Trina Robbins's Blog, page 4

Fear of Bloggin…

Fear of Blogging Heads for San Diego!

It’s been so long, I bet you thought you’d never see another blog from me, huh? The truth is, I was so traumatized putting up that last blog that I just couldn’t bring myself to go through it all over again. But I have some good news to share, plus I’m gonna be all over the place at Comicon this year, so if you’re coming too, Let me tell you where I’ll be so you can come by and say hello:

Thursday:

2-3 PM, signing my Brinkley book at the Fantagraphics booth, #1718

4-5PM, Womanthology panel, Room 25AB

Comics Scholars Forum, 7:30, Room 28E

Friday

: 10-11AM, Womanthology signing at the IDW booth, #2643

Comic Art Conference panel 12-1:30 PM, I’ll be giving my Powerpoint presentation on Golden Age cartoonist Lily Renee.

No Straight Lines panel 2-3 PM, followed by another signing at the Fntagraphics table, 3:30-5:30, #1718

Saturday:

Gays in Comics:25th Year Celebration, Room 6A, followed by a Fan Mixer, same room, 7-8PM

And Sunday I’ll be sitting at the Womanthology table, BB-09, BB-10, from 11:30-1:30.

I just learned that Margaret Atwood will be at Comicon! Be still, my heart, she’s my favorite living writer, I adore her! If I get a chance to speak to her, will I gush and disgrace myself? If I actually see her on the floor of the convention center, dare I stop her to tell her how much I love her books, or is that just too fangirl? I’ll bring my camera!

The good news: my Lily Renee graphic novel received the Sydney Taylor Association of Jewish Libraries Award, but I can’t put up the image  because the furshluggener blog won’t upload it, and that, folks, is why I’m so traumatized!

More good news: after what felt like an eternity, Book #1 of my next Honey West 2-parter is out from Moonstone, with your choice of two gorgeous covers. (But I can’t show you those covers either; see above for the reason!) My artist, Silvestre Szilagyi, did an exquisite job delineating the fair Ms West, and he is a pleasure to work with. We are already at work on the next two-parter. I love Honey!

Maybe when next we meet, I will have worked things out so that I can put up pictures again, for what is a blog without pictures?  And now you understand why I call my blog :Fear of Blogging!”

is it that time again?

You can call me Cookie, because I've been a wafer too long! Not that there's been much to report that's blogworthy: not enough rain followed by too much rain, and my annual bout of bronchitis.

But news about women doing comics is currently very exciting! Anthologies by women cartoonists are in the air, and I'm honored to be included in two of them! The first, Womanthology, is already out. It's an enormous book, over 320 pages of really good art and writing, and it was a major Kickstarter success, reaching its goal of $25,000 in less than a day, and finally finishing with over $100,000. We had our first panel with the finished book at Image Expo in February, and it felt so good to sit up there with so many beautiful and like-minded women! I managed to sit at the Womanthology table for at least an hour till the bronchitis kicked in and I totally lost my voice, but according to all reports, it was a good con, and hopefully there'll be another next year.

I intend to last a whole lot longer at Big Wow Con (I know, it's a ridiculous name!) in San Jose, on May 19th and 20th. If you're in the neighborhgood, drop by, find my table, and say hello. Here's their website: http://www.bigwowcomicfest.com/

The other anthology is called the Indie Ladies' Comics Anthology, which is exactly what it is, and I'm in there with a story illustrated by Anne Timmons. Some of you may know that Anne and I have worked together a lot in the past, and I hope to continue to do so, because Anne is a terrific artist. The book will be out in April, and though it will be smaller than Womanthology, it promises to be just as exciting. Look at this gorgeous cover!

Speaking of women and comics, if you live in the San Francisco Bay Area and either create or read comics, there's a new group just for you: Laydeez Do Comics. Two years ago, when I was in London, I was a guest at the British Laydeez Do Comics meeting and had a wonderful time. Now Sarah Lightman, and Nicola Streeten have graciously given their permission for us American laydeez to use that name. Here is the flyer that tells you all about it! The Laydeez will meet at the San Francisco Cartoon Art museum, (address) at 7PM on Tuesday, April 10th, and I'll be presenting my talk and Powerpoint slideshow, "Here Are the Great Women Cartoonists."

