The Spectacular Sisterhood of Superwomen: Awesome Female Characters from Comic Book History

Comic book heroines have come a long way and not always by the expected routes, as Nicholson, founder of Bedside Press, traces in this informative and entertaining encyclopedia of female characters in comics. Moving decade by decade, Nicholson—who admits in the introduction that her survey is far from definitive, and reminds readers that one of the reasons to follow the progress of female characters is that they’re often more interesting than their male counterparts—acquaints readers with names both new and commonplace. Only diehard comics fans will likely know the exploits of, say, Ultra Violet, a “bobby-soxer with the ability to shape-change into her wildest fantasies,” first seen in 1947, or 1985’s Sindi Shade, who “is trying to commit the greatest crime of all: checking out a library book.” But Nicholson makes even the relative unknowns sound as fascinating as that familiar Amazonian warrior, Wonder Woman (who, for trivia nerds, first appeared in DC’s All Star Comics #8 in 1941, in a decade Nicholson calls the Golden Age of comics). Since superheroes, female and otherwise, permeate so much of our current culture, it’s a real treat to get such rich history of how characters such as Carol “Ms. Marvel” Danvers emerged and evolved, and Nicholson is a trustworthy, knowledgeable guide. [em](May) [/em]