Trina's News

2008-01-29T13:09:00.001-08:00

Outside it’s dark cold, and rainy -- in a word, miserable -- as it’s been for the last two weeks, and the San Francisco Chronicle predicts the same for at least the next week. Inside it’s almost as bad, as our 102 year-old Edwardian house has exactly one gas heater in the hall, and no insulation (They didn’t have insulation in those days) and I’m getting very tired of my cashmere turtleneck sweater collection. A perfect time to write that blog I keep putting off!
Let me tell you about what’s consuming my every waking hour: I’m putting together a full-color coffee table book on the art of Nell Brinkley. And whom, you may ask, is this Nell Brinkley? Ahah! That's Nell, up there.
In 1907, at the tender age of twenty-two, Nell Brinkley came to New York to draw for the Hearst syndicate. Within a year, she had become a household name. Flo Ziegfeld dressed his dancers as "Brinkley Girls," in the Ziegfeld Follies. Three popular songs were written about her. Women, aspiring to the masses of curly hair with which Nell adorned her creations, could buy Nell Brinkley Hair Curlers for ten cents a card. Young girls cut out and saved her drawings, copied them, colored them, and pasted them in scrapbooks. The Brinkley Girls took over from the Gibson Girls.
Today, except for a small group of avid collectors, she is unjustly forgotten.
But no longer. In The Art of Nell Brinkley, I’m collecting her exquisitely colored full page art from 1913 to 1940. This entails painstakingly scanning in every beautiful outsize newspaper page. In those days, newspaper pages were humongous, and even though we bought an outsize scanner for the job, it’s still too small to scan an entire page, so I have to scan the pages in halves and then carefully put the halves together in photoshop, an exquisitely nerve-wracking procedure.
But Nell is worth it! Expect the book in ‘09.
When I can’t stand it anymore and have to take a brief vacation from scanning, I turn to my other project: I’m adapting Little Women into graphic novel form for Eureka Productions’ great Graphic Classics series. This one’s a graphic novel anthology of Louisa May Alcott. This is a fun but challenging job. For those of you who read Little Women when you were kids: do you remember how much moralizing is in the book? I didn’t remember any of it, and suspect that as a girl, I may have read an abridged edition. Good heavens, those sisters are always learning lessons -- don’t be vain, don’t be lazy, don’t even get angry! -- and I suppose this was a Victorian tradition for kid’s books, but it sure does get in the way of a good story, and I find myself cutting out huge chunks of the book. The artist is Anne Timmons, and if you’re familiar with my work, you know that Anne and I have worked together on a good number of projects since 1999, including our ongoing graphic novel series, GoGirl! For Graphic Classics volume fourteen, we worked together on an adaptation of Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey.
Hey, Bay Area people, or anyone coming to Wondercon, at Moscone Center from February 22nd through the 24th: I’ll be there, delivering a presentation on Sunday the 24th, from 11:30 to 1:00 PM. The subject is Feral Women in Lil Abner, and I can guarantee that my talks are as far as you can get from the usual convention panels on The Hulk versus The Thing. Come see it, say hello!