Men are welcome too!

Finally, in two days, on Saturday, March 31, I'll be at the Anarchist Book Fair, in the Hall of Flowers at Golden Gate park. I'll be speaking about the 1960s and early 1970s underground press on a panel with Terry Bisson, Judy Gumbo Alpert, and Billy X Jennings. It's all about the book, "On the Ground," edited by Sean Stewart and published by PM Press, a collection of interviews with those of us who were there. The panel is at 1:30, but if you can't make that, we're speaking again at 7 P.M. that evening, at the Variety Theater in the Hobart building, first floor, 528 Market Street in San Francisco. Here's the link to the anarchist book fair: http://bayareaanarchistbookfair.wordp...

　

　

Fear of Blogging Wishes You a Happy 2012!

And here's our annual New Year's card to prove it. It only took 49 tries to get this picture; Winston is very photogenic but not so cooperative.

San Francisco had a very nice new mayor, our first Chinese mayor. So far we've had a woman, a Black guy, and now a Chinese guy as mayor. Next, we need a Gay or Lesbian mayor, then it would truly be San Francisco. Here are Steve and I at the city hall open house with Mayor Ed Lee. The tree is called the Tree of Hope and is decorated in hand-folded cranes, also very San Francisco. 

Fear of Blogging is happy because the next graphic novel in my series, Chicagoland Detective Agency, is out. It's called "The Night of Living Dogs," and I can say no more, except that when I received my advance copies, I sat down and re-read it, and as always when I'm really happy with what I've written, I went, "Did I really write this? It's great!" Of course, a lot of the credit goes to illustrator Tyler Page, who is doing a great job. Now it can be told that when I got Tyler as illustrator of the series, at first I hated him. Despite my descriptions and the reference I sent, it took him six months to understand that the main character, Megan Yamamura, needed to have bangs! But after that, Tyler very quickly "got it," and I've seen some of his pencils on book #4 in the series, and they are his best yet. (Yes, there will be three more Chicagoland graphic novels, and I've started working on #5!)

Woohoo! "Lily Renee, Escape Artist," has been getting good reviews everywhere, and the latest is in the New York Times. (OMG, the Times liked it!) Plus, the book received a gold medal in the Comic/Graphic Novel category from Moonbeam Children's Book Awards — and it's a real gold medal! Okay, not made of gold, but it's a beautiful large and heavy metal medal, on a blue ribbon, even, so I can wear it!

What's next? I'll be at the Cartoon Art Museum ( 655 Mission Street in San Francisco) on January 26, from 7 – 9 P.M., to talk about and sign "Lily Renee, Escape Artist." Here's the link: :http://cartoonart.org/2011/12/lily-re...

This is the same PowerPoint show that I gave in New York, when I did talks with Lily herself, but because Lily won't be here to add her wonderful comments, I've expanded the PowerPoint show and added many more pictures. You'll like it and it's free!

FEAR OF BLOGGING GOES TO NEW YORK…

And comes home again. But wasn't New York wonderful! I presented a talk and a Powerpoint show on my newest graphic novel biography, "Lily Renee, Escape Artist," in two different places: The Museum of Comics and Cartoon Art (MOCCA) and a great bookstore called Books of Wonder. Lily herself, the living. breathing heroine of the book, came with me and stole the show. She is so elegant and gracious — and, in her 80s, still so beautiful– that I felt like a mouse. She's also totally outspoken. (Example: person in audience; "What did you think of Maus?" Lily, in her marvelous Viennese accent: "I hated it.") I worship her but she also terrifies me. I'm very glad she doesn't hate ME! (And here we are, in a photo by Robert Pollack)

We had a great audience at both places, and the folks at the museum and bookstore treated us wonderfully. My thanks to them, and to my beautiful editor, Carol Burrell. I am lucky to have the best editor in the world!

