The Brinkley Girls

For over thirty years Nell Brinkley’s beautiful girls pirouetted, waltzed, Charlestoned, vamped and shimmied their way through the pages of William Randolph Hearst’s newspapers, captivating the American public with their innocent sexuality. This sumptuously designed oversized hardcover collects Brinkley’s breathtakingly spectacular, exquisitely colored full page art from 1913 to 1940. Here are her earliest silent movie serial-inspired adventure series, “Golden Eyes and Her Hero, Bill;” her almost too romantic series, “Betty and Billy and Their Love Through the Ages;” her snappy flapper comics from the 1920s; her 1937 pulp magazine-inspired “Heroines of Today.” Included are photos of Nell, reproductions of her hitherto unpublished paintings, and an informative introduction by the book’s editor, Trina Robbins.

In 1907, at the tender age of 22, Nell Brinkley came to New York to draw for the Hearst syndicate. Within a year, she had become a household name. Flo Ziegfeld dressed his dancers as “Brinkley Girls,” in the Ziegfeld Follies. Three popular songs were written about her. Women, aspiring to the masses of curly hair with which Nell adorned her fetching and idealized creations, could buy Nell Brinkley Hair Curlers for ten cents a card. Young girls cut out and saved her drawings, copied them, colored them, and pasted them in scrapbooks. The Brinkley Girls took over from the Gibson Girls.

Nell Brinkley widened her scope to include pen and ink depictions of working women. Brinkley used her fame to campaign for better working conditions and higher pay for women who had joined in the war effort, and who were suffering economic and social dislocation due to acting on their patriotism. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she drew women of different races and cultures. Except among a small group of avid collectors, she has been unjustly forgotten...until now.

Nominated for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards (Best Archival Collection/Project: Strips; Best Publication Design).

Nominated for two 2010 Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards: this sumptuously designed oversized hardcover collects Nell Brinkley’s spectacular, exquisitely colored full page strips: adventure and romance starring silent-era ingenues, flappers, and real-life heroines of the early twentieth century.

For over thirty years Nell Brinkley"s beautiful girls pirouetted, waltzed, Charlestoned, vamped and shimmied their way through the pages of William Randolph Hearst"s newspapers, captivating the American public with their innocent sexuality. This sumptuously designed oversized hardcover collects Brinkley"s breathtakingly spectacular, exquisitely colored full page art from 1913 to 1940. Here are her earliest silent movie serial-inspired adventure series, 'Golden Eyes and Her Hero, Bill;' her almost too romantic series, 'Betty and Billy and Their Love Through the Ages;' her snappy flapper comics from the 1920s; her 1937 pulp magazine-inspired 'Heroines of Today.' Included are photos of Nell, reproductions of her hitherto unpublished paintings, and an informative introduction by the book"s editor, Trina Robbins.

In 1907, at the tender age of 22, Nell Brinkley came to New York to draw for the Hearst syndicate. Within a year, she had become a household name. Flo Ziegfeld dressed his dancers as 'Brinkley Girls,' in the Ziegfeld Follies. Three popular songs were written about her. Women, aspiring to the masses of curly hair with which Nell adorned her fetching and idealized creations, could buy Nell Brinkley Hair Curlers for ten cents a card. Young girls cut out and saved her drawings, copied them, colored them, and pasted them in scrapbooks. The Brinkley Girls took over from the Gibson Girls.

Nell Brinkley widened her scope to include pen and ink depictions of working women. Brinkley used her fame to campaign for better working conditions and higher pay for women who had joined in the war effort, and who were suffering economic and social dislocation due to acting on their patriotism. Unlike most of her contemporaries, she drew women of different races and cultures.

Except among a small group of avid collectors, she has been unjustly forgotten...until now.

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. The Brinkley Girls has appeal for Women's Studies scholars as well as fans of newspaper comic reprints and those interested in comics history.

Retired cartoonist and current comics historian Trina Robbins has been writing graphic novels, comics, and books for over 30 years. Her subjects have ranged from Wonder Woman and The Powerpuff Girls to her own teenage superheroine, GoGirl!, and from women cartoonists and superheroines to women who kill. She lives in a moldering 103 year-old house in San Francisco with her cats, shoes, and dust bunnies.