DOWNTOWN — Comic books aren't just for guys.
A Chicago-based group, Ladies' Night Anthology, is part of an emerging female clientele for reading and making their own comics.
"Women have always existed in these spaces, and in the last few years, women have started to find each other and make their own community," said Ladies' Night Anthology editor-in-chief Megan Byrd, of Lincoln Square. "And our group interacts with women who have a varying taste in comics."
The group meets the first Wednesday of every month at Graham Crackers Comics, 77 E. Madison St., to discuss comics, female comic book creators and to make their own works. Each year, the club produces an anthology — a collection of comics by new and emerging creators from Chicago. It recently held a launch party for the fourth anthology, "Eat It Up."
Byrd said Ladies' Night Anthology has a few hundred members who hail from most of Chicago's 77 community areas. A few members reside in the suburbs, too, she said.
Ladies' Night Anthology was founded in 2012 by Hannah Chapman, a British exchange student who wanted to set up a space for women to talk about comics and make their own books. Chapman returned to England, where she started the Comic Book Slumber Party club.
That club, along with representatives from Ladies' Night Anthology, will be hosts of the 44th Angouleme International Comics Festival in France from Jan. 26-29. Byrd, along with Ladies' Night editor Lauren Burke, of Portage Park, will attend the French festival.
Research from 2014 indicates of the 24 million Facebook users who said they were comic book fans, more than 46 percent were women. Other Facebook fan pages of specific companies like Archie Comics (52.24 percent), Gold Key Comics (56.96 percent) and Kitchen Sink (61.11 percent) had higher percentages of female than male supporters. Of Marvel Comics' 9.2 million U.S.-based Facebook fans, more than 36 percent were women.
"That's important information for people who don't read comics or maybe have preconceived notions about comic book fans," said Byrd, who is also a member of "LCS Valkyries," an international group of women who work at comic book stores. "And when comic book publishers understand that, it will be better for the fans."
For more information on Ladies' Night Anthology or to purchase their products, click here.
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