Here's a link to a great write-up of our appearance at Books of Wonder, thank you, Alexa! http://ladiesmakingcomics.tumblr.com/...

There was so much that I wanted to do and see in New York, but I had the most limited time ever, and it will have to wait till next time. I wanted to visit Ground Zero, The Occupy Wall Street encampment, and the Highline, a mile-long park built on a section of old elevated train tracks. I'll have to wait till my next trip.

But I did see some folks from the Occupy movement demonstrating in Washington Square Park, along with a man playing a piano on wheels. I cheered on the Occupy Wall Street folks and I applauded the pianist. I love that park!

What I did manage to squeeze in: I took in the exhibit at the main library, you know, the one with the lions. It's the NY public library's centennial, and they showed the most amazing objects from their collection, and what a collection! Jack Kerouac's typewriter, manuscripts by Bob Dylan, Richard Wright, Ernest Hemingway (that last written in longhand and pencil). A letter opener that Charles Dickens had made from the paw of his deceased cat! First editions of BOTH Mein Kampf and Das Kapital! Virginia Woolf's walking stick! If you're in New York, don't miss it; it's heaven for book lovers.

I never miss the exhibits at FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology. They always have some great fashion exhibit or other on display, and this trip was no exception. They had TWO exhibits! The first was on sportswear, and before you yawn: there was a swimsuit from 1853, motoring clothes from 1909, divine tennis outfits from the early 20th century, golfing clothes from the 1920s. Those baggy knickers the men used to wear for golfing, you know why they were called plus fours? Because they came down to four inches below the knee!

Ah, but the second exhibit! It featured what must be a mere fraction of the immense wardrobe of Daphne Guiness, heir to the Guiness fortune. Mercifully, I had never heard of Daphne Guiness before — I just don't travel in those circles. Wikipedia describes her as, among other things, an artist, but nowhere on the web could I find any examples of "art" that she had drawn, painted, sculpted, or whatever. Basically, her distinction seems to be that she is obscenely rich, with money that she never lifted a finger to earn, and the clothing and shoes on display consisted of bizarre and unwearable costumes, and even more bizarre shoes that would be impossible to walk in, by the likes of Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld, and Christian Lacroix, all of it meant to be worn once, to make an entrance in. I can't begin to imagine what these outfits must have cost! I thought of the Occupy movement that is spreading all over the country. People like Daphne Guiness are the 1%, and the very reason for the Occupy movement!

I missed the Highline, but I managed to squeeze in a couple of days visiting my sister and brother-in-law who live in New York's scenic Hudson Valley, and they took me to the Walkway over the Hudson. The Walkway is an old railroad bridge that spans the Hudson River, and, like the Highline, has been converted into a breathtaking (and easy) walk above the river. The entire walk, across and back, is four miles, something even I can do. The Walkway and the Highline: what clever ways to utilize old elevated train tracks!

And here we are, with the entire Hudson Valley spread out beneath us!

Okay, so Fear of Blogging is back in sunny (so far!) San Francisco, and what's next? This coming Thursday, November 17th, at 6 p.m., come see me at the Cartoon Art Museum. I'll be talking about my recent book, "Tarpe Mills and Miss Fury," and signing copies of the book. Of course, all my talks always feature Powerpoint shows with lots of pictures. Come by, say hello, it's free, and here's a link:

http://cartoonart.org/2011/10/tarpe-m...

Then, on November 29, at 6 p.m., I'll be bringing my Lily Renee Powerpoint show and talk to the main library, Sorry to say Lily won't be there this time (and if I could, I'd have her flown out, with a limousine to pick her up at the airport and bring her to the library) but my talks are always fun and interesting, even without the wonderful Lily Renee. Here's the link: http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1007358901

I hope to see you there!

FEAR OF BLOGGING GOES TO GEEKGIRLCON

 

 

…And I'm still awestruck! This was a first time for this woman-run convention for geeky girls who are into genres that girls aren't supposed to be interested in, like comics, computers, games, anime …and comics, yes, comics! It was held in fabulous Seattle, a stone's throw from the space needle (like the Eiffel tower, the Space Needle lights up at night and is a beautiful sight to behold). GeekGirlCon was an immense success; it sold out, and they actually had to turn away 500 people.