Return of Fear of Blogging

2007-11-01T18:06:00.000-07:00

Well folks, I'm back, and you can call me Cookie, because I've been a wafer too long.
What's new? Well, in '06 I contributed to lots of anthologies and even two encyclopedias, and they're all starting to come out. Two that are out now are Moonstone's "The Phantom Chronicles," with my short story in it, and Seal Press' "It's So You; women write about personal expression through fashion and style," with my essay on Thrift shopping. (You did know that I'm the San Francisco Queen of thrift shopping, didn't you?"
The two encyclopedias aren't out yet, but keep an eye open for them. They are "Girl Culture," an encyclopedia of girls and grrrlz, and "The Woman's Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction", and for both of them I wrote about (are you surprised?) comics.
You can also find a very nice chapter about me in Arie Kaplan's swell book, "Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!," published by The Chicago review Press. Thank you, Arie, for all the good things you write about me!
What's coming? On Sunday, November 11th, you can find me at the Portland Comic Book Show, where I'll be presenting my talk and slideshow on the women who flew planes during World War ll, both in real life and in the pages of comic books, "When Women Flew." (That's an image from the slideshow up top, flying nurse Jane Martin, drawn by pioneer woman cartoonist Lily Renee) I guarantee that this is not the usual "Who's stronger, the Hulk or the Thing?" kind of panel you see at so many conventions. Come see it, and stay to say hello. Because of the subject of my talk, and because the show is on Veteran's Day, veterans get in for free.
What's coming out? My full-color book on the art of Nell Brinkley will be out in '08, published by Fantagraphics. If you know my work, you probably know that Nell was a brilliant artist in the early 20th century, and that I've already written a biography of her (Nell Brinkley and the New Woman in the Early 20th Century), but that the world still needs to see Nell's beautiful full color art, and when this book comes out, they will.

Fear of Blogging Goes to Sweden

2007-03-20T11:42:00.000-07:00

...And Denmark too! In early March, I flew to Sweden to lecture on early 20th century women cartoonists at a comics school in Malmo, Sweden, on International Women's Day. I landed at the Copenhagen airport and took the train to Sweden, over the new bridge between the countries. The bridge is beautiful and must be the longest bridge in the world. If you look out over the water, you can't see the other side, yet the entire trip from Copenhagen to Malmo takes half an hour!
Yes, comics are alive and well in Scandinavia, and women are drawing them. Aside from the comics school in the Roda Huset (the red house), I also lectured at the Swedish Comics Organization, then on to Stockholm where I spoke at the comics library and at a woman's bookstore. And in between, I had plenty of volunteer tour guides to show me Malmo and Stockholm. (Thank you, Karolina and Christian) The weather couldn't have been better! Skies were blue and cloudless, and although I had packed for a trip to the arctic, most of the time I didn't even need to wear my coat.
Because it's so fast and easy to get from Copenhagen to Malmo, many people now commute between the countries, and Karen Hansen, one of the Danish students at the Swedish comic school, was my volunteer tour guide for a day in beautiful Copenhagen, home of Hans Christian Anderson and the Little Mermaid. That's Karen up top, in front of the mermaid, who seems to be perched on her head (my bad photography).
Hey, Danes! Stop disparaging your mermaid! Every time I told someone I wanted to see her, they would answer, "oh, well, she's really very small, you know." I think they all believe Americans aren't happy unless the statues are as big as the Statue of Liberty. But size doesn't matter; the mermaid is life-size and very art nouveau and lovely as she sits pensively on her rock, looking toward land. And protestors: stop dumping pink paint on her and cutting off her head! Whatever your grudge with the government, please don't take it out on a beautiful but helpless work of art.
Both Sweden and Denmark have queens, which is still a wierd concept for this American, but of course none of the queens have the power any longer to say "Off with her head." Up top also is the ubiquitous tourist photo of me with a palace guard, and as is always the case, the guard was a good sport about it.
Finally, here also is a photo of me and my host in Sweden, Fredrick Stromberg, one of the teachers at the comics school, and also a historian and writer of many books on comics. Google his books! My thanks to Fredrik, and to Mia, the other teacher at the school and a great cartoonist, and to Kristiina, who runs the Stockholm comics library, and was persuaded to say a few words to me in the language of her home, Finland. The trip was too short, I have to come back!
Next, New York in April, where I'll be lecturing at William Patterson University on April 24th.

