The Supergirls

Fashion, Feminism, Fantasy, and the History of Comic Book Heroines

By: Mike Madrid

Narrated by: Colby Elliott

Comic book superheroines bend steel, travel across time and space, and wield the awesome forces of nature. These mighty females do everything that male superheroes do. But they have to work their wonders in skirts and high heels. The Supergirls, a cultural history of comic book heroines, asks whether their world of fantasy is that different from our own. Are the stories of Wonder Woman’s search for an identity, Batwoman and Power Girl’s battle for equality, and Manhunter’s juggling of a crime fighting career and motherhood also an alternative saga of modern American women?

©2009 Mike Madrid (P)2011 Last Word Audio

Critic reviews

“ The Supergirls is a long overdue tribute to the fabulous fighting females whose beauty and bravery brighten the pages of your favorite comics.” (Stan Lee)

“Even 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.” (NPR)

“ 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. And he's enough of a historian to be able to trace the ways in which the portrayal of sirens and supergirls has echoed society's ever-changing feelings about women and sex. ” ( Entertainment Weekly)

Learned so much

Eye-opening and frank recounts of female representation in comics and the type of struggles that they had by decade.. couldn't put it down

A story I never considered

Good story of a side of comic history I had not considered before. When I started reading comics I mostly read male superheroes as most of the female characters just did not seem interesting. Only in the past few years I have started reading comics again and Madrid's book really shows the sexism that drives these stories.

Some Supergirls to Save the World

Respectful, informative, but often repeating information. Take that into consideration, but all-in-all a great read for a comic book fan.

Informative if occasionally moralistic

Where does The Supergirls rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

I would rank it in the middle. It kept me engaged through out the book and I did learn a bit from it. However, there is a certain lack of love in the writing that prevents the book from being truly great. The author for the most part keeps themselves at arm length give a sort sort of cold stating of fact. When the authors voice does bleed through, like the chapters on the 90's, it's a voice of angry disapproval instead of that of a comic fan geeking out.

Would you be willing to try another book from Mike Madrid? Why or why not?

I am not sure. It was not a bad book but it lacked the heart that would make me want to rush out and get another book from the author.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Absolutely not. There was no real love to the book. Informative but cold for the most part.

Any additional comments?

For most of this book Mike give an interesting history of comic book heroines and how they were shaped by the culture at large. There is a slight scolding tone the writing as if the author is waggling his finger at editors of the past for not giving the females their fair due but it doesn't really rise to a level that distracts from the book... Until the 90s. Mike Madrid HATES 90s. He loath the sexualized images for super-heroines from. He detests editors, artists and comic readers from this period and he makes no qualms about saying so. The book basically becomes unlistenable at this point as the author's rage colors everything from this decade and his mission changes from education to proving that everyone involved in comics from this period was wrong. Still it's a 95% useful book. Just skip the last chapter.

kinda unexpected

Would you listen to The Supergirls again? Why?

So much cool info. and references to writers or books that it gave me more reading material...I'm not into comics at all by the way