Web cartoon collectives are all the rage, and a new one has just launched with 12 of the best cartoonists around, who all happen to be…women.

Women’s Work: a brand-new website for a brand-new collective of women who work in and around the visual and literary industries.

Leigh Dragoon
Shaenon Garrity
Rachel Hartman
Lea Hernandez
Lisa Jonté
Karen Krajenbrink
Layla Lawlor
Karen Luk
Carla Speed McNeil
Rachel Nabors
Leia Weathington
Stevie Wilson

We are creators and storytellers. We’ve banded together and built ourselves a fort in our internet back yard and we invite you to come see. We have a database in which all creative types might take part, and a forum in which anyone might join the conversation.

Art before housework. In a hundred years, no one’s going to care how clean your floors were.

They also have some ads here, here and here. We’ve reproduced one which you can click on for a larger version.

Say what you will 2006 was clearly a huge year for women in comics. The most acclaimed graphic novel of the year was by a woman, and there were easily a dozen top notch works by women, with dozens more that were just good old comics. It’s revolutionary just how non-revulationary female cartoonists have become.

Women’s Work directly confronts the idea of women breaking through traditional role models to pursue careers in the arts. Some people are sure to object, although to what, we’re not sure. In the meantime, it’s a good place to keep up with 12 very good cartooners.