The Brinkley Girls

Step aside, Gibson Girls, you've met your match! In 1907 Nell Brinkley drew cartoons for the Hearst syndicate and became a household name: The Brinkley Girls, a merchandising phenomenon, had taken over from the Gibson Girls. For more than 30 years, in pen and ink, Nell Brinkley depicted women of different races, cultures and occupations. Using her fame, Brinkley campaigned for better working conditions and higher pay for women. The Brinkley Girls collects colored full-page art from 1913 to 1940. Here are her earliest adventure series, "Golden Eyes and Her Hero, Bill;" her almost too romantic series, "Betty and Billy and Their Love Through the Ages;" her flapper comics from the 1920s; her 1937 pulp magazine-inspired "Heroines of Today." Included are photos of Brinkley, reproductions of her unpublished paintings, and an intro by the book's editor, Trina Robbins, which gives the book context.