Most Popular Books by Trina Robbins

Trina Robbins has spent the last thirty years recording the accomplishments of a century of women cartoonists, and Pretty in Ink is her ultimate book, a revised, updated and rewritten history of women cartoonists, with more color illustrations than ever before, and with some startling new discoveries (such as a Native American woman cartoonist from the 1940s who was also a Corporal in the women’s army, and the revelation that a cartoonist included in all of Robbins’s previous histories was a man!) In the pages of Pretty in Ink you’ll find new photos and correspondence from cartoonists Ethel Hays and Edwina Dumm, and the true story of Golden Age comic book star Lily Renee, as intriguing as the comics she drew. Although the comics profession was dominated by men, there were far more women working in the profession throughout the 20th century than other histories indicate, and they have flourished in the 21st. Robbins not only documents the increasing relevance of women throughout the 20th century, with mainstream creators such as Ramona Fradon and Dale Messick and alternative cartoonists such as Lynda Barry, Carol Tyler, and Phoebe Gloeckner, but the latest generation of women cartoonists―Megan Kelso, Cathy Malkasian, Linda Medley, and Lilli Carré, among many others. Robbins is the preeminent historian of women comic artists; forget her previous histories: Pretty in Ink is her most comprehensive volume to date.

Born on the cusp of WWII in 1938, at a time when other little girls dreamed of being nurses and secretaries, Trina Robbins’s ambition was to be a bohemian; and indeed she did. She chronicles a life of sex, drugs, rock ’n’ roll — and comics — in Last Girl Standing. Robbins describes her upbringing in Queens, New York, reading comics through her childhood in the 1940s; visiting the EC offices and becoming part of SF fandom (dating Harlan Ellison at age 16); and posing nude for men’s magazines in the 1950s; living in the Village, over her own boutique where she made clothes for and interacted with rock royalty like David Crosby, Donovan, Cass Elliot; her close relationship with Paul Williams; entering the orbit of underground cartoonists like Art Spiegelman, R. Crumb, Vaughn Bodé, and Bill Griffith, when she started contributing comics to The East Village Other; and, in the ’70s, moving to San Francisco, contending with the phallocentric underground scene, marrying Kim Deitch, co-founding Wimmen’s Comix, and being invited into Felch Comics (she declined); her work for the National Lampoon, Marvel Comics, and Eclipse in the 1980s; and her crisis as a cartoonist and transformation into an historian and lecturer in the ’90s and 2000s. From science fiction to the Sunset Strip, from New York’s underground newspapers to San Francisco’s underground comix: Trina Robbins broke the rules and broke the law. From dressing Mama Cass to being pelted with jelly babies as she helped photograph the Rolling Stones’s first US tour, from drunken New York nights spent with Jim Morrison to producing the very first all-woman comic book, this former Lady of the Canyon takes no prisoners in this heavily illustrated memoir.

Various stories of women in the comic book industry and how they got started in it.

When Megan, Raf, and talking dog Bradley get their first real case, they find themselves tracking a puppy that is not as adorable as it seems, and trying to end an ancient curse.

Poor Megan—history''s repeating itself. She''s been booted from Stepford Prep, and her father is sending her to visit Pine Lake Academy . . . a boarding school. This could mean the end of the Chicagoland Detective Agency! Raf and Bradley come along to get a sniff at the new school, but when Megan ducks into a restroom marked do not enter and Raf takes a sip from an old fountain, school becomes the least of their problems. Something spooky is knocking around in the pipes, and now it has its hooks in them. Have Raf and Megan really been taken over by a ghost from a hundred years ago? Can Bradley dig up the mystery that''s dogged Pine Lake Academy for a century? What deeply buried dastardly deeds will bubble to the surface?

Audisee® eBooks with Audio combine professional narration and sentence highlighting to engage reluctant readers! Raf knows Megan is trouble from the moment she steps into his mom''s pet food store asking for a tarantula. But there''s one thing you can count on in Chicagoland: weird things happen several times a day. Megan is a vegetarian, manga-reading haiku writer. She definitely doesn''t fit in at Stepford Academy, her new summer school. The other students are happy to be in class. Too happy. And everyone looks and acts exactly alike. That''s weird. Megan is determined to dig into Stepford''s secrets, but soon she''s in way too deep. Raf may be the only human being she knows who can help. But with zombified students, very mad scientists, and the school psychiatrist on their trail, they''re going to need a whole lot more help. We did say that Chicagoland is weird. . .

