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You've Come a Long Way, Baby! (Wait, That's Sexist)

Submitted by Ben McCormick on August 13, 2010 - 13:00

 When Cathy Guisewite started her comics career in 1976 there weren't many women making comics. 'Cathy' was one of the first mainstream comics written by and about a woman. When she announced she would be ending the long-running comic strip October 3rd it made me think about some of the webcomics I read that happen to be made by women.

This is nowhere near a complete list of webcomics made by women but, in my opinion, these are some of the best comics online, period. Some have been around for a while and others are relatively new to the scene. They all prove a great point; the only person keeping you out of webcomics is you. 
 
When Cathy Guisewite broke into comics in the mid-1970s she did so in a male-dominated field. She was considered to be a groundbreaker and she was. Today comics (and webcomics) are still heavily populated by male creators but there is a big difference. Now if you have an idea for a comic and you want to put it out there for the world to see, man or woman, you just do it. There are still a few people who are surprised to see a woman cartoonist but that number shrinks every day. 
 
As the father of a daughter, I'm happy I live in a world where I have these women to serve as examples of what a person can do, when you have a dream, regardless of which pair of chromosomes you may have. The days of things being a man's job or a woman's job are fading into the shadows of time. There are still challenges to overcome, but each generation builds on the accomplishments of the previous one.  I'm proud to live in a generation where I can see a strong foundation for the next being built.
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