Who is popular today?

With her ringlets and pithy put-downs, Little Lulu is seen, heard – and quite irresistible
I must admit that I knew nothing of Little Lulu until Drawn & Quarterly sent me the first volume of its full-colour reissue of her adventures (five are planned). Who is she, this dynamic demon of a little girl? Well, you could say that she is to American readers what Minnie the Minx is to those of us who grew up with the Beano. Like Minnie, she is smart, frequently badly behaved and not much given to following the rules; like Minnie, she is a kind of feminist icon, albeit one who wears a neat red dress and whose hair hangs in old-fashioned ringlets.
Little Lulu can outmanoeuvre any boy, reduce any adult to gobsmacked silence. No wonder, then, that her fans include not only Patti Smith and the poet Eileen Myles, but also Margaret Atwood, who has written the introduction to Little Lulu: Working Girl. (“The eternal problem of the boys’ clubhouse – not being let into it, that is – was treated by Little Lulu, by and large, with a phnuh.”) Continue reading...