Women and the Comics is the first attempt to document the careers of the hundreds of women who have created and worked in the field of comic strips, comic book and cartooning. The women whose work is showcased in this book have been long overlooked or ignored by most other histories of comics. In this volume you''ll encounter the art of Rose O''Neill, whose Kewpies popularity spans over 70 years; Nell Brinkley, whose "Brinkley Girl" was just as famous in her day as Gibson''s; Grace Drayton, whose lovely drawings gave the Campbell Kids life; the "flapper" artists of the 1920s; Dale Messick, creator of Brenda Starr; Martha Orr, who originated Mary Worth; the once anonymous female comic book artists of the 1940s; newspaper strip creators Marty Links (Bobby Sox), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy) and Lynn Johnston (For Better or For Worse); and the many women who write and draw today''s most popular comic books. A special chapter surveying female cartoonists in Europe, Japan, and Australia is also included. Women and the Comics is a landmark book, the result of four years of research by Catherine Yronwode and Trina Robbins. It is a reference source designed to serve future generations interested in discovering the contributions women have made to America''s most popular art form.

Raf knows Megan is trouble from the moment she steps into his mom''s pet food store asking for a tarantula. But there''s one thing you can count on in Chicagoland: weird things happen several times a day. Megan is a vegetarian, manga-reading haiku writer. She definitely doesn''t fit in at Stepford Academy, her new summer school. The other students are happy to be in class. Too happy. And everyone looks and acts exactly alike. That''s weird. Megan is determined to dig into Stepford''s secrets, but soon she''s in way too deep. Raf may be the only human being she knows who can help. But with zombified students, very mad scientists, and the school psychiatrist on their trail, they''re going to need a whole lot more help. We did say that Chicagoland is weird. . .

Fantagraphics celebrates The Flapper Queens, a gorgeous collection of full-color comic strips. In addition to featuring the more well-known cartoonists of the era, such as Ethel Hays, Nell Brinkley, and Virginia Huget, Eisner award-winning Trina Robbins introduces you to Eleanor Schorer, who started her career in the teens as a flowery art nouveau Nell Brinkley imitator but, by the ''20s, was drawing bold and outrageous art deco illustrations; Edith Stevens, who chronicled the fashion trends, hairstyles, and social manners of the ''20s and ''30s in the pages of The Boston Globe; and Virginia Huget, possibly the flappiest of the Flapper Queens, whose girls, with their angular elbows and knees, seemed to always exist in a euphoric state of Charleston.

An easy biography of Florence Nightingale, told in graphic format.

Chicagoland can''t get much weirder than this: Raf, Megan, and Bradley have been abducted by aliens from the planet Fnarf III! And not just your ordinary, everyday aliens, either. These extraterrestrials are intelligent canines, as smart as Bradley, who come from a world where dogs rule and humans drool. And they have a case Bradley can really sink his teeth into: the Fnarfian princess has gone missing, and the space-dogs need help from planet Earth''s home team—the Chicagoland Detective Agency—to track her down. After uncovering zombies, mummies, were-mutts, and ghosts, is the Chicagoland Detective Agency up to the job of investigating their first interstellar caper?

Help! Just before the science fair, a set of magic potions disappear from Luna''s locker! The Chicagoland Detective Agency takes up the young witch''s case. If Raf, Megan, and Raf''s talking dog Bradley can handle space aliens, mummies and ghost, this case is child''s play!But when a potion goes awry and a hooded stalker and a wannabe master criminal intervene, the case takes a wild turn into a full-blown catastrophe. Will love-smitten supersleuth Megan and jet-pack inventor Raf be able to straighten out this mess in time? Or will Bradley''s nose save the day once more?

As the founders of the Chicagoland Detective Agency, a haiku-writing girl and a boy with a talking dog have more than enough cases on their hands (and paws) when a friend vanishes, a mummy''s amulet disappears, and an evil scientist stalks human brains and hearts.