 

Here's what happens when women put on a con:

 

* It goes off without a hitch.

 

* The rooms are full of the high energy of thousands of beautiful, strong, happy, creative women.

 

* There's no backbiting.

 

*There are no little boys in Spiderman costumes.

 

* People are nice to each other.

 

* They give their guests jewelry! I was given an art nouveau looking, mystic looking necklace, and a pair of blue roses to hang in my ears. I later found out that each guest had been given something different; the jewelers had tailored their jewelry to the personalities of the guests.

 

Go here to read all about it and see lots of great photos:

 

http://www.geekgirlcon.com/

 

I'm coming back next year, so join me there!

 

What's next? I'm coming to New York the first week in November to do a couple of talks and signings for my newest graphic novel, "Lily Renee: Escape Artist," an all-ages biography of Lily, who was a teenage Jewish girl in Vienna when the Nazis marched in, in 1938, and who escaped the Nazis in 1939 via Kindertransport. The book relates her adventures in England during the Blitz, and how she was finally reunited with her parents, who had escaped to America. Once in America, the refugee family, who had been very well off in Vienna, but who had lost everything to the Nazis, were living hand to mouth when Lily's mother saw an ad in the paper: a comic book company was looking for artists. Lily, who was an artist, had never read a comic in her life, but she gamely went to a news stand, bought a couple of comics, studied them, and drew some samnple panels. PS: she got the job, and became one of the best Golden Age cartoonists, drawing, among other things, the adventures of the glamorous spy and Nazi-fighter, Senorita Rio, so that Lily, who had been persecuted by the Nazis, got to fight back on paper. [image error]Lily herself will be with me, and we'll discuss and sign the book and answer questions, and I'll present a Powerpoint slide show. I give great Powerpoint shows, so come see and say hello; both signings are free.

 

OMG! "Lily Renee: Escape Artist" has just come out and already the book has received a Gold Medal from Moonbeam Children's Books Awards in the comic/graphic novel category! Oh yeah, the signing schedule:

 

Thursday, November 3, from 7:00-9:00 pm at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (MoCCA)

 

594 Broadway, Suite 401

(btwn. Houston and Prince Streets)

New York, NY 10012

Tel. (212) 254-3511

 

And Sunday, November 6, 3:00-5:00 pm at Books of Wonder

 

18 West 18th Street

New York, NY 10011

Tel: (212) 989-3270

 

　

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Fear of Blogging Goes to China

Fear of Blogging has returned from ten days in China, the first three of which she was a guest of the Jilin University of Animation at their forum for games, comics, and animation. Steve and I and Renee Witterstaeter (who was once my editor on Xena comics, but has gone on to far better things) were the only American comics people in a crowd of animators and games designers from the four corners of the Earth. We met Koreans, Russians, French, German, Argentinean, a lovely woman from Australia and another from Croatia, a guy from the Czech Republic and another from Finland, and I'm sure I left some out. (And you know what happens? Once you've met all those nice folks from all those different countries you don't want to kill them! So if we had more international forums we wouldn't have wars.)

We were each assigned a young student assistant to help us and to get us to our talks on time and in the right building (The university is enormous and awesome but easy to get lost in). (I think it was also a good opportunity for them to practice their English!) Here are we three American comics people with our assistants on the University campus in front of a strange and wonderful sculpture consisting of living foliage.   

All Freshman students at the university have to spend a year in their equivalent of ROTC, and they were practicing marching as I passed by, and they were so cute, so as you can see, I became the Sweetheart of the Regiment.  

