Book Review: Atlas Comics Library No. 7: Girl Comics

Fantagraphics Publishing has released another beautiful anthology with Atlas Comics Library No. 7: Girl Comics The collection contains Girl Comics #1-12, 390 pages spanning from October 1949 to January 1952. Filled with titles like “I Hate Janet Briggs,” “The Woman-Hater,” “The Wrong Side of the Tracks,” “If a Girl be Mad,“ and “The Victim Was Me!,” nearly every piece wallows in romance and young girls’ adventure stories.

Many of the stories follow the formula that has been popular back to Shakespeare and beyond – that of the classic Romantic Comedy. Over and over again, a young man and woman will meet and be attracted to one another, only to have an encounter in which a seemingly insurmountable obstacle is foisted upon them. The couple falls apart, and then the obstacle is either not what they thought it was or mostly easy to overcome. Finally, there is an engagement or even a wedding to wrap everything in a nice little bow.

However, lucky for us, the formula is thrown away once in a while for an exciting outlier. Take, for instance, “The House of Shadows,” in which a Sigma Chi initiate is forced to spend an hour in a haunted house. No romance here; instead, we get a strong female lead who breaks up a counterfeiting ring. There are bad guys, guns, and even a haunted house.

Since these are full reproductions of the twelve included issues, they are brimming with fun surprises. Advertisements are included, and they are a nostalgia festival filled with Daisy Air Rifles for $2.59; a “real” accordion for $3.95; two dollars for Hite Builders – Be Taller Instantly!; and don’t forget that a measly buck gets you the Vacutex to “remove ugly blackheads in seconds.”

Each issue contains one or two Text Stories (un-illustrated tales for bonus content) for those who want to imagine their own pictures. There are also a couple collections of “Dan Cupid and You!”, where young women, and occasionally young men, write in with their love problems and receive input like, “No man wants to give up his freedom of choice because of a possessive female!” and “His leaving town is only an inconvenience to your friendship, and his father’s reluctance to give him the car, certainly doesn’t help your position.” These slice-of-life letters remind us that, though the world has moved on, doesn’t mean human problems have evolved very far at all. That is, of course, if the letters are real and not contributed by the writing staff.

As we often find with Fantagraphics collections, the supplementary materials are richly detailed and full of interesting anecdotes. As in Atlas 6, Dr. Michael J. Vassallo has written an extensive introduction. Titled “The New Girl,” it gives the reader 33 full pages of historical background involving the magazine, writers, artists, and editors. There are cover galleries included in full color from Girl Comics with exhaustive commentary from Vassallo. At the end of the anthology, curious readers will find “The Creators,” written by Michael Dean. It is an impressive, thorough look at those who brought the comics to life. Biographies are given for around 30 creators, and those biographies are entertaining and comprehensive.