American artist best known for his comic book work, particularly his DC Comics war stories and his 1960s art for ''Playboy'' magazine's " Little Annie Fanny" feature. He also prod ...
in #5,
Ann Brewster
Ann Brewster (November 20, 1918 – July 9, 2005) was an American cartoonist and illustrator during the Golden Age of comics. She provided art for many different publishers, including Ace Magazines, Fiction House, and Atlas Comics (later to beco ...
Dick Rockwell
Richard Waring Rockwell (December 11, 1920 – April 18, 2006) at the
in #8, and
Bernard Krigstein
Bernard Krigstein (; March 22, 1919 – January 8, 1990) was an American illustrator and gallery artist who received acclaim for his innovative and influential approach to comic book art, notably in EC Comics. His artwork usually displayed the si ...
in #12. Contributors to multiple issues of ''Girl Confessions'' included Hartley,
Jay Scott Pike
Jay Scott Pike (September 6, 1924 – September 13, 2015) was an American comic book artist and commercial illustrator known for his 1950s and 1960s work for Marvel Comics and DC Comics, advertising art, and as a good girl artist. He created the ...
,
Morris Weiss
Morris S. Weiss (August 11, 1915 – May 18, 2014) was an American comic book and comic strip artist and writer. Active from the 1930s through the mid-1970s, he created the teen-comedy character Margie for Timely Comics, the 1940s predecessor of ...
, and
Golden Age
The term Golden Age comes from Greek mythology, particularly the ''Works and Days'' of Hesiod, and is part of the description of temporal decline of the state of peoples through five Ages of Man, Ages, Gold being the first and the one during wh ...
Batman
Batman is a superhero who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. Batman was created by the artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on M ...
artist
Jerry Robinson
Sherrill David "Jerry" Robinson (January 1, 1922 – December 7, 2011) was an American comic book artist known for his work on DC Comics' Batman line of comics during the 1940s. He is best known as the co-creator of Robin and the Joker and for ...
.
''Girl Comics''
The first four issues of ''Girl Comics'' were written as typical romance comics, valuing plot over character development. Most narratives were recycled, not changing drastically between issues. Issues #5 through #12, however, adopted a new subtitle, ''Mystery, Adventure, Suspense!'' and featured plot-lines similar to those in
Nancy Drew
Nancy Drew is a fictional character appearing in several mystery book series, movies, video games, and TV shows as a teenage amateur sleuth. The books are ghostwriter, ghostwritten by a number of authors and published under the collective pseudo ...
novels.
''Girl Confessions''
Second series (2010)
The second ''Girl Comics'' was a three-issue
limited series
In the field of comic books, and particularly in the United States, a limited series is a comics series with a predetermined number of issues. A limited series differs from an ongoing series in that the number of issues is finite and determined ...
released as a part of Marvel's year-long ''Marvel Women'' project. ''Girl Comics'' was entirely written, colored, illustrated and lettered by female authors and artists. Sister titles published during this period under the ''Marvel Women'' project, included the limited series and one-shots ''
Heralds
A herald, or a herald of arms, is an officer of arms, ranking between pursuivant and king of arms. The title is commonly applied more broadly to all officers of arms.
Heralds were originally messengers sent by monarchs or noblemen to ...
Namora
Namora () (Aquaria Nautica Neptunia) is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by artists Ken Bald and Syd Shores, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''Marvel Mystery Comics'' #82 (May 194 ...
'', ''
Lady Deadpool
La Lunatica
Lactuca the Knower
Lactuca the Knower is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. She first appeared in ''Planet-Size X-Men'' #1 (August 2021), created by Gerry Duggan (writer), Gerry Du ...
cover-date
The cover date of a periodical publication is the date displayed on the cover, which is not necessarily the true date of publication (the on-sale date or release date); later cover dates are common in magazine and comic book publishing. More unusu ...
d May to September 2010. The collection was originally conceived as a celebration of both the 30th anniversary of
She-Hulk
She-Hulk (Jennifer Susan Walters) is a Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she First appearance, first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk ...
and the National Women's History Project.
