View source for Wimmen's Comix

{{Short description|All-female underground comics anthology}}
{{Infobox comic book title  <!--Wikipedia:WikiProject Comics--> 
| image = WimmensComix1.jpg
| caption = The cover to ''Wimmen's Comix'' #1 (November 1972), art by Patricia Moodian.
| schedule = Annually
| ongoing = y
| publisher = [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]] (1972–1985)<br>[[Renegade Press]] (1987–1988)<br>[[Rip Off Press]] (1989–1992)
| date = November [[1972 in comics|1972]] - [[1992 in comics|1992]]
| issues = 17
| Superhero =
| main_char_team =
| writers = 
| artists = [[Trina Robbins]], [[Michelle Brand]], [[Lee Marrs]], [[Sharon Rudahl]], [[Aline Kominsky-Crumb]], [[Diane Noomin]], [[Carol Tyler]], [[M. K. Brown]], [[Leslie Ewing]], [[Joyce Farmer]], [[Melinda Gebbie]], [[Roberta Gregory]], [[Phoebe Gloeckner]], [[Carol Lay]], [[Dori Seda]], [[Mary Fleener]], [[Krystine Kryttre]], [[Angela Bocage]]
| pencillers = 
| inkers = 
| colorists = 
| editors = Patricia Moodian, [[Lee Marrs]], [[Sharon Rudahl]], Shelby Sampson, [[Trina Robbins]], Terry Richards, Becky Wilson, Barb Brown, [[Melinda Gebbie]], Dot Bucher, Kathryn LeMieux, Lee Binswanger, Caryn Leschen, Rosemary Dinegar, [[Joyce Farmer]], [[Krystine Kryttre]], [[Dori Seda]], [[Angela Bocage]], Rebecka Wright, [[Phoebe Gloeckner]]
| creative_team_month = 
| creative_team_year = 
| creators = 
| TPB = 
| ISBN = 
| subcat=Last Gasp
| sort=Wimmen's Comix
}}
'''''Wimmen's Comix''''', later retitled (respelled) as '''''Wimmin's Comix''''', is an influential all-female [[underground comics]] [[comics anthology|anthology]] published from [[1972 in comics|1972]] to [[1992 in comics|1992]]. Though it covered a wide range of genres and subject matters, ''Wimmen's Comix'' focused more than other anthologies of the time on [[feminism|feminist]] concerns, [[LGBT themes in comics|homosexuality]], [[sex]] and [[politics]] in general, and [[autobiographical comics]].<ref name="Johnson" /><ref name="Robbins" /> ''Wimmen's Comix'' was a launching pad for many cartoonists' careers, and it inspired other small-press and self-published titles like ''[[Twisted Sisters (comic)|Twisted Sisters]]'', ''Dyke Shorts'', and ''Dynamite Damsels''.<ref name="Johnson" />

Each issue of ''Wimmen's Comix'' was edited by a different editor or two editors who shared the job. [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]] published the first ten issues; later issues were put out by [[Renegade Press]] and then [[Rip Off Press]].