Daughter of Fear of Blogging

2006-12-26T14:00:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! And a belated Good Yule, Happy Chanukah, and Joyous Solstice!
Here's a link to a terrific show on NPR about comics people (including Yours Truly)and Chanukah, "Chanukah, a Time for Superheroes" :
http://streams.wgbh.org/online/play.php?xml=play/2006_12_17_super.xml
Last November I flew to New York to speak on a panel at the Jewish Museum, about their current exhibit, "American Masters of Comics Art," which, if you remember, included not one woman. It was a great panel, and the audience was with us all the way. Along with me on the panel were cartoonists Sabrina Jones, Joan Hilty, and Leela Corman, all intelligent, talented, and feminist. I'd like to say we enlightened everyone and changed a lot of minds, but I think the audience already was, like us, outraged that the show excluded women.
Next day, Steve and I moved on to the Big Apple con, right across from Pennsylvania Station. This longtime Betty and Veronica fan was delighted to see Stan Goldberg, the quintessential Archie cartoonist, and to get my picture taken with him. Then we had another women in comics panel, this time, along with me were Josie and the Pussycats artist Tanya delRio (check out her comic, it doesn't look like anything else at Archie Comics)and old friend Shary Flenniken (her funny as hell strip Trots and Bonnie ran in National Lampoon), whom I had not seen for far too long. We thought the panel was a bit small, so for another point of view, we recruited ex-DC editor Mariah McCourt from the audience. Mariah is, like the women on both panels, wonderful, intelligent, and feminist, and we had yet another great panel. Here's a photo of me, Steve and Mariah in New York, taken by comics journalist Heidi MacDonald.
Coming in February: if you live in San Diego, I'll be a guest at the San Diego National Cartoonists Society meeting on February 14th, and then back to San Francisco to conduct a workshop on writing graphic novels at the San Francisco Writers Conference on the 17th. That gives me the whole month of January to meet all my deadlines and continue to work on my next big book.
And maybe to get up the nerve to post another blog!

More Fear of Blogging

2006-10-30T08:41:00.000-08:00

People, thanks for your encouraging comments, and I SWEAR I'll get up the nerve to write here more often! Meanwhile, here's the news from the past few months and a little something about next month:
First, the sad stuff: I'm very sorry to inform you that pioneer woman cartoonist Hilda Terry passed away on October 13. Hilda's strip, Teena, ran in national
newspapers from 1941 - 1966, after which she became a pioneer computer
animator, animating baseball scoreboards for the Mets, for which she won
a National Cartoonist Society award. There's a little irony there, since
Hilda was responsible for breaking the gender barrier of the NCS, which
up till 1950 was a male-only organization. Hilda's husband, the late
cartoonist Gregory D'Allessio, submitted Hilda's name for membership, and
the ensuing fight between members about whether or not to open up their
membership finally ended with Hilda being accepted into the society a
year later, after which she submitted the names of all her women
cartoonist friends, thus breaking the gender barrier.
Hilda always said that we don't die, and that Gregory was still with her.
Wherever she is, she's with Gregory now.
Now, the happier stuff: but first, a correction. I seems to have supplied the wrong link to that great online article on "She Draws Comics." The correct link is www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2857
Arie Kaplan, MAD Magazine writer, has a new book out called "Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed" (Chicago Review Press, September 2006), and along with
such greats as Will Eisner, Neil Gaiman, and Stan Lee,the very kind Mr. Kaplan has included a chapter on moi. I am honored and very happy! For more information
about "Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!" check out: http://www.ariekaplan.com/books.htm>>
And the new GoGirl! is out! It's 184 pages long, and should make up for the fact that there hasn't been a new GoGirl! in over a year. I'm happy with everything in it, except --- if you sent me any letters about the last issues, or sent any designs, I'm sorry to say that for reasons entirely unknown to me, the editor or production person over at our publisher, Dark Horse left out the letters page and the great pinups sent in by various artists. In their name, I apologize, hope to have the lettrs and pinups back in the NEXT GoGirl!, and also hope to talk to the right person at Dark Horse and make sure that never happens again. So don;t stop sending letters!
Coming up in November: The Comics Journal should be out any day now, with my center piece interview with comics legend Lily Renee, and 36 pages of full color reprints of her comics. Lily will be a guest at next Summer's San Diego comic con and I'll be there, too.
And speaking of "Masters of the Comic Book Universe," the infamous exhibit, "Masters of American Comics," the one that includes not one woman, is now at the New York Jewish Museum, and that's where I'll be in November 16th, on a panel with other women cartoonists, talking about why men leave out women. I give great Powerpoint slideshow and I guarantee you'll love my talk. Come see the panel and stay to say hello -- and/or come to the Big Apple con, on November 17, 18, and 19. I'll be on a panel there, too, with other women cartoonists, and we all have a lot to say.
Finally: your luddite pal, yours truly, tried but didn't suceed in adding pictures this time. I'll ask advice of my brilliant web maven, and hope to include pics next time.