Then we went on to Beijing for three more days. Beijing is fabulous! The taxi and bus drivers drive like homicidal maniacs and the air pollution is unbelievable, but on our second night it rained buckets and the next morning the sky was a lovely clear blue — the rain had washed the pollution away. We made friends right and left — people all said hello to us and we responded "Nihau" and they loved it. As you can see from the photo sequence taken at Tienanmen Square I was a great goodwill ambassador. We went back to Tienanmen Square on our own after the tour because our tour guide (The Worst Tour Guide Ever) had given us all of 15 minutes to see everything after explaining stuff endlessly in bad English for 20 minutes. And as we wandered through the Square a very sweet young student approached us and explained that she needed to practice her English and could she give us a tour for free? So of course we agreed and she was so much better than our horrible guide of the day before. And there she is with Steve. That guy next to her is supposedly posing for a photo being taken by his wife, but she's really taking a photo of Steve — they did this a lot, because he's so tall and such a curiosity. I tried to see Mao but it turns out they won't let you in if you have a bag, backpack, or handbag. I can understand that they don't want anyone blowing up Mao.

The guided tour was the Worst Guided Tour Ever but luckily we didn't have to pay for it — the university paid — but on our last day we set off on our own and had a 100% better time, including 100% more delicious food, just from little local food shops. Next time — and I hope they do invite us back! — we will gladly accept the hospitality of a free hotel room but politely decline the guided tour.

On our last morning — we had a 1pm taxi to the airport, so we were free to wander in the morning — we stopped for lunch at a cafeteria where the Chinese lunchtime crowd was eating, and everything was in Chinese, no English. One of the caf workers signaled that you had to pay up front first, so I went up to the cash register and held up three fingers signifying that we were ordering three things, paid what seemed to me to be a very reasonable price and got a ticket, which I handed to one of the caf workers. She proceeded to fill a huge plate with food including the three things we pointed to, so we shrugged a "whatever" shrug and took the plate to a table to share it. But then she spoke insistently in Chinese and I wondered if we needed to pay more, but it turned out that holding up 3 fingers had meant I was ordering food for 3 people — so she filled another plate and gave me money back. Then while we were eating (far more than we could finish — we had intended to share one plate!) another woman came over and spoke to us in Chinese, then motioned me to follow her and she led me to bowls of soy milk. Turns out that soy milk comes with the meal!

So you can see that everyone was very nice to us intrepid Americans!

Our most exciting though scariest experience: the Beijing subways. On our last day we took the subway to Tienanmen Square. The subways are great! They are clean and bright and silent, the announcements are made in clear legible Chinese and English, the stops are clearly marked in Chinese and English. But after a great day during which we stopped for tea and a free shadow puppet show at a traditional teahouse, and wandered happily around the Hutongs, which are the old neighborhoods that look like Beijing must've looked 100 years ago, it was time to return to our hotel — and it was rush hour! As a veteran of the New York subway system during rush hour I thought I'd seen it all, but compared to Beijing, New York is NUTHIN'. Huge crowds, the length of six subway cars and ten people deep, waited for each train, and when the train stopped and the doors opened, shoved their way into the cars till nobody could fit anymore. (And meanwhile, the people who needed to exit the cars were shoving and elbowing their way out!) Then you waited for the next train (they did come every two minutes) and repeated the process until you were in front of the line and could fit into a car. So after about 4 trains (not so bad; only eight minutes), Steve and I got into a car. But then we had to change trains after about two stops, so when the train stopped, Steve got out but I found myself being shoved back into the train by a veritable tsunami force of passengers pushing their way in! There was Steve on the platform and me on the train and it was pretty obvious I wasn't gonna get off, so at the last minute, before the doors closed, he got back on. And we hugged and laughed hysterically and got off at the next stop.

Now I'm safely back in San Francisco where our trains are pathetic shadows of the Beijing trains but you can survive rush hour. And next on the agenda: on Wednesday, September 28th, I take one of those trains to the main library, where, in honer of the centennial of California women's suffrage, I'll be giving a talk on women who cartooned for the vote. To find out more, go here: http://sfpl.org/index.php?pg=1005956501

I give good talks with lots of pictures and it's free, so join me there from 6 to 7:30 PM.

FEAR OF BLOGGING GOES TO COMIC-CON

 

 

 

…And returns in one piece! It's just too darn big, folks!