== Publication history ==
=== Antecedents ===
''Wimmen's Comix'' debuted a few years after the publication of the 1970 [[One-shot (comics)|one-shot]] ''[[It Ain't Me, Babe (comics)|It Ain't Me, Babe]]'', the first American comic book entirely produced by women, which was put together by [[Trina Robbins]],<ref name="Johnson">Johnson, Kjerstin. {{cite magazine |magazine=[[Bitch (magazine)|Bitch magazine]] |url=http://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-women-comics-of-the-70s-and-80s |date=April 6, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410054739/http://bitchmagazine.org/post/adventures-in-feministory-women-comics-of-the-70s-and-80s |archive-date=April 10, 2009 |title=Adventures in Feministory: Women's Comics of the '70s and '80s |access-date=April 21, 2024}}.</ref> the most prolific and influential of the women cartoonists in the underground scene. ''It Ain't Me Babe'' was a feminist newspaper in [[Berkeley, California]].<ref name="Robbins">Robbins, Trina. [http://www.comixgrrrlz.pl/2010/05/25/wimmen%E2%80%99s-studies/ "Wimmen's Studies"], Comix Grrrlz (May 25, 2010). Accessed Sept. 28, 2010.</ref> Many of the creators from the ''It Ain't Me Babe'' comic went on to contribute to ''Wimmen's Comix''.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Jacobs|first=Rita D|date=March 2016|title=The Complete Wimmen's Comix|url=https://dx.doi.org/10.1353/wlt.2016.0154|journal=World Literature Today|volume=90|issue=#2|pages=72–73 |doi=10.1353/wlt.2016.0154 |s2cid=245656294 |access-date=9 March 2016|via=EBSCO}}</ref> Last Gasp, the publisher of ''It Ain't Me Babe'', was the first publisher of ''Wimmen's Comix''.

=== The collective comes together ===
Originally, the group behind ''Wimmen's Comix'' was not an official collective, but rather a few women artists who came together with a common interest to create at least one comic that women could get paid to be in, in a male-dominated comix culture.<ref name="Johnson" /> 

=== Issue #1 ===
With [[Last Gasp (publisher)|Last Gasp]] agreeing to publish the comic, the first issue appeared in November 1972, edited by musician and artist {{interlanguage link|Patricia Moodian|fr}}.<ref name="Robbins" /> Contributors to issue #1 included Moodian, [[Michele Brand]], Lora Fountain, [[Aline Kominsky]], [[Lee Marrs]], [[Diane Noomin]], [[Sharon Rudahl]], [[Trina Robbins]], Shelby Sampson, and Janet Wolfe Stanley. Trina Robbins' story "Sandy Comes Out" was the first comic strip featuring an "out" [[lesbian]].<ref name="Kaplan, Arie 2006">Kaplan, Arie. ''Masters of the Comic Book Universe Revealed!''. Chicago Review Press, 2006 ({{ISBN|1-55652-633-4}}), p.86.</ref><ref>Bernstein, Robin (July 31, 1994). "Where Women Rule: The World of Lesbian Cartoons". ''The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review'' #1 (3): 20.</ref> Marrs' story, "All in a Day's Work", epitomizes how a woman's only leverage in a male-dominated society is to utilize her body to negotiate politics.<ref name=":02">{{Cite journal|last=Huffer|first=Lynne|date=June 2015|title=Are the Lips a Grave? A Queer Feminist on the Ethics of Sex|journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society|volume=40|issue=4|pages=996–999|doi=10.1086/680406|issn=0097-9740}}</ref><ref>Berger, Anne Emmanuelle. ''The Queer Turn in Feminism: Identities, Sexualities, and the Theater of Gender.'' (New York: Fordham University Press, 2014).</ref>

=== ''Twisted Sisters'' breakaway ===
In 1975, after four issues of ''Wimmen's Comix'', regular contributors [[Aline Kominsky-Crumb]] and [[Diane Noomin]] left the collective over internal conflicts which were both aesthetic and political;<ref name=Williams>Williams, Paul. ''The Rise of the American Comics Artist: Creators and Contexts'' (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2010), p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=902nWnHSXp0C&pg=PA139 139].</ref> Kominsky-Crumb later claimed that a large part of the break was related to her own romantic relationship with [[Robert Crumb]], whose comics and personality Robbins particularly objected to.<ref name=needmorelove>Kominsky-Crumb, Aline. (2007). ''Need More Love''. New York: MQ Publications. {{ISBN|1-84601-133-7}}.</ref> 

