[Andrew999]

I've just been reading some Miss Fury (drawn by June Mills) - and it made me wonder - who would be your favourite woman comic book artist - and their strips/comics you liked best?

[Robb_K]

I've just been reading some Miss Fury (drawn by June Mills) - and it made me wonder - who would be your favourite woman comic book artist - and their strips/comics you liked best?

Because I am basically a 1940s-1950s funny animal fan, and never read superhero, teen, or romance comics, I have no knowledge of ANY female pencilers or inkers from Golden Age comics.  I've only heard of a few of the better animation cell painters.  My only knowledge of female comic book artists is Europeans from the late 1980s till now, when I have been in the business, and met them.  The only female comic artist I know of and read from that period was Marge Buell's "Little Lulu" newspaper comic strip, which bore little relationship to the later Western Publishing and Dell comic book series.  I didn't like the humour in the newspaper strip, and the artwork wasn't all that great.  I LOVED what John Stanley did with Little Lulu, bur Buell had little to do with that.

Actually, I DO remember a legitimate female comic book artist from The Golden Age, Carl Barks' second wife, Garé.

[crashryan]

You might be interested in this presentation from the Society of Illustrators, "A Virtual Tour--Women in Comics."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mWyVYPO0SY

[Andrew999]

Yep - that was interesting - thanks!

[mopee167]

My fave is NINA ALBRIGHT (1907-1997)

http://pulpartists.com/Albright.html

[Electricmastro]

List of female comic book artists whom were active before 1956:

Gladys Parker

Alice Kirkpatrick

Nina Albright

Ruth Atkinson

Edwina Dumm

Lily Renee

Ann Brewster

Fran Hopper

Marge Buell

Ramona Fradon

Tarpe Mills

Marty Links

Janice Valleau

Claire S. Moe

Ade de Bethune

Jill Elgin

Martha Orr

Linda Walter

Mabel Burwick Waugh

Marie Severin

Patty Karch

Emma McKean

Olive Bailey

Dale Messick

Hilda Terry

Valerie Barclay

Merrylen Townsend

Mary Goss

Fanny Y. Cory

Hazel Marten

Merna Gamble

Marjorie MacIntyre

Terry Szenics

Virginia Krausmann

Ruth Carroll

Violet Moore Higgins

Betty Betz

Marcia Snyder

Lillian Chestney

LaVerne Harding

Ruth Geller

Alice Harvey

Dorothy Urfer

Etta Parks

Karen Karol

Louise Altson

Becky Sharp

Jane Krom Grammer

Elsie Hix

Cassie Bill

Pauline Loth

Vee Quintal Pearson

Alberta Tews

Lucy Feller

Regina Levander

Amelia Opdyke Jones

Barbara Hall

Clara Peck

Eleanore Claire

Serene Summerfield

Betty Goodan

Connie Naar

E. F. Webster

Florence Magarian

Ruth Thompson

Inez Karma

Joan Wenzel

Mary Greenwalt

Ruth Leslie

Ruth Peecock

Vivian Berg

Corinne Dillon

Nadine Seltzer

Pauline Comanor

Peggy Zangerle

Alpine Harper

Ann Young

Betty Hershey

Charlotte Becker

Gloria Kamen

Grace Gilkison

Jean Hotchkiss

Marjorie Barrows

Marjorie Thompson

Peggy Schulte

Ruth Ruhman

Sylvia Sneidman

Tatjana Wood

Ellen Simon

Jeanne Bendick

Meg Wohlberg

Phila Webb

Elsie Wollheim

Source: https://womenincomics.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Golden_Age

[Andrew999]

As if by magic, an article on the Society of Illustrators exhibition:

https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/apr/29/women-in-comics-online-exhibition-cartoonists-society-of-illustrators

Go, Trina!

[Electricmastro]

Gladys Parker:



Alice Kirkpatrick:



Nina Albright:



Lily Renee:



Edwina Dumm:



Ann Brewster:



Tarpe Mills:



Janice Valleau:



Hilda Terry:



Dale Messick:



Ade de Bethune:



Linda Walter:



Olive Bailey:



Lillian Chestney:



Louise Altson:



Etta Parks:



Vee Quintal Pearson:



Regina Levander:



Lucy Feller:



Eleanore Claire:



Nadine Seltzer:

[The Australian Panther]

Thanks for those lists Electricmaestro.
Kind of puts to rest the idea that women were rare or underappreciated in comics in the Golden Age, doesn't it? That's not all of them either. And there were women writers, editors, letterers, inkers and colourists.
The Silver Age, tho, doesn't look so good, does it? Currently there seem to be a number of women artists,writers and creators at the big two, so maybe things are re-balancing.     