Jeanine Schaefer, one of the editors, said of the initiative's timing: "Because 2010 is the 30th anniversary of the first appearance of
She-Hulk
She-Hulk (Jennifer Susan Walters) is a Character (arts), character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist John Buscema, she First appearance, first appeared in ''The Savage She-Hulk ...
, we got together to brainstorm some ideas for a celebration of women at Marvel Comics, much like we did for the 70th anniversary...." She said the publisher felt the potentially controversial word "girl" in the title could be
reclaimed
Land reclamation, often known as reclamation, and also known as land fill (not to be confused with a waste landfill), is the process of creating new land from oceans, seas, riverbeds or lake beds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ...
: "It was one of the first titles we thought of (the actual first one, I think), because it pulled double-duty: Not only was it the name of an old Marvel romance title, it has a word in it that we could take back".
The 2010 series contains contributions from Devin K. Grayson,
Louise Simonson
Louise Simonson (née Mary Louise Alexander; born September 26, 1946) is an American comic book writer and editor. She is best known for her work on comic book titles such as ''Conan the Barbarian'', '' Power Pack'', ''X-Factor'', ''The New Mutan ...
,
Amanda Conner
Amanda Conner is an American comics artist and commercial art illustrator. She began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics and Marvel Comics, before moving on to contribute work for Claypool Comics' '' Soulsearchers and Company'' and Ha ...
,
Jill Thompson
Jill Thompson (born November 20, 1966) is an American comics artist, illustrator and writer who has worked for stage, film, and television. Well known for her work on Neil Gaiman's ''The Sandman (Vertigo), The Sandman'' characters and her own ''Sc ...
,
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins ( Perlson; August 17, 1938 – April 10, 2024) was an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first women in the movement. She co-produced the 1970 underground comic '' I ...
, and Molly Crabapple, among others. The 52-page first issue included stories of the male characters Nightcrawler, the
Punisher
The Punisher (Francis "Frank" Castle, born Castiglione) is an antihero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Gerry Conway and artists John Romita Sr. and Ross Andru. The Punisher ma ...
, and
Spider-Man
Spider-Man is a superhero in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appearance, first appeared in the anthology comic book ''Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in ...
in addition to stories of the superheroines She-Hulk,
Venus
Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It is often called Earth's "twin" or "sister" planet for having almost the same size and mass, and the closest orbit to Earth's. While both are rocky planets, Venus has an atmosphere much thicker ...
, and
Jean Grey
Jean Elaine Grey-Summers is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the character First appearance, first appeared in ''Uncanny X-Men, The X-Men'' #1 ...
. In addition, a two-page text article spotlighted Marvel Comics'
Silver Age
The Ages of Man are the historical stages of human existence according to Greek mythology and its subsequent interpretatio romana, Roman interpretation.
Both Hesiod and Ovid offered accounts of the successive ages of humanity, which tend to pr ...
secretary and later
independent comics
Alternative comics or independent comics cover a range of American comics that have appeared since the 1980s, following the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Alternative comics present an alternative to mainstream su ...
publisher
Flo Steinberg
Florence Steinberg (March 17, 1939 – July 23, 2017) was an American publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground comics, underground/alternative comics hybrid ''Big Apple Comix'', in 1975. Additionally, as the secretary ...
Illustrator and cartoonist Stephanie Buscema, who penciled and inked the eight-page story featuring Venus, is a granddaughter of the major comics artist
John Buscema
John Buscema ( ; born Giovanni Natale Buscema, ; December 11, 1927 – January 10, 2002)Social Se ...
Comic Book Resources
''CBR'', formerly ''Comic Book Resources'', is a news website primarily covering comic book news, comic book reviews, and comic book–related topics involving movies, television, anime, and video games. It is owned by Valnet, parent of publicat ...
'', March 3, 2010
*McDonald, Amanda, and Jeff Marsick "Best Shots Comic Reviews" ''Girl Comics'' #1 (two reviews), ''
Newsarama
''Newsarama'' is an American website that publishes news, interviews, and essays about the American comic book industry. It is owned by Future US. In June 2020, Newsarama was merged with the website ''GamesRadar+'', also owned by Future US.
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