The book traces more than a century of women’s contributions to comics, from early newspaper cartoonists to contemporary graphic storytellers. Illustrated and written for scholars and general readers, it has been named a Publishers Weekly “Book to Watch” and received a “Highly Recommended” designation from Booklist.
Since its release, the book has drawn attention beyond academia. An excerpt, “A Brief History of Iconic Women Spies in the Comics,” appeared in Literary Hub, exploring fictional spies such as Señorita Rio, a 1940s Latina character drawn by comics artist Lily Renée, and Sanjak, a character introduced in Milton Caniff’s Terry and the Pirates in the 1940s and widely credited as the first lesbian character in comics.
The Rome Sentinel also featured the book in a story by staff intern Paige Hescock ’27, highlighting Serrano’s scholarship on an often-overlooked aspect of literary and visual history.
Serrano and Kirtley have discussed their research on two podcasts: Comic Geek Speak, a long-running comics fan podcast, and the New Books Network, where they spoke about the book’s origins, discoveries, and the historical underrepresentation of women in comics.
Women in Comics is published by Black Dog & Leventhal and is available at the Hamilton College Bookstore.
Posted November 4, 2026