Noomin and Kominksy subsequently put together ''[[Twisted Sisters (comic)|Twisted Sisters]]'', a [[One-shot (comics)|one-shot]] published in June 1976 by Last Gasp which featured their own humorous and "self-deprecating" stories and art.<ref name=Noomin>Noomin, Diane. "[http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v1_2/noomin/ Wimmen's and Comix"], a transcript of Noomin's presentation at the 2003 UF Comics Conference. Accessed July 26, 2016.</ref> (Many years later, many ''Wimmen's Comix''' contributors, including Kominsky-Crumb, Noomin, Penny Van Horn, [[Carol Tyler]], [[M. K. Brown]], [[Phoebe Gloeckner]], [[Carol Lay]], Caryn Leschen, {{interlanguage link|Leslie Sternbergh|ca}}, Dori Seda, [[Mary Fleener]], and [[Krystine Kryttre]], were published in ''Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art'' <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Viking Penguin]]<nowiki>]</nowiki> and  ''Twisted Sisters: Drawing the Line'' <nowiki>[</nowiki>[[Kitchen Sink Press]]<nowiki>]</nowiki>, both edited by Noomin.)

=== Publishing hiatus and new publishers ===
After ''Wimmen's Comix'' issue #7 (Dec. 1976) there was a six-year publishing hiatus before the appearance of issue #8 (Mar. 1983). Last Gasp's final issue was #10 (Oct. 1985), with [[Renegade Press]] taking over the title with issue #11 (Apr. 1987). Renegade went out of business in 1988-1989,<ref>"Renegade Shuts Down", ''The Comics Journal'' #130 (July 1989), p. 23.</ref> but ''Wimmen's Comix'' was saved by [[Rip Off Press]], which published the final four issues, beginning with issue #14 (1989).

=== ''Wimmin's Comix''/cancellation ===
In 1992, for issue #17, the title of the comic was changed to ''Wimmin's Comix'' following a discussion over the gender politics of words containing "man" or "men" (see [[womyn]]).<ref name="Robbins" /> This, and other political conflicts, along with financial difficulties and the increasing availability of other venues for independent female cartoonists, led to the end of the series after that issue.<ref name="Robbins" /><ref name=Grrrlz /> In explaining the reason for the title's cancellation, then-editor Caryn Leschen said:
{{cquote|"This book has been printed on cheap paper which will turn yellow in a few years. The print run was too small and all the stores, as usual, will sell out, but they won't reorder because 'Women don't buy comix'. Bullshit. How did they sell out in the first place? It's always like that. What a waste of time and energy. Forget it".<ref name=Grrrlz>Robbins, Trina (1999). ''From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of [Women's] Comics from Teens to Zines''. San Francisco, California: Chronicle Books, p. 114.</ref>}}

== Issues ==
Many issues of ''Wimmen's Comix'' were themed issues with their own subtitles.

# (Nov. 1972, Patricia Moodian, ed.)
# (1973, [[Lee Marrs]], ed.)
# (Oct. 1973, [[Sharon Rudahl]], ed.) — "Fun & Games Issue"
# (1974, Shelby Sampson, ed.)
# (June 1975, [[Trina Robbins]] and Terry Richards, eds.) — "International"
# (Dec. 1975, Becky Wilson and Barb Brown, eds.) — "Special Bicentennial Issue"
# (Dec. 1976, [[Melinda Gebbie]] and Dot Bucher, eds.) — "Outlaws"
# (Mar. 1983, Kathryn LeMieux and Lee Binswanger, eds.) — "The 21st Century Woman"
# (May 1984, Caryn Leschen and Rosemary Dinegar, eds.)
# (Oct. 1985, [[Joyce Farmer]], ed.) — "International Politically Incorrect Fetish Issue"
# (Apr. 1987, [[Krystine Kryttre]] and [[Dori Seda]], eds.) — "Fashion Confidential"
# (Nov. 1987, [[Angela Bocage]] and Rebecka Wright, eds.) — "3-D"
# (1988, Lee Binswanger, ed.) — "Occult"
# (1989, [[Trina Robbins]], ed.) — "Disastrous Relationships"
# (1989, [[Phoebe Gloeckner]] and [[Angela Bocage]], eds.) — "Little Girls"
# (1990, Rebecka Wright, ed.) — "Men"
# (1992, Caryn Leschen, ed.) — "Kvetch Issue"