Steve and I read that there was a Torchwood panel scheduled one morning of the con, and since we're big Torchwood fans we decided we'd try to get in to see it. So very naively we figured we'd get there a half hour early. If you've ever taken in one of those major panels at San Diego, you're already laughing, right? When we got there, we found that there was a huge line, about four miles long, snaking around the convention center. Gamely, we walked to the end of the line. The people behind us asked what we were on line for, and when we said "Torchwood," they laughed! The Torchwood panel is already filled, they told us, and they were on line for a panel that didn't start for another 2 1/2 hours!

So apparantly people come to Comic-con and wait in line all day just to see their favorite movie and TV stars in person on a panel. Not us! (But I'm still a fan, and couldn't resist getting my picture taken in front of a Tardis!)

 

I was on some pretty good panels myself, and since none of us on the panel were movie stars, the room was not mobbed. Joyce Farmer, who has been drawing comics as long as I have, was a guest at Comic-con this year because of her truly excellent graphic novel, Special Exits, which should have won an Eisner. She kindly invited cartoonists Mary Fleener, Frank Stack, and me, up to the dais with her to share her solo panel. Since we had all been in comics so long, I decided it was the geezer panel. Every convention has to have a geezer panel!

 

What I like about Comic-Con is seeing people I love but only get to see once a year (if that!) like Joyce, Mary, and Frank. Before the panel, I met Joyce and Mary for lunch, so we could actually hang out, and the next morning Steve and I met with the fabulous Ramona Fradon for breakfast, and there we are. Ramona's holding up my Chicagoland Detective ghraphic novel — I hope she enjoyed it!

s

There was a time when Ramona was the only woman drawing for comic books, and then a time when she and Marie Severin were the only TWO women drawing for comic books. But Ramona's also a mystic and a gnostic, and she has written a book that had absolutely nothing to do with comics: "The Gnostic Faustus: The Secret Teachings Behind the Classic Text." As it says on the back of the book, Ramona has been investigating the Faust legend since 1978 in order to decipher the mysteries of its spiritual framework. Yes, I bought the book on Amazon.com, but no, I have not been able to read it yet! (My Chicagoland Detective Agency graphics novels are a bit easiet to read!)

 

Coming up on July 26: I'll be talking about and signing copies of my Miss Fury book at Escapist Comics, 3090 Claremont Ave, Berkely at 7 PM. I've prepared a slideshow about Tarpe Mills and Miss Fury that I promise you will like. Come see it! Their phone number is 510-65COMIC, and you can read more about it at :

 

http://www.escapistcomics.com/

 

After that, on September 1st, Steve and I leave for China (!!!!) where we will be guests at an international forum at the Jilin Animation Institute in Changchun. I promise to write all about it when I return.

 

FEAR OF BLOGGING MEETS ARCHIE!

 

Well, actually, I met Nancy Silberkleit, co-ceo of Archie comics, but she was dressed in Archie orange, and here we are. The photo's by Heather Plunkett, who manages the Cartoon Art Museum bookstore.  Thank you, Heather!  Nancy was at the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum for the Archie show, along with her project, the Archie comic book fair. As Nancy knows, comics are a great way to get kids reading, so Archie sends comics and the makings of a comic book fair to schools, and even takes care of the shipping costs. There are giveaway comics and comics that kids can buy, and the schools get 40% of the sales, so it's a great fundraiser for schools. Yes, I know that it will be a great day when schools have all the money they want, and the military has to hold comic book fairs to raise funds, but in the meantime…You can read more about it at www.comicbookfairs.com.

 

Nancy and I ducked out for coffee, and she kindly bought me a cookie, because nobody had saved a slice of cake for me! We discussed subjects we both care about, including literacy, domestic violence, and the lack of women in the comics biz (still!). Nancy rocks!

 

　

FEAR OF BLOGGING GOES TO SACRAMENTO!

