[citation needed] In certain countries, like Japan and South Korea, women creators have shaken up the traditional market and attained widespread mainstream success.
In the 1920s, the USA underwent an economic boom and widespread social change, leading to the appearance of the "flapper", a female subculture receiving a lot of media attention at the time.
Several female cartoonists picked up on the flapper stereotype, often working in a stylish art deco style, including Ethel Hays (with her comic strip Marianne and her famous cartoon Flapper Fanny), Virginia Huget[2] (Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Babs in Society), Gladys Parker (Gay and her Gang) and Marjorie Henderson Buell (Dashing Dot).
In the 1930s, the Great Depression had struck the US, and stories about poor but happy families, and their stoic struggles to make a living, became popular reader fare.
Due to the syndicates' often strict demands on recurring characters and an unwillingness to risk offending readers, some cartoonists have gone into self-syndication to maintain control of their work.
Action and adventure-oriented genres were popular at this time, and Fiction House's forte was capable and beautiful female protagonists, working as pilots, detectives, or jungle adventuresses.
Women working for the publisher include Lily Renée,[8] at the Lambiek Comiclopedia Fran Hopper[9] and future romance artists Ruth Atkinson and Ann Brewster.
The underground comix movement attracted women artists, as it allowed more mature themes and personal work than the commercial newspaper and comic book industry of the time.
The scene's unapologetic attitude also inspired artists outside the US, such as Canadian Julie Doucet, whose surrealist semi-autobiographical series Dirty Plotte became a worldwide cult favorite in the 1990s.
Other popular artists include Donna Barr (Desert Peach, about Erwin Rommel's fictional gay brother), Jill Thompson (Scary Godmother, a friendly witch in a Halloween environment) and Linda Medley (Castle Waiting, daily lives of fairytale characters).
Female webcomic artists include writers and illustrators such as Kate Leth (Canadian), Mary Cagle, Danielle Corsetto, Ramsey Beyer, Lucy Knisley, Abby Howard, Madeleine Flores (Adventure Time), Dorothy Gambrell, Liz Prince, and Erika Moen, who worked with Grace Ellis and ND Stevenson on the popular alternative print series Lumberjanes.
In 1953 the "God of Manga" Osamu Tezuka published his classic Princess Knight, with a longer, more complex storyline and a gender ambiguous protagonist.
In the 1960s, Yoshiko Nishitani created works featuring glamorous teen girls in lead roles, with once-taboo romances as a central theme.
Some of these artists such as Keiko Takemiya and Moto Hagio wrote stories featuring young gay male lovers involved in tragic relationships.
Since then, girl comics have been a flourishing scene, which, in general, has both been created and read by women, has had a notable part of the market, and, as manga is becoming increasingly popular abroad, more and more is making an impact on Western countries.
Later popular artists include Rumiko Takahashi (drawing primarily shonen stories for boys), Hiromu Arakawa (Fullmetal Alchemist), Kazue Kato (Blue Exorcist) as well as the female collective Clamp.
Her graphic novels include The Song of My Father, Jiseul, Kogaeyi, and award-winning Grass (2019), a story about a Korean girl forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese military during the World War II.
In the UK, Posy Simmonds started her career in 1979 with the weekly comic strip The Silent Three of St. Botolph's for The Guardian about the daily life of three former schoolfriends, which lasted for a decade.
One of the earliest successful female artists was Claire Bretécher, who started her career in the 1960s and is famed for her humor series Les Frustrés and the co-creation of the magazine L'Écho des savanes along with Gotlib and Mandryka.
It was inspired by the feminist underground comix from the US, published by Humanoïdes Associés and was an attempt to branch out of Metal Hurlant magazine by the same editor with a majority of female artists.
No similar comics magazine has since appeared in the Franco-Belgian market, but it helped launch or consolidate the careers of Chantal Montellier[18] (gritty, feminist, political sci-fi), Nicole Claveloux[19] (surreal fantasy) and Florence Cestac[20] (funny cartoons).
Another author that appeared during this time was Annie Goetzinger,[21] who worked in a realistic Art Nouveau style and drew adventures with female protagonists.
In the beginning of the 21st century, Marjane Satrapi released the critically acclaimed Persepolis about her childhood and coming-of-age in a politically turbulent Iran, and in Europe.