Legendary cartoonist and comics historian Trina Robbins died at the age of 85 yesterday, April 10 2024, following a stroke. She was at the forefront of underground comics in the late Sixties and Seventies, and the first woman to ever draw Wonder Woman in a DC comic book. She was also the foremost historian chronicling the history of women in comic strips and comic books.
Trina Robbins was born Trina Perlson on August 17 1938 in Brooklyn, New York. She became a comic book fan while still very young, and took to drawing from a young age as well. She became active in science fiction fandom in the Fifties and Sixties, and artwork appeared in various fanzines, including the Hugo award-winning
Habakkuk. In the late Sixties she operated a clothing boutique called Broccoli, where she outfitted such music legends as Mama Cass, David Crosby, Donovan, and yet others. Joni Mitchell memorialized her in the song "Ladies of the Canyon," after Miss Robbins had moved to California.
Trina Robbins's first comics were published in the underground newspaper
The East Village Other. She contributed to
The East Village Other spinoff
Gothic Blimp Works during its brief run. In 1969 Miss Robbins designed the original costume for Vampirella (rendered by Frank Frazetta on the cover
Vampirella no. 1). In 1970 she moved from New York City to San Francisco. There she worked on the underground feminist newspaper
It Ain't Me Babe. It was in 1970 that she produced
It Ain't Me Babe Comix with Barbara "Willy" Mendes, the first comic book produced entirely by women. In 1972 she became one of the original artists to work on
Wimmin's Comix, the legendary, all-female, underground comics anthology that lasted until 1992. Trina Robbins was involved in
Wimmin's Comix for its entire twenty years. She also worked on the underground newspaper
Good Times. In the late Seventies she worked on
Mama! Dramas for the underground comics publishing company EduComics.
In the Eighties Trina Robbins adapted the Sax Rohmer novel
Dope for Eclipse Comics and the Tanith Lee novel
The Silver Metal Lover for Crown Books. For Marvel Comics' younger readers imprint Star Comics she wrote and illustrated
Misty, a spinoff of long running Marvel character Millie the Model (Misty was Millie's niece). In 1986, Trina Robbins illustrated the four issue limited series
The Legend of Wonder Woman, written by Kurt Busiek. Miss Robbins then became the first woman to ever illustrate Wonder Woman in an official DC comic book. For Eclipse Comics she wrote and illustrated the series
California Girls, with contributions from Barb Rausch. During the decade she also contributed to such anthologies as
Gates of Eden,
Good Girls, and
Gay Comix. She edited and co-edited
Strip AIDS U.S.A.: A Collection of Cartoon Art to Benefit People With AIDS. She edited and contributed to Choices:
A Pro-Choice Benefit Comic Anthology for the National Organization for Women.
It was in 1994 that Trina Robbins, with fellow comic book professionals Heidi MacDonald, Deni Loubert, Anina Bennett, Liz Schiller, and Jackie Estrada, founded Friends of Lulu, a non-profit organization that encouraged comic book readership in women as well as supporting women in the comic book industry. She contributed to
War News, an underground newspaper founded to protest the Gulf War. She also contributed to the anthologies
Alien Apocalypse 2006 and
Gay Comix. At DC she wrote Wonder Woman: The Once and Future Story, with illustrations by Colleen Doran.
In the Naughts Trina Robbins worked on
GoGirl! for Image Comics and Dark Horse Comics. She also wrote an adaptation of
Honey West for Moonstone Books. She also contributed to
The Phantom Chronicles at Moonstone and
Girl Comics at Marvel. In the Teens Trina Robbins wrote
Honey West and The Cat for Moonstone Books.
Of course, Trina Robbins was also known as a comic book historian, and she was the foremost historian when it came to women in comic books. Her first non-fiction book,
Women and the Comics, was written with fellow comic book professional Catherine Yronwode. Over the years she would write several more non-fiction books, including
A Century of Women Cartoonists (1993),
The Great Women Superheroes.(1996),
The Great Women Cartoonists (2001),
Wild Irish Roses: Tales of Brigits, Kathleens, and Warrior Queens (2004),
Forbidden City: The Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs (2009),
Lily Renée, Escape Artist: From Holocaust Survivor to Comic Book Pioneer (2011),
Babes in Arms: Women in Comics During the Second World War (2017),
Flapper Queens: Women Cartoonists of the Jazz Age (2020), and
Gladys Parker: A Life in Comics, a Passion for Fashion (2022), as well as many others.
In 2015
CBR readers named Trina Robbins one of the
greatest female comic book artists of all time. It was certainly an honour that was well-deserved. Ms. Robbins had an utterly unique style that blended the style of underground comics with mainstream Golden Age comics. What is more, as an artist she was very adaptable. Her work on
The Legend of Wonder Woman evoked H. G. Peter's original version of the character from the Golden Age. Her work on
Misty brought to mind the work of Dan DeCarlo, while still remaining readily recognizable as the work of Trina Robbins. She was also a great writer of comic books, with a gift for creating fully-realized characters. The women in any of Trina Robbins's work were always strong and true to life.
In addition to being a talented artist and writer, Trina Robbins was also a tireless activist. In the Seventies she spoke out against the misogyny present in the work of some underground comic book artists, particularly Robert Crumb. She did a lot of work towards getting more women reading comic books, as well as getting more women in the comic book industry. Much of her work in comic books was meant to appeal to young girls and encourage them to read comic books. For example,
GoGirl! centred on a teenaged female superhero.
Trina Robbins's work as a historian was an outgrowth of her activism. Despite the many contributions of women to both newspaper comic strips and comic books, They were often neglected or outright ignored in histories of the medium. Trina Robbins corrected this with her many books on female comic strip and comic book creators. In fact, Trina Robbins and Catherine Yronwode's
Women and the Comics was the first ever history of female comics creators. Of course, Trina Robbins's work as a historian went beyond comic books. Over the years she wrote about everything from female killers to Irish women to Chinese nightclubs.As a historian Trina Robbins had an enjoyable, entertaining style and an eye for detail. One not only learns from her history books, but they are thoroughly entertained as well.
Trina Robbins was a talented writer and artist, and she certainly increased the visibility of women in comics. From those who had the privilege to have met her, I also know that she was charming, funny, and extremely knowledgeable. She was well-known for her kindness and generosity. She was supportive of new talent and fans alike, Trina Robbins was more than a great talent, more than a great activist, even more than a great historian. Trina Robbins was simply a great human being.
