Cartoon Characters » Female Cartoon Characters

Lil’ Abner

Aldric Chang — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 04:33:47 +0000

Li’l Abner was a satirical American comic strip appearing in many newspapers in the United States and Canada, featuring a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished town of Dogpatch, Kentucky. Written and drawn by Al Capp (1909-1979), the strip ran for 43 years, from August 13, 1934 through November 13, 1977. It was distributed by United Feature Syndicate. Read daily by scores of millions of people, the strip’s characters and humor had a powerful cultural impact.

Lucy Van Pelt

Aldric Chang — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 01:42:39 +0000

Lucille “Lucy” van Pelt is a fictional character in the syndicated comic strip Peanuts, written and drawn by Charles Schulz. She is the older sister of Linus and Rerun. Lucy is a crabby and cynical eight-year old girl,and is often bossy toward the other characters in the strip, particularly to Linus and Charlie Brown^. She is often referred to as the world’s greatest fuss-budget.

Natasha Fatale

Aldric Chang — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:09:57 +0000

Natasha Fatale is a fictional character in the 1960s animated cartoons Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, collectively referred to as Rocky and Bullwinkle for short.

Natasha is a spy for the fictional nation of Pottsylvania, and takes orders from the nation’s leader, Fearless Leader (and occasionally the rarely-seen Mr. Big). Natasha usually serves as an assistant or accomplice to her fellow spy, Boris Badenov. Like Boris, Natasha also delights in performing various criminal misdeeds. She seems to be a bit more intelligent, or at least more thoughtful, than Boris, and often points out flaws in his plans or voices slight contempt for his bungling, to which his customary reply was “Shuddup you mouth, Natasha.” Also, in one episode, Natasha does say “SHUT UP YOUR MOUTH!!!!” to Boris, while their car goes over cliff.

Usually, Natasha and Boris’ misdeeds are thwarted by Rocky the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose.

Natasha usually wears a purple dress, but in the last segment of Goof Gas Attack, her dress turns red.
Usually, Natasha and Boris’ misdeeds are thwarted by Rocky the flying squirrel and Bullwinkle the moose.

Natasha usually wears a purple dress, but in the last segment of Goof Gas Attack, her dress turns red.

Olive Oyl

Aldric Chang — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:04:31 +0000

Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar in 1919 for his comic strip Thimble Theater. Thimble Theater later became Popeye after the sailor character became the most popular member of the comic strip’s cast. Olive Oyl was a character in the strip for 10 years before the first appearance of Popeye in 1929.

In the strip as written by Segar, Olive was something of a coy flapper whose extremely thin build lent itself well to the fashions of the time; her long black hair was usually rolled in a neat bun, like her mother’s. She was the more-or-less fiancée of Harold Hamgravy, a “lounge lizard” or slacker type who did as little work as possible and was always borrowing money. His attraction to other women—particularly if they were rich—naturally incensed Olive, and she once succumbed to a fit of “lunaphobia” (a kind of angry madness) over one of his amours. (When she recovered, she continued to pretend to have the disorder to win him back.) She was not immune to flattery from other men, but remained committed to Ham until Popeye’s appearance. The two did not fall in love at once (her first words to him were “Aw, shut up, you bilge rat!”), but instead fought bitterly (and hilariously) for weeks, before realizing they cared for one another.

Jessica Rabbit

Aldric Chang — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 03:51:10 +0000

Jessica Rabbit is Roger’s human cartoon wife in the book and movie. In the book, she was an amoral, up-and-coming star and former comic character, over whom her estranged husband, comic strip star Roger Rabbit, obsessed. She is re-imagined in the film as a sultry, but moral, cartoon singer at a Los Angeles supper club called The Ink and Paint Club. Here, she is one of several suspects in the framing of her husband, who is a famous cartoon star. She is voiced by Kathleen Turner. Amy Irving was cast to sing Peggy Lee’s “Why Don’t You Do Right” for Jessica’s first scene in the movie.

Jessica was based on Veronica Lake, and even fashioned her famous “Peek-A-Boo” hairstyle. She is one of the most famous sex symbols on animated screen. She claims to Eddie Valiant, “I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.” She deeply loves her husband Roger and the main reason is that he makes her laugh.