== Collections ==
* Robbins, Trina. ''The Best of Wimmen's Comix, and Other Comix by Women'' (London: Hassle Free Press, 1979).
* ''[http://www.fantagraphics.com/completewimmenscomix/ The Complete Wimmen's Comix]'' ([[Fantagraphics]], Feb. 2016) — two-volume collection of every issue of ''Wimmen's Comix''.

== Contributors ==
{{div col|colwidth=11em}}
* Lee Binswanger
* [[Angela Bocage]]
* Barb Brown
* [[Michele Brand]]
* [[M.K. Brown]]
* Dot Bucher
* [[Leslie Ewing]]
* [[Joyce Farmer]]
* [[Mary Fleener]]
* Lora Fountain
* [[Melinda Gebbie]]
* [[Phoebe Gloeckner]]
* [[Roberta Gregory]]
* [[Joan Hilty]]
* [[Aline Kominsky]]
* [[Krystine Kryttre]]
* [[Carol Lay]]
* Caryn Leschen
* Kathryn LeMieux
* [[Lee Marrs]]
* Patricia Moodian
* [[Andrea Natalie]]
* [[Diane Noomin]]
* Margery Peters (as Margery Petchesky)
* Chris Powers
* Terry Richards
* [[Trina Robbins]]
* Kay Rudin
* [[Sharon Rudahl]]
* Nina Salina
* Shelby Sampson
* [[Dori Seda]]
* Cheela Smith
* Janet Wolfe Stanley
* Leslie Sternbergh
* [[Carol Tyler]]
* [[Jackie Urbanovic]]
* [[Suzy Varty]]
* Penny Van Horn
* [[Mary Wilshire]]
{{div col end}}

== See also ==
* ''[[Tits & Clits Comix]]''
* [[Friends of Lulu]]

==References==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist}}

=== Sources ===
* Dueben, Alex. [http://www.tcj.com/an-oral-history-of-wimmens-comix/ "An Oral History of Wimmen’s Comix Part 1"], ''The Comics Journal'' (Mar. 31, 2016).
* Dueben, Alex. [http://www.tcj.com/an-oral-history-of-wimmens-comix-part-2/ "An Oral History of Wimmen’s Comix Part 2"], ''The Comics Journal'' (Apr. 6, 2016).

==External links==
* [http://lambiek.net/magazines/wimmenscomix.htm ''Wimmen's Comix''] at [[Lambiek]]'s Comiclopedia
* {{gcdb series|id= 17064 |title=Wimmen's Comix}} (Last Gasp)
* {{gcdb series|id= 17125 |title=Wimmen's Comix}} (Renegade Press)
* {{gcdb series|id= 17114 |title=Wimmen's Comix}} (Rip Off Press)
* {{gcdb series|id= 35937 |title=Wimmin's Comix}} (Rip Off Press)
* {{comicbookdb|type=title|id=13666|title=Wimmen's Comix}}
* [http://www.english.ufl.edu/imagetext/archives/v1_2/noomin/ Diane Noomin's Wimmen and Comix Presentation] at the 2003 UF Comics Conference
* [http://www.lastgasp.com/1/10/Wimmins+Comic+Collective/0/ Wimmen's Comix @ Last Gasp]

{{Underground comix works}}
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[[Category:1972 comics debuts]]
[[Category:Comics about women]]
[[Category:Comics anthologies]]
[[Category:Comics publications]]
[[Category:Feminist comics]]
[[Category:Erotic comics]]
[[Category:Romance comics]]
[[Category:Lesbian-related comics]]
[[Category:Autobiographical comics]]
[[Category:Underground comix]]