Chicagoland can''t get much weirder than this: Raf, Megan, and Bradley have been abducted by aliens from the planet Fnarf III! And not just your ordinary, everyday aliens, either. These extraterrestrials are intelligent canines, as smart as Bradley, who come from a world where dogs rule and humans drool. And they have a case Bradley can really sink his teeth into: the Fnarfian princess has gone missing, and the space-dogs need help from planet Earth''s home team—the Chicagoland Detective Agency—to track her down. After uncovering zombies, mummies, were-mutts, and ghosts, is the Chicagoland Detective Agency up to the job of investigating their first interstellar caper?

In 1938, Lily Renée Wilheim is a 14-year-old Jewish girl living in Vienna. Her days are filled with art and ballet. Then the Nazis march into Austria, and Lily''s life is shattered overnight. Suddenly, her own country is no longer safe for her or her family. To survive, Lily leaves her parents behind and travels alone to England. Escaping the Nazis is only the start of Lily''s journey. She must escape many more times—from servitude, hardship, and danger. Will she find a way to have her own sort of revenge on the Nazis? Follow the story of a brave girl who becomes an artist of heroes and a true pioneer in comic books.

"In graphic novel format, tells the story of Bessie Coleman, the daring stunt pilot"--Provided by publisher.

In this irreverent tribute to mythological "bad girls" from around the world, Robbins tells 20 enjoyable tales of goddesses who sleep with dwarves, slip drugs into drinks, get even, and generally raise hell. 40 illustrations.

The did it for love or money...or both! Some of them fabled femme fatales of yesteryear. some headliners in yesterday''s newspapers. Jean Harris, Ruth Snyder, Kate Bender, Belle Starr, Bonnie Parker, Phoolan Devi, Lizzie Borden, Grace Marks, Valerie Solanas, Amy Fisher and more - true - life who, where, why, when, and howdunnits. Bandit queens, gun molls, mothers, and widows (often self-made)- this array of real-life women who murdered makes for fascinating reading. Thoroughly researched, with archival photos and illustrations.

Fourteen-year-old Sarah is a slave in Maryland during the 1850s. She knows her only chance at freedom is in the North, where slavery is illegal. To get there, though, Sarah needs help from members of the Underground Railroad. Who can she trust? The road to the Promised Land will not be easy.

Aspiring comic book artist Morning Glory Conroy is delighted to be in a relationship with new student Gabriel, but her best friend Julia needs her, Gabriel''s cousin Luci keeps causing trouble, and other crises keep arising, making her wonder if the heavens are against them.

Boys aren''t the only ones who read comics—girls do too! From Betty and Veronica to Slutburger and Art Babe, Girls to Grrrlz explores the amazing but true history of girl comics. Pop culture fans will delight in author Trina Robbinss chronological commentary (with attitude) on the authors, artists, trends, and sassy, brassy characters featured in comic books for the last half-century. Meet the bubble-headed bombshells of the ''40s, the lovelorn ladies of the ''50s, the wimmin libbers of the ''70s, and the grrrowling grrrlz of today. Her commentary is paired with a ton of rare comic book art pulled from the best girl comics published since World War II. Bridging the gap between Ms. and Sassy, between Miss America and Naomi Wolf, From Girls to Grrrlz reminds us how comic book characters humorously—and critically—reflect our changing culture.

Tells the story of Elizabeth Blackwell, the first woman to earn a medical degree in the United States. Written in graphic-novel format.

Forget the myth of the sweet Irish Colleen. Real Irish women were no cream-puff debs. From the ancient warrior queens Marrigan, Macha, and Badbh to the labor-movement maven Mother Jones, Irish women have backbones of steel. Wild Irish Roses is a fascinating look at wild Irish women throughout history; serious information imparted in Trina Robbins'' trademark style, with verve and humor. The women in Wild Irish Roses are not always nice girls or even good girls, but they are women who know how to get things done, whether on the battlefield or in the bedroom. These are women who preserved and handed down the old stories. They are women who fought in revolutions with either gun or pen, wrote books, starred in books others wrote, and stormed heaven itself. Wild Irish Roses is a celebration of tough, independent, beautiful Irish women from myth to modernity. It''s a book that is sure to entertain, inform, and inspire readers of every background to find the Irish rose in themselves--to discover what they want and have the courage to go out and get it.