After the film, Jessica also appeared in the Roger Rabbit/Baby Herman shorts Tummy Trouble as a nurse, Roller Coaster Rabbit as a damsel in distress, and Trail Mix-Up as a park ranger. In Tummy Trouble and Roller Coaster Rabbit she made no impression, but in Trail Mix-Up Roger fantasizes over her, calling her a ‘babe in the woods’ and panting like a dog. She also appeared frequently in the Roger Rabbit comic book series, and she had her own feature in most issues of Roger Rabbit’s Toontown such as “Beauty Parlor Bedlam,” where she comes face to face with female weasel counterpart, Winnie.

With the success of the film and upon the opening of Disney’s MGM Studios on May 1, 1989, the film’s characters featured prominently in the company. After taking the Backlot Tram Tour, various props decorated the streets including two different photo opportunities with Jessica: a glittery cardboard cutout and “The Loony Bin” photo shop which allowed you to take pictures in costume standing next to an actual cartoon drawing of characters from the film. There was also a plethora of merchandise including Jessica Rabbit rub-on stickers called “pressers”.

Disagreements between the Disney Company, Amblin Entertainment and Gary Wolf (jointly owning rights to the characters) made it difficult for any merchandise or projects to get off the ground and caused the halt of the short film, Hare in My Soup, and the next film Who Discovered Roger Rabbit. In this prequel, Roger meets his bride-to-be, Jessica Krupnick. A completed score by Alan Silvestri is said to exist as well as test footage and computer generated versions of the characters. Also cancelled was an animated TV series, which was replaced by a show called Bonkers about a feline cop. Many park attractions never got out of development, such as Roger Rabbit’s Hollywood.

In 2000, Disney – MGM Studios stopped using any character memorabilia in the park, though some props are still present. These include a Maroon Cartoon billboard featuring Roger, Jessica, and Baby Herman across from the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular show, Eddie Valiant’s office and a cut-out of Roger on the blinds of a neighboring window near the 50’s Prime Time Cafe, and the “ton o’ bricks” hanging near the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” Movie Set Adventure.

Snow White

Aldric Chang — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 01:43:21 +0000

Once upon a time, as a queen sits sewing at her window, she pricks her finger on her needle and a drop of blood falls on the snow that had fallen on her ebony window frame. As she looks at the blood on the snow, she says to herself, “Oh, how I wish that I had a daughter that had skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony”. Soon after that, the queen gives birth to a baby girl who has skin white as snow, lips red as blood, and hair black as ebony. They name her Princess Snow White. As soon as the child is born, the queen dies.

Soon after, the new king takes a new wife, who is beautiful but very vain. She possesses a magical mirror that answers any question, to whom she often asks: “Mirror, mirror on the wall, who in the land is fairest of all?” to which the mirror always replies “You, my queen, are fairest of all.” But when Snow White reaches the age of seven, she becomes as beautiful as the day, and when the queen asks her mirror, it responds: “Queen, you are full fair, ’tis true, but Snow White is fairer than you.”

The queen becomes jealous, and orders a huntsman to take Snow White into the woods to be killed. She demands that the huntsman return with Snow White’s heart as proof of her killing. The huntsman takes Snow White into the forest, but after raising his knife to stab her, he finds himself unable to kill her. Instead, he lets her go, telling her to flee and hide, and brings the queen the heart of a young boar, which is then prepared by the cook and eaten by the queen.

In the forest, Snow White discovers a tiny cottage belonging to seven dwarfs, where she rests. There, the dwarfs take pity on her, saying “If you will keep house for us, and cook, make beds, wash, sew, and knit, and keep everything clean and orderly, then you can stay with us, and you shall have everything that you want.” They warn her to take care and let no one in when they are away delving in the mountains. Meanwhile, the Queen asks her mirror once again “Who’s the fairest of them all?”, and is horrified to learn that Snow White is not only alive and well and living with the dwarfs, but is still the fairest of them all.

Three times the Queen disguises herself and visits the dwarfs’ cottage while they are away during the day, trying to kill Snow White. First, disguised as a peddler, the Queen offers colorful stay-laces and laces Snow White up so tight that she fainted, causing the Queen to leave her for dead. Snow White is revived by the dwarfs, however, when they loosen the laces. Next, the Queen dresses as a different old woman and brushes Snow White’s hair with a poisoned comb. Snow White again collapses, but again is saved by the dwarfs. Finally, the Queen makes a poisoned apple, and in the disguise of a farmer’s wife, offers it to Snow White. When she is hesitant to accept it, the Queen cuts the apple in half, eats the white part and gives the poisoned red part to Snow White. She eats the apple eagerly and immediately falls into a deep stupor. When the dwarfs find her, they cannot revive her, and they place her in a glass coffin, assuming that she is dead.

