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: $16.09 Customer Review: I've first see this book in my friend's home. I was amazed by colors, quality of paper and last but not least the content. I've never thought about the comics books in the way this one explains. and the form the explanation takes is adding a flavor t...   Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $16.52 Customer Review: I'll keep it short and sweet...With Making Comics, Scott McCloud gives a quick overview of the large points of his seminal 'Understanding Comics' and then proceeds to teach the reader the language of comics. If you're here looking for a book to teach...   Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art... by Scott Mccloud Amazon Price: $15.80 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: $18.96 Customer Review: Everyone who has read this book already knows who Scott McCloud is and all about the contributions he has made to the comics medium. He set aside his fictional comic creating to first define, then redefine, then even redefine the way we look at the c...   Jeff Smith: Bone and Beyond by Dave Filipi, Scott McCloud, Neil Gaiman, Jeff Smith Amazon Price: $18.21 Customer Review: So Jeff Smith created the "Bone" and "Rasl" comic book series' and also a brilliant retelling of "Shazam!" This book is a guide from a display of his comic strips, books, and other cartoons that was held in honour of his amazing amazing ...   Newsfeed display by CaRP

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