Dale Messick

A cartoonist, in 1940 Messick created the comic strip "Brenda Starr, Reporter", which she drew and wrote for 43 years. At the time, it was rare for a comic to have a strong, female, working character; Messick modeled the smart Starr character after herself, but it was a long road to respect. "Throughout her life, [Messick] met a lot of resistance from men," says Trina Robbins, author of A Century of Women Cartoonists. "Even in the early 1960s, [male interviewers] played her up as a dizzy dame instead of this brilliant comics creator. Brenda had a better image than Lois Lane, who was always being rescued by Superman. Brenda Starr always solved her own problems and got herself out of fixes." Still, her syndicate was not exactly a friend of the strip: if Messick included cleavage on Brenda, their editor would erase it. During its heyday, the comic was in 250 newspapers, but in 1983 her syndicate pressured her to retire, replacing her with other artists because she didn't have ownership of her own creation. The strip continues, but now is only run in about 20 papers. She received better treatment from others: the U.S. Postal Service issued a "Brenda Starr" stamp in 1995, and the National Cartoonists Society gave her its lifetime achievement award in 1997. Messick died April 5 after suffering several strokes. She was 98. From This is True for 3 April 2005 Suggestions for further reading: Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $14.99 Customer Review: i bought this book for my boyfriend who writes and illustrates graphic novels. he LOVES this book! apparently i am the "best girlfriend ever" for getting this book for him. he said McCloud explains so many interesting ways of writing/interpreting com...   Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $15.63 Customer Review: I found this book both helpful and fascinating as it shows the secrets to making comics stand out. I am considering being a comic book writer/artist (although the video game field is first priority for me), so this book can prove useful. Of course, I...   Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art... by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $15.61 Customer Review: Good book, sometimes gets overlooked because his other two books are so great. Anyone into comic theory, visualization and in this books case digital comics ... should buy all three (understanding comics, reinventing comics and making comics).   Zot!: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991 by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $18.21 Customer Review: I was disappointed by how deceptive the back cover description and McCloud's introduction were. They never once inform the reader that they won't be reading the first ten issues of the series, even though McCloud refers to the "color issues," he neve...   Zot! Special Edition: The Complete Black and White Collection: 1987-1991 by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $31.87 Customer Review: When the big two publishers (DC and Marvel)get you down, it's time to look at Indy Comics. Zot! is by Scott McCloud, who wrote another book called Understanding Comics, and though I know OF it, I've not read Understanding Comics, so I can assure you ...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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