This books is about cartoonists, and only cartoonists. Women writers are only mentioned when they''ve worked with a woman cartoonist. Also, this book is a history of women cartoonists.

Robbins began her cartooning career in the underground in 1966, and has become not only a major artist but the foremost pop historian of women in comics. To keep her survey to a reasonable size, she has neglected cartoons writers unless they were working with a cartoonist, and defines cartoons as two or more panels, continuity, or speech balloons inside the panel. c. Book News Inc.

Tells the story of how Hollywood star Hedy Lamarr came up with the idea for a secret communication system, which would much later become the basis for wireless technology. Written in graphic-novel format.

Showcasing stories from some of the comics'' greatest female creators, this anthology features stories that range from mainstream adventures to hilarious comic shorts to heart-wrenching autobiographical stories. Originally published as Sexy Chix in 2006, this new edition is presented in a new, larger size! Featuring over a dozen stories by top talents like New York Times bestselling author Joyce Carol Oates, Eisner Award-winning illustrator Jill Thompson, Scary Godmother creator Colleen Doran, DC Comics creators Gail Simone and Joëlle Jones, and many more!

Discusses famous and obscure women superheroes in comic books and newspaper cartoons from the 1930s to the present.

Today is like any other day in Grover Cleveland High''s science lab - any day in the Jurassic Era, that is! Doc, the school genius, has rigged up a tight little time machine masquerading as an exercise bike, all fine and good until pretty-girl princess Heather cops a ride and drags herself, Doc and Lindsay Goldman - a.k.a. teen superhero GoGirl! - back several million years to the dinosaur-infested jungles of the long-gone past. As if being late for cheerleading practice isn''t enough of an annoyance, try ditching a hungry T-Rex! And where did those alien spaceships come from?!

A talented young actress becomes fatally ensnared in London''s mysterious and glittery drug culture of the early 20th century. Trina Robbins'' comic book adaptation of Sax Rohmer''s sensational 1919 novel. DOPE was both the first novel to speak openly about the world''s international drug trade, and the first story to center around the death of a celebrity by drug overdose. As for the art, it is considered by many (including Trina herself) to be her best work ever as an illustrator.

The thrilling conclusion of this untold tale of the Amazing Amazon!

The art and commentary of Nell Brinkley (1886–1944) ran in American newspapers from 1907 through the 1930s. At the height of her popularity, “The Brinkley Girl” appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies and inspired poems and popular songs. Brinkley’s name even sold hair curlers, and her delicate pen work influenced later women cartoonists. As early as 1913, Brinkley was drawing working women, from farm and factory workers to those pursuing careers, using her art to encourage decent pay, pensions, and housing for thousands of young women working for the war effort. This work covers her life and her work, which might upon first glance show pretty girls but on a closer inspection reveals a post–Victorian feminism. It also looks at her rise to popularity, the innocent sexuality of her Brinkley girls, the sugary and sentimental Betty and Billy series, and the beauty of her line drawings.

A comic book-style retelling of the novel.

Yes, Chicagoland is an odd place. But the word is out that Megan, Raf, and Raf''s talking dog Bradley are the team to go to when weirder things than usual start happening. Their Chicagoland Detective Agency takes danger in hand (and paw) to find a mysteriously missing puppy and an even more mysterious pack of dogs that only shows up once a month. Bradley''s nose knows from the start that this is more than a simple case of stray pets...and a whole lot more than a stray case of full-moon transmogrification! Will high tech and haikus be enough to save them from the world''s worst case of doggy breath?

Federal agent Diana Prince joins a Congressman and his aides to investigate a cult. ''Reverend Mike Loves You,'' but can you trust his plans for the future?

Dr. Minerva has turned to Wonder Woman for assistance, but when the Amazon princess/superhero and the scientist/super-villain make their way to the last remaining source of the Cheetah''s serum, they find more is at stake than expected! "Island of Lost Souls" part 2 of 3.

Island of Lost Souls part 1 of 3! Diana''s compassionate heart is tested when Dr. Barbara Minerva appears, begging for assistance as she seeks out the last remaining source of Urzkatarga.