Portrayal of women in comics

Women have been portrayed in comic books since the medium's beginning, with their portrayals often the subject of controversy. Sociologists with an interest in gender roles and stereotyping have outlined the role of women as both supporting characters and as potential leaders struggling to be accepted as equals. Another point of study has been the depiction of women in comics, in which, as in other forms of popular culture, body types are unrealistically portrayed.

Golden Age of comic books:
There was a time when more girls read comics than boys. One of the first books geared to these readers was Archie Comics, '''starring a group of all-American teens—Archie Andrews, Jughead Jones, and Veronica Lodge'''—who had debuted in Pep Comics #22.

During the 1930s-1940s period that fans and historians call the Golden Age of comic books, a time during which the medium evolved from comic strips, women who were not superheroes were primarily portrayed three ways: as career girls, romance-story heroines, or perky teenagers.

Wonder Woman
The first widely recognizable female superhero is Wonder Woman, from All-American Publications, one of three companies that would merge to form DC Comics.

In the early 1940s the DC line was dominated by '''superpowered male characters such as the Green Lantern, Batman, and its flagship character, Superman'''. According to the Fall 2001 issue of the Boston University alumni magazine, it was Marstons wife Elizabeth's idea to create a female superhero

the Boston University alumni magazine: William Moulton Marston, a psychologist already famous for inventing the polygraph (forerunner to the magic lasso), struck upon an idea for a new kind of superhero, one who would triumph not with fists or firepower, but with love. "Fine," said Elizabeth. "But make her a woman."

Marston introduced the idea to Max Gaines, cofounder (along with Jack Liebowitz) of All-American Publications. Given the go-ahead, Marston developed Wonder Woman with Elizabeth (whom Marston believed to be a model of that era's unconventional, liberated woman). In creating Wonder Woman, Marston was also inspired by Olive Byrne, who lived with the couple in a polygamous/polyamorous relationship. Marston's pseudonym, Charles Moulton, combined his own and Gaines' middle names.