Abstract

Jane Chapman opens this collection with a detailed examination of the images of women in two Second World War comic strips - Wanda the War Girl from the (Sydney) Sunday Telegraph and Jane at War from the UK's Daily Mirror. There are essential differences in how the two heroines respond to the animated dangers of wartime, as drawn by respectively, Kath O'Brien and Norman Pett. As Chapman reveals, both characters portray typical 1940's values, but in different ways: the female character of Wanda was powerful and productive in the largely masculine wartime arena, whereas Jane was brave and well intentioned, but accident prone, that is, regularly losing her clothes. For both characters, fashion provided pin up value. These fictionalized portrayals were exaggerated for dramatic effect, but on a deeper level these images pushed to the fore the reality of how women throughout Australia, England and the United States acted for the Allied war effort. In hindsight, the added responsibilities for women during wartime would ultimately prove useful for bettering the women's position in the debate for equality between the sexes. In Wanda and Jane's depictions of war-time bravery, their efforts became a valid cultural record of the period. The presence of women in wartime, however fictionalized, could be viewed as a move that would further collapse the 19th century notion that 'women's place is in the home.'