Time passes, and a prince traveling through the land sees Snow White in her coffin. The prince is enchanted by her beauty and instantly falls in love with her. He begs the dwarfs to let him have the coffin. The prince’s servants carry the coffin away. While doing so, they stumble on some bushes and the movement caused the piece of poisoned apple to dislodge from Snow White’s throat, awakening her. The prince then declares his love for her and soon a wedding was planned.

The vain Queen, still believing that Snow White is dead, once again asks her mirror who is the fairest in the land, and yet again the mirror disappoints her by responding that “You, my queen, are fair; it is true. But the young queen is a thousand times fairer than you.”

Not knowing that this new queen was indeed her stepdaughter, she arrives at the wedding, and her heart fills with the deepest of dread when she realizes the truth.

As punishment for her wicked ways, a pair of heated iron shoes are brought forth with tongs and placed before the Queen. She is then forced to step into these and dance until she falls down dead.

Wonder Woman

Aldric Chang — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 04:37:56 +0000

Wonder Woman is a fictional character, a DC Comics superhero created by William Moulton Marston. First appearing in All Star Comics #8 (December 1941), she is one of three characters to have been continuously published by DC Comics since the company’s 1944 inception (except for a brief hiatus in 1984).

Wonder Woman is a member of a fictional, all-female tribe of Amazons (based on the Amazons of Greek mythology) who is sent to “man’s world” as an ambassador. Among the Amazons she is known as Princess Diana (being the daughter of Amazon queen Hippolyta); in “man’s world” she takes the secret identity of “Diana Prince.” Her powers include super-strength, hand-to-hand combat ability, and sometimes (during the 1980s and 1990s) flight. She also makes use of her Lasso of Truth (which forces those bound by it to tell the truth), a pair of bullet-deflecting bracelets, and an invisible plane.

Created during World War II, the character was initially depicted fighting the Axis military forces, as well as an assortment of supervillains and villainesses. In later decades, some writers and their editors preferred to retain the World War II setting, while others updated the series to reflect an ongoing “present day.” Wonder Woman has also regularly appeared in the team books Justice Society (from 1941) and Justice League (from 1960). Arguably the most popular and iconic female superhero in comics, she is informally grouped with Superman and Batman as one of a “Trinity” of DC characters who are regarded as especially important, both within their fictional universe and without.

In addition to comics, the character has appeared in other media — most notably the 1975-1979 live action Wonder Woman TV series starring Lynda Carter, but also in cartoons such the Super Friends and Justice League animated series. Although a number of attempts have been made to adapt the character to film, none have yet emerged from “development hell”.

Woody Woodpecker

Aldric Chang — Tue, 30 Sep 2008 16:01:08 +0000

Woody Woodpecker is an animated cartoon character, an anthropomorphic woodpecker who appeared in theatrical short films produced by the Walter Lantz animation studio and distributed by Universal Pictures. Though not the first of the screwball characters that became popular in the 1940s, Woody is perhaps the most indicative of the type.

Woody was created in 1940 by storyboard artist Ben “Bugs” Hardaway, who had previously laid the groundwork for two other screwball characters, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, at the Schlesinger/Warner Bros. studio in the late 1930s. Woody’s character and design would evolve over the years, from an insane bird with an unusually garish design to a more refined looking and acting character in the vein of the later Chuck Jones version of Bugs Bunny. Woody was originally voiced by prolific voice actor Mel Blanc, who was succeeded by Ben Hardaway and later by Grace Stafford, wife of Walter Lantz.

Lantz produced theatrical cartoons longer than most of his contemporaries, and Woody Woodpecker remained a staple of Universal’s release schedule until 1972, when Lantz finally closed down his studio. The character has only been revived since then for special productions and occasions, save for one new Saturday morning cartoon, The New Woody Woodpecker Show, for the Fox Network in the late 1990s/early 2000s.

Woody Woodpecker cartoons were first broadcast on television in 1957 under the title The Woody Woodpecker Show, which featured Lantz cartoons bookended by new footage of Woody and live-action footage of Lantz. Though less popular today, a repackaged version of The Woody Woodpecker Show is still frequently seen in television syndication. Woody has a motion picture star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on 7000 Hollywood Blvd. He also made a cameo alongside many other famous cartoon characters in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.