Why Are There No Women Comic Artists?

[JohnCrichton]

I'm sure they must exist, but I haven't seen them anywhere except for Sonic the Hedghog.

Dawn Best is about 18 kinds of awesome, but to tell you the truth, she's the first female comic book artist I've ever heard of.... where are all the women artists at?

0_o

[Marc]

Well, there’s also Amanda Conner (Gatecrasher, The Pro) and Jan Duursema (Star Wars). IMO, Duursema is one of the best artists in the business today, male or female. She’s done artwork for various Star Wars series including the Attack of the Clones comic adaptation, Star Wars: Darth Maul, and many issues of the current ongoing Star Wars comic. She ranks right up there with Bryan Hitch and John Cassaday. And I can't forget Lynn Johnston’s For Better or For Worse. While really a comic strip, it’s consistently better than most other sequential art out there.

- Cap

[Sandoz]

Chynna Glouston-Majors (Blue Monday), Christie Norrie (Hopeless Savages), Wendy Pini (Elfquest) and Lea Herandez (Cathedral Child) are all excellent female comic artists. Check their stuff out. :)

[Anthonynotes]

Let's see...

Ramona Fradon drew Aquaman back in the 1950's (when it was a backup in "Adventure Comics"), and IIRC went on to do "Brenda Starr" (and is still alive and kicking, I believe).

In the comic strip world, there's: Lynn Johnston ("For Better or For Worse"), Cathy Guisewite ("Cathy"), Anne Bechel (sp?, "****s to Watch Out For"), Jan Eliot ("Stone Soup"), the cartoonist of "Sylvia", and probably various others...

Guessing there've been more examples of women comic strip artists than comic book ones (particularly if just going by the superhero genre for comic books)...

-B.

[SpotLane]

There's Colleen Doran and Jill Thompson. They've been in the comic business for many years.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Marie Severin, anyone? For manga, there are tons. Rumiko Takahashi, Yu Watase...

But yeah, there aren't enough major female comic artists in America.

[Mariner]

And Let's not forget Mary Wilshire, a fantastic artist who did Red Sonja, the Firestar mini-series, an Amazing Spider-man annual and several other projects as well.

[Patrick Bateman]

Well, since colorists are artists too, I'll add the uber-awesome Lynn Varley to the list. Her work in DKR was absolutely beautiful.

As far as why there aren't many female artists, I've really got no explanation except for the fact that comics have always been more male-oriented.

[B.Rabbit]

There's tons of women in comics, just not in mainstream Marvel/DC comics!

[Shawn Hopkins]

Remember Roberta Gregory (*****y *****) and Donna Barr (Desert Peach and Stinz)! I didn't know Jan Duursema was female. Apparently she's married to Tom Mandrake. Neat to know.

edit:

Stupid censor. It rhymes with Witchy Witch if you want to check it out.

[Green-Ghost]

Jennifer Graves(Gotham Girls)

[Ed Liu]

Howdy,

Pia Guerra is drawing Y: The Last Man now.

Trina Robbins has done some stuff on and off for the big 2 (big 4 or 5, now), and does some self-publishing.

Laura DePuy is making quite a name for herself as a colorist in the pages of CrossGen. Her work on Ruse is stellar.

I'm pretty sure Louise Simonson draws some of her own stuff, and I think Barbara Kesel will either draw or ink, although I could be confusing both of them for their husbands (Walt Simonson and Karl Kesel, respectively).

You could always cheat and go to the Friends of Lulu "Women Doing Comics" Page (http://www.friends-lulu.org/wdc.html). The organization exists to encourage women to participate in comics as writers, readers, and artists.

-- Ed/Ace

[Anthonynotes]

Originally posted by ShawnHopkins
Remember Roberta Gregory (*****y *****) and Donna Barr (Desert Peach and Stinz)! I didn't know Jan Duursema was female. Apparently she's married to Tom Mandrake. Neat to know.

edit:

Stupid censor. It rhymes with Witchy Witch if you want to check it out.

My message's bleeped-out word rhymes with "Tykes", if anyone cares...


Agree w/Ace re: the Friends of Lulu suggestion.

-B.
Yes, bleeped-out words can be fun :-)

[Sharklady]

If magazine cartoonists count, Roz Chast should be mentioned- she's one of the funniest artists The New Yorker has ever had.

[Shawn Hopkins]

I actually tracked the "tykes" comic's Web site down at your suggestion. It was pretty interesting. I'm not even going to try posting the link, but her name is spelled Alison Bechdel, if that helps anybody.

Can't believe I forgot Trina Robbins! I love the comics I've seen from her.

[alex]

:D Naoko Takeuchi rocks! :D