The treatment of girl characters is especially interesting.
Minnie the Minx was important because she was allowed to be every bit as troublesome, daring and unruly as the boys. She climbed, fought, schemed and caused havoc with tremendous enthusiasm.
Beryl the Peril occupied much the same territory.
Readers recalled both characters receiving punishment from parents and teachers, including school corporal punishment.
In that respect, the comics occasionally offered an odd sort of equality: if the girls were allowed to cause as much trouble as the boys, they could also suffer the same comic consequences.
Minnie in particular refused to fit comfortably into the conventional image of the sweet, obedient little girl. One former reader remembered liking her precisely because she dared to be as naughty as the boys and seemed remarkably fearless about the consequences.
