Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines Of Golden Age Comics compiled & annotated by Mike Madrid (graphic novel review)
This second volume, ‘Divas, Dames & Daredevils: Lost Heroines Of Golden Age Comics’, compiled by Mike Madrid features 28 heroines who graced American comicbooks in the 1940s-50s. Some of them only had a single appearance, although there was promise for more in the end panels. You would have thought they would have had a proper try-out to see if they would garner a readership. Without seeing the original comicbooks, there’s no way to gauge whether or not they just ended up as padding or page-fillers.
Fantomah had powers to rival if not surpass Superman. Camilla, Queen Of The Jungle had the longest run, 1940-1952. For a lot of them, disguises weren’t always that important and many could take on the Nazi menace mostly on their own in helping out the military.
In contrast to the first volume, ‘Vixens, Vamps And Vampires’, not all the art here is good. Some of it looks like a rush job and just got away with continuity than anything being elaborate. As this was also the American depression era, some artists no doubt were in it purely for the money than showcase their talent and just got a move on.
If anything, if you ever thought various comicbook companies only had male heroes, this should rebalance that thought. They might not all have been successful and there is an element of cheesecake for the time period but at least there was some showing.
GF Willmetts
May 2026
(pub: Exterminating Angel, 2013. 236 page softcover graphic novel. Price: varies. ISBN: 9781-93528-23-7)