VERY OLD NEWS

2006-09-08T08:00:00.000-07:00

FEAR OF BLOGGING:
That's why it's taken me four (4) months to make my first report in this space, but hey! Here I sit at 8A.M., typing this in with trembling hands, and so far my computer hasn't blown up.
Okay, rewind to last May, which is when I flew to New York for the opening of She Draws Comics at MoCCA (The Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art) located in fashionable SoHo and found on the internet at http:www.moccany.org
It was amazing to be in a room with all that art by women (I only curated the first half, women cartoonists of the early 20th century, so the contemporary art was all new to me) and all those women cartoonists, including the three oldest living women cartoonists, Hilda Terry, Valerie Barclay, and Lily Renee. If you haven't gotten to the exhibit yet, you have until November, and meanwhile, you can find a good writeup by Beverly Wittenstein at www.womensnews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/2857
A short piece about the show will be in the calendar section of MS Magazine's Fall issue.
Aside from the MoCCA show, the high point of my trip to The Apple was meeting Lily Renee, who was the star woman cartoonist for comicbook publishers Fiction House during the 1940s. During the war, when so many men were in the military, women filled their jobs, and it was the same in comics -- there were more women working in comics than ever before, and of all the comics publishers, Fiction House had the most women working for them. But Lily was the best, the only woman who drew covers for them. I found her to be a gracious, elegant and still beautiful woman, living in the West 80s in an apartment filled with ojects d'art. (That's Lily to the right, below the hula girls) My interview with her, along with 36 pages of her gorgeous comics, will appear in the Comics Journal soon -- look for it. The adventures of the intrepid teenage Lily, escaping the Nazis in occupied Vienna, finding herself alone in England and accused of being an enemy alien, are the stuff of thrillers, but they really happened!
After New York, I returned home to San Francisco for exactly one day before flying off to Wiscon, the world's only feminist science fiction convention, in (You guessed it!) Madison, Wisconsin. Three days of women and feminist men, including some of my favorite writers (I keps running into Carol Emshwiller in the halls but was too chicken to get all fannish and tell her how much I loved her writing) -- and nary a kid in a Spiderman suit -- was heaven. I presented a paper on Wonder Woman at Wiscon, that is unlike anything you'll be reading in any of the D.C.-snactioed books on the amazon princess. Check it out at http://girl-wonder.org/papers/robbins.html The high point of that experience was getting together with Katherine MacLean again. I had actually been room mates with Katherine at the last Wiscon I attended, and was happy as a clam to become her friend. She is the oldest woman science fiction writer alive (And is more energetic than I am -- when we were roomates she kept waking me up at 7 A.M. to go for a swim) and was one of the very first women to write science fiction, having sold her first short story to Astounding Science Fiction in 1949. So I'm writing about Katie, too (do you see a pattern here?) -- in the Women's Encyclopedia of Fantasy and Science Fiction, due out in 07.
Then I came home and did the hula. No, really, I take lessons in hula and tap, and my dance teacher, who also teaches tons of other dance classes around the San Francisco Bay Area, gets us all together for public performances twice a year, in really classy theaters. So we danced at the Cowell Theater in Fort Mason (A great venue and nothing to sneeze at) in June, and here I am at the top of the page as a hula girl, in a cellophane skirt. Yes, I'm the redhead, and yes, everyone in the class is Asian, except for me.
Hey, this wasn't so bad! I may actually return soon, with more recent news. Stay tuned!

Welcome to Trina's News

2006-05-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

Stay tuned for future news about Trina's Adventures.