Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins
Saturday, May 17, 2025
2:00 pm
Cost: Included with Museum admission. Free for Members!
Join Caitlin McGurk, Curator at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and Associate Professor at The Ohio State University, for a journey through the life and art of cartoonist Barbara Shermund as detailed in McGurk’s new book, Tell Me a Story Where the Bad Girl Wins: The Life and Art of Barbara Shermund. Shermund was one of the first women cartoonists to work for The New Yorker and helped establish the visual style for the magazine. She later became a mainstay at Esquire; contributed to Life, Colliers, and more; had a syndicated newspaper cartoon published by King Features; and illustrated a variety of books. In 1950, Shermund was among the first three women to be accepted as a member of the male-dominated National Cartoonist Society. Books will be available for purchase and signing after the talk.
ABOUT CAITLIN MCGURK
Caitlin McGurk is the Curator of Comics and Cartoon Art at the Billy Ireland Cartoon Library & Museum and Associate Professor at The Ohio State University. McGurk’s scholarship and exhibitions focus on the work of women in comics, alternative and underground comics, and early American comic strips. Her recent exhibitions include Ladies First: A Century of Women’s Innovations in Comics and Cartoon Art and Man Saves Comics: Bill Blackbeard’s Treasure of 20th Century Newspapers. Her writing has appeared in Journal of Lesbian Studies, Slate, The Comics Journal, Inks: The Journal of the Comics Studies Society, and IDW Publishing’s Library of American Comics Essentials. McGurk has also worked for the Center for Cartoon Studies’ Schulz Library, Marvel Comics, and serves on the council for the annual Cartoon Crossroads Columbus festival.