…and that's not all! But let's start with Sacramento:

On June 10th, I drove out to Sacramento along with the fabulous Grant Avenue Follies ladies (and one gentleman), Pat Chin, Cynthia Yee, Ivy Tam, and Chuck Gee. If you've read my book, "Forbidden City: the Golden Age of Chinese Nightclubs," you know that these are the original entertainers from the later days of the clubs, and that not only are they still dancing, but they have recruited enough dancers to form a dance troupe, and that they are living legends. We had been invited by the Chinese American Council of Sacramento to be guests at their annual author dinner. What a great evening! We were made so welcome, the food was so delicious (Best Chinese food I've had outside of China), and the Grant Avenue Follies shone, as always.

 And here they are now, along with the lovely Ivy Tam doing her signature fan dance. 

After I read from and signed my books, the council presented me with a necklace of freshwater pearls and semi-precious stones! The necklace was made by Joyce Eng, who just happens to be a jeweler, and who is also responsible for putting on the event and getting me there. I have done a lot of readings and signings, but nobody else ever gave me jewelry! Thank you, Joyce! And that's Joyce in the picture, standing, along with Linda Ng, the Council treasurer, to my left. All these photos were taken by photographer Kingman Louie, who also happens to be vice president of the Chinese American Council .

By the way, when I got home I realized there was something else in the package — a pair of matching earrings! (And there I am in the photo, wearing the necklace.) 

WHITE IS THE NEW RED

Yes, after battling with my new hair for three years (Most of you know that I lost it all to chemotherapy in '09 and have been attempting to grow it back ever since) I decided to cut off all the bad hair and go white. Last May, at the Pagan Faire, I noticed that 90% of the women had curly red hair, so I decided curly red hair is OVER. White is the new red.

  Hey, the Honey West Commemorative issue, dedicated to the late Anne Francis and combining my first two Honey West comics, is out, and on Wednesday, July 3rd, I'll be signing copies (Along with copies of my Miss Fury book, and Chicks in Capes, and whatever you bring for me to sign) at Illusive Comics and Games, 2725 El Camino Real, in Santa Clara. If you're in the neighborhood, come on by and say hello. You can find out more at www.illusivecomics.com, or phone (408) 985-7481.

Speaking of Miss Fury, look what my editor, Dean Mullaney, sent me from a Paris comic book store: the Miss Fury book was pick of the week. Oh la la!

After that: comicon in San Diego, from July 20th through the 24th, America's largest comic convention. I'll be there, on a panel with IDW, talking about Miss Fury on Sunday, and on another panel talking about the late Bill Blackbeard, but I don't know when. Look for me on the floor of the con, say hello.

FEAR OF BLOGGING IS HAPPY…

…Because I hold in my hand an advance copy of my book, Tarpe Mills and MISS FURY, edited and with an introduction by me.  Miss Fury, by June Tarpe Mills, ran in America's newspapers from 1941 until 1952, and was the first major female superhero created and drawn by a woman. Yes, she beat Wonder Woman to the punch by half a year! This 229 page book (it weighs a ton!) collects the complete Miss Fury Sunday pages from 1944 to 1949 (to my mind, Mills at her best). These pages have never before been reprinted, so now's your chance to discover for the first time the stylish, lurid, risque, film noir-esque story of Miss Fury — it's a page-turner! When I took the book out of its packaging, I sat right down with it and reread it from cover to cover.

 

Here's some of what it says on the back cover:

 

Catfights and crossdressers, mad scientists and spike-heeled dopplegangers, 200-year-old men who look 20, and a one-armed Nazi who can't be stopped!

 

Oh, and did I mention that the book includes 13 pages of Tarpe Mills' hitherto unpublished graphic novel, NEVER before seen?!

FEAR OF BLOGGING GETS AROUND

 

On April 27th, I was a guest of Toonseum in Pittsburgh. While I haven't been to every cartoon art museum in the country, I still think that Toonseum wins the prize for World's Cutest Comic Museum. It's situated in the moddle of downtown Pittsburgh in a tiny storefront, yet the Toonseum folks managed to squeeze an entire year's worth of Brenda Starr daily strips, from 1965 to 1966, on their walls without anything looking crowded, and STILL have room for me to give my presentation and talk, and later, to sign books. And after my talk, those lovely Toonseum folks surprised me with an award: the Nemo Award for Excellence in the Comic Arts! (There's cartoonist Wayno presenting it to me) I've been nominated for an Eisner twice but never got one, but now I have a Nemo, so take that, San Diego Comic Con! (Oh, and there I am signing a book for Jessica Heberle. Hi, Jessica!)

 

Pittsburgh, by the way, is a beautiful city. There are pale yellow bridges everywhere you look, and I loved the old brick buildings. There's nothing like them here in San Francisco because everything old fell down in 1906. And Andy Warhol was from Pittsburgh! Joe Wos, the executive director of Toonseum and one swell guy, got me into the Warhol Museum for free, and I spent a great afternoon looking at everything Warhol. I found out that he is buried outside of the city, and that people leave soup cans on his grave. Next time I come to Pittsburgh, I am bringing a can of Campbell's tomato soup for Andy.

 

FEAR OF BLOGGING SLEEPS IN A MUSEUM!

 

Well, I didn't actually sleep in Toonseum, but it sure felt like it! Actually, the museum put me up in the Wyndham Hotel, but when I opened the door to my hotel room, my first thought was, "Oh, somebody's already staying in this room!" because there were books on comics, cartoons and animation scattered all over the room. Then I noticed that on the walls, where you usually find generic framed prints, were framed original art: comics and animation cels. So my next thought was that the Toonseum folks had snuck into the room like little elves and decorated it for me. But no, it's a real hotel room at the Wyndham: the "Toon Room," decor of course by Toonseum. If you're coming to Pittsburgh, allow me to recommend that you phone the Wyndham and reserve the Toon Room; you'll find all the comics you need to read during your stay, and with the room you get free entry into Toonseum. Should you get inspired to draw during your stay, there's a drawing table, too. Look for my signature on it! And if the Toonseum is the cutest cartoon art museum, the Toon Room at the Wyndham is the best hotel room I have ever stayed in!

 

FEAR OF BLOGGING VISITS THE PRAIRIE HOME COMPANION!

 

Well, almost. On May 21st and 22nd, Steve and I were guests of the Midwest Comic Book Association at their Springcon, held at the State Fair grounds in St Paul, Minnesota. I've never ever been to a State Fair — didn't even know they still had them! — so I loved the fairgrounds, which are like a miniature city, with shops and restaurants. Except that all the shops and restaurants were closed, because they only open for the State Fair, so it was kinda like a ghost town, which was even cooler. Oh, and here's the obligatory pic of me at the con: that's Patricia Gifford to my right and Leyna Gifford standing behind me in the hugs cavernous convention room.

 

SPRING CON BUYS UNDERWEAR FOR TRINA!

 

Okay, tights, but tights can be considered underwear and that's such a great statement to make about a convention! What happened was it was cold! Yeah, I should have realized it would be cold — after all, it WAS Minnesota! And there I was in a dress and bare legs, freezing. So wonderful Mike Frigon (more about him later) took me to the nearest department store to buy tights, and before I could stop him, paid for them! No convention has EVER bought me tights!

 

FEAR OF BLOGGING SEES THE MISSISSIPPI!

 

Roberta Gregory, creator of Bitchy Bitch, Winging It, and about a jillion other comics since the early 70s, was a guest at Springcon, and it was wonderful to hang with her and catch up on stuff, as Roberta was one of the early contributors to Wimmen's Comix, and I have known her since 1974. The day after the con, Mike Frigon (remember I said more about him later? Mike is a voice-over actor, a writer, and an all-around nice guy with a swell taste in music) took Roberta, Steve and me on a tour of St Paul and the Mississippi. I love that river! It makes me want to go back and reread Huck Finn. So there we are in front of the longest river in America, Mike and me and Steve.

 

As for St Paul, it turns out that it's the home town of Charles Schultz, and the city hasn't forgotten its local boy who made good. Statues of Peanuts characters are scattered all over town. We particularly liked this one of Sally and Linus, so here we are: seated, left to right, Sally Brown and Linus Van Pelt, standing, yours truly, Roberta Gregory, Steve Leialoha.