Winnie Winkle

Winnie Winkle was an American comic strip which appeared over a 76-year span (1920–96). Created by Martin Branner, who wrote the strip for over 40 years, Winnie Winkle was one of the first comic strips about working women. It was titled Winnie Winkle the Breadwinner until 1943. The main character, Winnie, was a young woman who had to support her parents and adopted brother, serving as a reflection of the changing role of women in society. It ran in more than 100 newspapers for several decades, and translations of the strip's Sunday pages (focusing on her little brother and his gang) were made available in Europe.

The Chicago Tribune Syndicate launched the comic strip on September 20, 1920. The strip's premise was conceived by Joseph Medill Patterson, but the stories and artwork were by Branner, who had previously created two unsuccessful comic strips.

The eponymous character Winnie Winkle was a young, unmarried woman who had to support her parents, making it the first popular comic strip about working women. It was a reflection of the new role of women in society, as could also be seen in comics like Tillie the Toiler from 1921. Writing for the Associated Press in 1993, Hugh A. Mulligan noted, "After women got the vote and joined the work force, family-centered comics were joined by working-girl strips like Winnie Winkle, Tillie the Toiler, Dixie Dugan, Somebody's Stenog and Brenda Starr, which was drawn by a woman, Dale Messick. Almost from the beginning, politics and a social conscience hovered over the drawing board."