On the last morning of Comic-Con, I had the pleasure of the interview I looked forward to most. With the book Super Visible: The Story of the Women of Marvel Comics, authors Margaret Stohl, Jeanine Schaefer, and Judith Bennett leverage their popular podcast into an indispensible volume of comics history. Jack Kirby may have complained that Stan Lee took all the credit, but neither one of them really gave the women keeping Marvel going their due.
We sat down outside the Hilton Bayfront at the Starbucks, discussing how time was running out to uncover some of this history, and give creators like Marie Severin, Linda Fite, and Ramona Fradon their rightful places of honor. The three gave me only a hint of how much I didn’t know. To find out more, you have to read the book, and should. (Spoiler alert: Linda Fite unknowingly taught me to love Shakespeare.) I hope their historical work won’t stop here, but it’s an incredibly rich place to start.
Near the end, Margaret talked about her work with Facing History and Ourselves, an educational non-profit dedicated to teaching students about not just the atrocities of the past but the forces that shaped them so that maybe we could keep it from happening again. If you’d like to learn more, or donate time and/or money, please visit their website.
Fanboy Planet is affiliated with Bookshop.org and Amazon.com among other online vendors. Purchases made through links on this and other pages may generate a commission for this site.