[Electricmastro]

Thanks for those lists Electricmaestro.
Kind of puts to rest the idea that women were rare or underappreciated in comics in the Golden Age, doesn't it? That's not all of them either. And there were women writers, editors, letterers, inkers and colourists.
The Silver Age, tho, doesn't look so good, does it? Currently there seem to be a number of women artists,writers and creators at the big two, so maybe things are re-balancing.     

I think the difference is that women were working

[Andrew999]

Goodness - there are some terrific images there - thanks Electricmastro

If I had to choose my favourite three, they would be: Eleanore Claire, Dale Messick and Lily Renee.

How about you?

[Electricmastro]

Goodness - there are some terrific images there - thanks Electricmastro

If I had to choose my favourite three, they would be: Eleanore Claire, Dale Messick and Lily Renee.

How about you?

I

[Electricmastro]

A few more:

Fanny Cory:



Clara Peck:

[crashryan]

Fanny Cory had an interesting career. She started before 1900, doing illustrations for major magazines. She was still in her teens. After a few years she left the field for fifteen years to raise a family. Then she returned to commercial art circa 1920 working for King Features. She drew her Little Miss Muffet strip until she retired in 1956, age 79.

If you search for her images you'll find a splendid series of watercolors of fairies. I was surprised to learn Cory had painted them for her own pleasure during the 1920s, and they weren't published until decades later.

There's a Fanny Cory website run by her grandson under the name of F.Y. Cory Publishers. it has a career summary and a scrapbook of interesting articles.

https://fycory.com/

[Electricmastro]

Fanny Cory had an interesting career. She started before 1900, doing illustrations for major magazines. She was still in her teens. After a few years she left the field for fifteen years to raise a family. Then she returned to commercial art circa 1920 working for King Features. She drew her Little Miss Muffet strip until she retired in 1956, age 79.

If you search for her images you'll find a splendid series of watercolors of fairies. I was surprised to learn Cory had painted them for her own pleasure during the 1920s, and they weren't published until decades later.

There's a Fanny Cory website run by her grandson under the name of F.Y. Cory Publishers. it has a career summary and a scrapbook of interesting articles.

https://fycory.com/

And after having built up such a reputation over time, that was probably the main factor which motivated Eastern Color Printing to feature her Sonnysayings cartoon in Famous Funnies #10 (May, 1935), when she was about 57 years old, and may make that the first comic book to include a feature drawn by a woman.

[SuperScrounge]

Someone missing from the list is Doris Slater, a Canadian artist during the '40s. She worked at Bell Features, mainly on the feature Penny's Diary, written by Patricia Joudry based on the radio show Patricia created and starred in. They also worked on one or two stories featuring The Brain.

https://www.comics.org/issue/231663/cover/4/

I think they were some other Canadian women comic artists, but I can't remember their names to check against the list above.

[Andrew999]

By chance, today is the Oak Anniversary of the first appearance of Dale Messick's Brenda Starr - a long-time favourite of mine:

It first appeared in the Chicago Tribune, June 30th, 1940:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brenda_Starr,_Reporter

I loved Brenda's 1960s look especially.

Dale Messick lived to be ninety-eight! How come so many artists seem to live well into their nineties - is it because they are in a relaxed meditative state when working on a project?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dale_Messick

[Electricmastro]

Betty Betz:

[Electricmastro]

Some of Nina Albright

[Andrew999]

Journey Into Hell is particularly impressive!

[Electricmastro]

Lily Renee

[The Australian Panther]

Electricmastro,

Suggestion, why don't you make up a couple of Archives and upload them?  I'm sure they would be popular.

A Sample 'women artists' one and a Renee ' Werewolf' hunter' archive perhaps?

Nice work anyway!   

[Electricmastro]

Electricmastro,

Suggestion, why don't you make up a couple of Archives and upload them?  I'm sure they would be popular.

A Sample 'women artists' one and a Renee ' Werewolf' hunter' archive perhaps?

Nice work anyway!   

Ah, I wouldn

[Andrew999]

Oh yeah, she's good - that top corner of the second sheet would have made a great graphic for the Charmed TV series. (I'm not a huge devotee of Charmed, I should add, but I have watched the odd episode)

[Electricmastro]

Ann Brewster (Prize Comics #64, June 1947):