This book looks at the work of over thirty authors who have challenged the boys’ club of comics in the United States, and whose stories shed a revealing light on contemporary society, through counter-cultural ripostes to the patriarchy, raw or humorous confessions, deconstruction of femininity, stories of vulnerability which offer powerful counterpoints to the super bodies of mainstream comics, non-white and queer cartoonists drawing back , and more. This is a key title for students and scholars in the fields of Comics Studies, Literature, and Women and Gender Studies.