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Comic book glamour girl Katy Keene was first published by Archie Comics in 1945, created to appeal to a growing female comic readership. Her girl-next-door appeal lent her a certain accessibility, while her blend of ambition and fashion-consciousness represented an image of femininity that women were encouraged to strive for in post-war America. 

While independent career woman like Katy Keene are recurring figures of imagination in the history of comic strips, Triggs sets out to show us that what sets Katy apart from the pack is the intimate relationship between her world and her fans, who were regularly invited to submit their own designs for everything from Katy鈥檚 clothes to her house and car. This intimacy was cultivated in large part by her creator Bill Woggon, who sought authenticity by inviting and publishing not only these design submissions, but also fan mail and photographs and biographies of fans, cultivating a unique and loyal fan club for Katy Keene. 

Triggs paints a picture of the historical context and field of influence that led Woggon to create Katy Keene in the way that he did, to demonstrate not only how, but also why 鈥淜aty was different.鈥� Woggon models Katy鈥檚 family on his own, and as Triggs tells us, 鈥渢his notion of family ran deep in the storylines鈥�, with Katy鈥檚 family and various boyfriends all featuring prominently in the comic, but also Woggon himself who talks from out of the panel directly to his fanbase, encouraging them to send in designs for Katy and her friends, comprising an extended family. By providing opportunities for fans to become part of the family and participate in ways that affected her actual character development, Woggon was not only breaking down barriers between the real world and Katy鈥檚 fantasy world, but between himself and fans of his work (many of whom would go on to become successful designers, illustrators and writers themselves). 

Using the specific example of the banter between Woggon and his own comic book characters that regularly features on the opening page of each comic, Triggs explains, 鈥渢he dialogue which features in the panels between the photographed Woggon and the drawn and inked comic characters collapses the imaginary and the reality of the reader鈥檚 worlds.鈥� This fierce devotion and real-life interaction between Katy鈥檚 image and her fans would later culminate in the creation of the Katy Keene Fan Magazine by Craig Leavitt, which ran for 18 issues through the 1980s, and this led to a resurgence of interest in the character for a whole new generation of would-be artists, designers and writers. Being a fanzine, Leavitt鈥檚 publication continues Woggon鈥檚 project true to form, featuring design, artwork, and storylines contributed by the ever-growing fanbase.

Triggs points to ways in which both 鈥渆verydayness鈥�, and a sense of luxury at the same time, was of particular importance to engendering this participatory fan culture, through which readers could respond to calls for designs for every last aspect of Katy鈥檚 life, even Katy鈥檚 design firm itself. Quoting Leavitt himself, to describe the allure, who said in 1978: 鈥淚 learned diversity through Katy. Every single thing needed to be designed鈥攃ars, houses, gowns, lampshades, even the poetry and jokes...Katy represented everything I didn鈥檛 have鈥攅verything wonderful.鈥�

The Katy Keene comic regularly featured tremendously popular paper dolls of Katy and her many fashionable ensembles, and colouring options, furthering the malleability of the original Katy Keene comic into fanzine form, infinitely reproducible and re-imaginable by her aspiring artist and designer fans. While Katy Keene never moved beyond contemporary female roles, Triggs encourages us to see Katy as a feminist role model who, as a designer herself, is in control and gives her readers and fans 鈥減ermission to imagine alternative futures鈥�.

If you鈥檙e interested in getting the kind of education in publishing that allows for cultural analysis, historical reflection, and diving deep into imaginary worlds, consider applying for the Master of Publishing Program at 丁香园AV before February 1st.

Bonus: Did you know Katy Keene is being revived for a new audience in 2020? Here's the trailer below: