It Ain't Me, Babe (comics)

Last updated
It Ain't Me, Babe
It Ain't Me, Babe (comic), first printing.jpg
Cover of the first print run, showing Olive Oyl, Little Lulu, Wonder Woman, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Mary Marvel and Elsie the Cow, with their fists raised, and the words "women's liberation".
Publication information
Publisher Last Gasp
FormatStandard
Genre Underground comix
Publication dateJuly 1970
No. of issues1
Creative team
Artist(s) Trina Robbins, Barbara "Willy" Mendes, Nancy Kalish, Carole Kalish, Lisa Lyons, Meredith Kurtzman, Michele Brand
Editor(s) Trina Robbins and Barbara "Willy" Mendes

It Ain't Me Babe Comix [1] is a one-shot underground comic book published in 1970. It is the first comic book produced entirely by women. It was co-produced by Trina Robbins and Barbara "Willy" Mendes, and published by Last Gasp. [2] Robbins and other staff members from a feminist newspaper in Berkeley, California, also called It Ain't Me, Babe, contributed. [3] [4] Many of the creators from the It Ain't Me Babe comic went on to contribute to the long-running series Wimmen's Comix . [5]

Contents

Background

Female cartoonists Robbins, Mendes, and "Hurricane" Nancy Kalish (who sometimes signed her work "Panzika") were frustrated with the boy's club atmosphere of underground comix, which was dominated by male artists glorying in their depictions of sex, drugs and rock & roll—and the casual misogyny typical of those stories. The editors recruited other contributors, including Carol Kalish, Lisa Lyons (a cartoonist for a socialist newspaper), Meredith Kurtzman (cartoonist and daughter of Mad magazine creator Harvey Kurtzman), and Michele Brand (Roger Brand's wife and, according to Robbins, "a better artist"). [6]

Last Gasp publisher Ron Turner was interested in publishing a comic tied to the women's liberation movement, and he paid Robbins $1,000 for the publishing rights. [6]

Publication history

The 36-page one-shot was published in July 1970. The cover of the first printing featured Olive Oyl, Little Lulu, Wonder Woman, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, Mary Marvel and Elsie the Cow on a blue-and-fuchsia background with the words "women's liberation"; the second and third covers featured the same characters on a dark-blue-and-green background. [7] [8] The first print run sold 20,000 copies; the second and third sold 10,000 each. [7]

It Ain't Me, Babe was reprinted in The Complete Wimmen's Comix, published by Fantagraphics Books in February 2016. [9]

Legacy

The success of It Ain't Me, Babe led Turner to ask two of his employees, Patricia Moodian  [ fr ] and Terre Richards—who teamed with Robbins—to recruit creators for another women's lib comic, which in 1972 became the Wimmen's Comix Collective. [10]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Underground comix</span> Comics genre

Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, including explicit drug use, sexuality, and violence. They were most popular in the United States in the late 1960s and 1970s, and in the United Kingdom in the 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Melinda Gebbie</span> American comics artist and writer

Melinda Gebbie is an American comics artist and writer, known for her participation in the underground comix movement. She is also known for creating the controversial work Fresca Zizis and her contributions to Wimmen's Comix, as well as her work with her husband Alan Moore on the three-volume graphic novel Lost Girls and the Tomorrow Stories anthology series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aline Kominsky-Crumb</span> American cartoonist (1948–2022)

Aline Kominsky-Crumb was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 2016, ComicsAlliance listed Kominsky-Crumb as one of twelve women cartoonists deserving of lifetime achievement recognition. She was married to cartoonist Robert Crumb, with whom she frequently collaborated. Their daughter, Sophie Crumb, is also a cartoonist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Last Gasp (publisher)</span> American publishing company

Last Gasp is a San Francisco–based book publisher with a lowbrow art and counterculture focus. Owned and operated by Ron Turner, for most of its existence Last Gasp was a publisher, distributor, and wholesaler of underground comix and books of all types.

Roberta Gregory is an American comic book writer and artist best known for the character Bitchy Bitch from her Fantagraphics Books series Naughty Bits. She is a prolific contributor to many feminist and underground anthologies, such as Wimmen's Comix and Gay Comix.

<i>Wimmens Comix</i> All-female underground comics anthology

Wimmen's Comix, later retitled (respelled) as Wimmin's Comix, is an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genres and subject matters, Wimmen's Comix focused more than other anthologies of the time on feminist concerns, homosexuality, sex and politics in general, and autobiographical comics. Wimmen's Comix was a launching pad for many cartoonists' careers, and it inspired other small-press and self-published titles like Twisted Sisters, Dyke Shorts, and Dynamite Damsels.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trina Robbins</span> American cartoonist and writer (1938–2024)

Trina Robbins was an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first women in the movement. She co-produced the 1970 underground comic It Ain't Me, Babe, which was the first comic book entirely created by women. She co-founded the Wimmen's Comix collective, wrote for Wonder Woman, and produced adaptations of Dope and The Silver Metal Lover. She was inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame in 2013 and received Eisner Awards in 2017 and 2021.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Marrs</span> American cartoonist and animator

Lee Marrs is an American cartoonist and animator, and one of the first female underground comix creators. She is best known for her comic book series The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp, which lasted from 1973 to 1977.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diane Noomin</span> American comics artist (1947–2022)

Diane Robin Noomin was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as feminism, female masturbation, body image, and miscarriages.

Robert Triptow is an American writer and artist. He is known primarily for creating gay- and bisexual-themed comics and for editing Gay Comix in the 1980s, and he was identified by underground comix pioneer Lee Marrs as "the last of the underground cartoonists."

Joyce Farmer is an American underground comix cartoonist. She was a participant in the underground comix movement. With Lyn Chevli, she created the feminist anthology comic book series Tits & Clits Comix in 1972.

<i>Tits & Clits Comix</i> All-female underground comics anthology

Tits & Clits Comix is an all-female underground comics anthology put together by Joyce Farmer and Lyn Chevli, published from 1972 to 1987. In addition to Farmer and Chevli, contributors to Tits & Clits included Roberta Gregory, Lee Marrs, and Trina Robbins.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lyn Chevli</span> American cartoonist

Lyn Chevli, also credited as Lyn Chevely and Chin Lyvely, was an American cartoonist who participated in the underground comix movement. With Joyce Farmer, she created the feminist comic-book anthology series Tits & Clits Comix (1972–1987) and Abortion Eve (1973), an educational comic book about women's newly-guaranteed reproductive rights.

Although, traditionally, female comics creators have long been a minority in the industry, they have made a notable impact since the very beginning, and more and more female artists are getting recognition along with the maturing of the medium. Women creators have worked in every genre, from superheroes to romance, westerns to war, crime to horror.

Gary Edson Arlington was an American retailer, artist, editor, and publisher, who became a key figure in the underground comix movement of the 1960s and 1970s. As owner of one of America's first comic book stores, the San Francisco Comic Book Company, located in San Francisco's Mission District, Arlington's establishment became a focal point for the Bay Area's underground artists. He published comics under the name San Francisco Comic Book Company, as well as publishing and distributing comics under the name Eric Fromm. Cartoonist Robert Crumb has noted, "Gary made a cultural contribution in San Francisco in the late 1960s, through the '70s, '80s & '90s that was more significant than he realizes."

<i>Twisted Sisters</i> (comic) All-female underground comics anthology

Twisted Sisters is an all-female underground comics anthology put together by Aline Kominsky and Diane Noomin, and published in various iterations. In addition to Kominsky and Noomin, contributors to Twisted Sisters included M. K. Brown, Dame Darcy, Julie Doucet, Debbie Drechsler, Mary Fleener, Phoebe Gloeckner, Krystine Kryttre, Carol Lay, Dori Seda, and Carol Tyler.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cartoonists' Co-op Press</span> Comics publishing cooperative

Cartoonists Co-op Press was an underground comix publishing cooperative based in San Francisco that operated from 1973 to 1974. It was a self-publishing venture by cartoonists Kim Deitch, Bill Griffith, Jerry Lane, Jay Lynch, Willy Murphy, Diane Noomin, and Art Spiegelman. Cartoonist Justin Green's brother Keith acted as salesman/distributor, and the operation was run out of Griffith's apartment.

Michele Wrightson, also known as Michele Brand, was an American artist who worked in the comic book industry. She started out as an underground comix cartoonist. Later, she made her name as a colorist. She was a key contributor to the first all-female underground comic, It Ain't Me, Babe, as well as its follow-up series, Wimmen's Comix.

Barbara "Willy" Mendes is an American cartoonist, fine artist, and member of the underground comix movement. She is best known for her work alongside Trina Robbins on It Ain't Me Babe and All Girl Thrills. Although Mendes first created art under the name Willy, she later transitioned to the name Barbara.

Angela Bocage is a bisexual comics creator who published mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. Bocage was active in the queer comics community during these decades, publishing in collections like Gay Comix,Strip AIDS USA, and Wimmen's Comix. Bocage also created, edited, and contributed comics to Real Girl, a comics anthology published by Fantagraphics.

References

  1. As per indicia, It Ain't Me Babe (Last Gasp Eco Funnies, July 1970).
  2. Hix, Lisa. "Women Who Conquered the Comics World", Collectors Weekly, 15 September 2014.
  3. Krensky, Stephen (2007). Comic Book Century: The History of American Comic Books (People's History). Twenty-First Century Books, p. 74 & p. 79. ISBN   0-8225-6654-0.
  4. Robbins, Trina. "Wimmen's Studies", comixgrrrlz.pl, 25 May 2010.
  5. Jacobs, Rita D (March 2016). "The Complete Wimmen's Comix" . World Literature Today. 90 (2): 72–73. doi:10.1353/wlt.2016.0154. S2CID   245656294 . Retrieved 9 March 2016 via EBSCO.
  6. 1 2 Robbins, Trina (2016). Groth, Gary (ed.). The Complete Wimmen's Comix. Vol. 1. Seattle: Fantagraphics Books. pp. xiii–ix. OCLC   904036722.
  7. 1 2 "Underground Comix Collection", Comix Joint.
  8. Arie Kaplan, Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!, Chicago Review Press, 2006, p. 84.
  9. "The Complete Wimmen's Comix" page, Fantagraphics website. Accessed Dec. 3, 2016.
  10. Paul Williams, "Questions of 'Contemporary Women's Comics'", in Paul Williams, James Lyons (eds.), The Rise of the American Comics Artist, University Press of Mississippi, 2010, p. 138.