"It Was as Much Ours …": Reader Contributions to Teen Humor Fashion Comics

Abstract

abstract:Studies of participatory culture in comics frequently focus on the superhero genre and the participatory fandom communities and networks engaged with the superhero genre. This study focuses instead on participatory culture in the fashion subgenre of teen humor comics published from the 1940s through the early 1970s and again in the 1980s. I survey the many types of reader-contributed content in Archie Comics' Katy Keene comics and Marvel Comic's teen humor fashion comics such as Patsy Walker and Millie the Model. I examine the fan-led revivals of Katy Keene and Millie the Model in the 1980s. Finally, with the aid of an archival collection of reader submissions, I investigate the reader contributions to Marvel's six-issue Misty comic created by Trina Robbins. These explorations seek to recover a vibrant participatory community of comic book readers, consisting primarily of young women and girls, actively engaged in producing the comics they are reading.