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Hello! From Wonder Media Network, I'm Jenny Kaplan, and this is Womanica.
This month we're talking about women of science fiction.
These women inspire us to imagine impossible worlds, alien creatures, and fantastical inventions, revealing our deepest fears and hopes for the future.
Today we're talking about a woman who fearlessly broke into the old boys' club of the comic industry.
She fought through adversity to become the first woman to draw Wonder Woman.
Let's talk about Trina Robbins.
Trina was born in Brooklyn, New York on August 17, 1938.
She started drawing the moment her little hands were able to form a fist around a crayon. Then, at four years old, she began to read.
Trina zeroed in on comics. Her favorite comics were the ones with female protagonists. In a later interview, she said,
The ones that starred men were very boring to me. I wasn't interested in those.
Her favorite comic characters were Wonder Woman and Mary Marvel.
At first glance, Mary was just a young girl. But saying the word Shazam, she would activate her superpowers and transform into a superhero.
Mary's character showed Trina that you didn't have to be a grown-up to have superpowers.
When Trina was 18 years old, she dropped out of college and moved to Los Angeles.
There, she worked as a nude model for men's magazines. In her spare time, she took art classes. While in the magazine business, Trina met rock critic Paul Robbins.
The two hit it off and got married.
Paul introduced her to L.A.'s rock and folk music scene. Soon, Trina was designing clothes for famous musicians.
But Trina eventually outgrew Paul and left him.
She moved back across the country and started a new life in downtown Manhattan in the mid-1960s.
She opened a clothing boutique called Broccoli, which became a gathering place for artists.
She also started taking her drawing more seriously. What began as fun ads for her store in an alternative newspaper
evolved into her first official publication in a comic book in 1969.
At that point, the underground comics movement was just beginning.
That's comics with an X.
The movement cropped up in response to an era of censorship. The underground represented a push for rebellion.
Artists penned stories about the hippie movement, recreational drug use, and rock music.
Around this time, Trina was also experiencing a sort of rebellion. In 1969, she read an article titled, Why the Women Are Revolting.
It changed her whole perspective and quickly turned her into a second-wave feminist.
Trina did not shy away from her newfound ideology. She was quite outspoken.
It was at the core of her work. She was writing and drawing comics that centered women and uplifted their strengths.
The boys' club that was the underground comics scene didn't like that. They iced Trina out and acted like she didn't exist.
She said she struggled to contribute to comic books because they were all edited by men. Eventually, Trina got fed up.
She called out their behavior for what it was, misogyny, because it was also coming through in the comics. Their depictions of women were often violent and degrading.
Trina didn't see the humor in that.
In 1970, Trina moved back west to San Francisco. There, she worked at a feminist underground newspaper called It Ain't Me, Babe.
Later that year, Trina and another female artist produced the first comic anthology book made entirely by women.
It was called It Ain't Me, Babe Comics. The stories featured female protagonists and contained clear feminist messages.
Trina's success continued with an all-women anthology called All Girl Thrills and a solo comic titled Girl Fight Comics.
In 1972, Trina created one of her most significant contributions to the comics world.
She co-founded Women's Comics, an underground publication of all-women comic artists.
Each issue was edited by a rotating cast, and the publication practiced what it preached. These comics raised feminist concerns, discussed sex and sexuality, and featured autobiographical comics.
In the first issue, Trina wrote and illustrated a story called Sandy Comes Out. It was the first comic to star an openly lesbian character.
Women's Comics launched the careers of many female cartoonists. This was Trina's goal. When a reporter asked her to reflect on this accomplishment, she proudly said,
I was a pioneer and I am a pioneer.
As the underground scene faded away in the late 1970s, Trina published a couple of highly praised graphic novels. She also edited an all-women erotica comic called Wet Satin.
But perhaps her most notable contribution was with DC Comics.
In 1986, the publishing company decided it was time to revamp its superheroes.
For more than 40 years, Wonder Woman had only been drawn by men.
So Trina became the first woman to draw a Wonder Woman comic. Trina says she drew Wonder Woman as she knew her, a fighter.
Trina's Wonder Woman was undeniably strong and independent.
In the early 1990s, Trina mostly stopped drawing comics. But she continued to write.
She's become the go-to historian of female comic creators. Her books showcase women comic artists and cartoonists who've been relegated to the sidelines of the medium.
She believes it's vital to uplift their contributions to the industry to help bring more girls and young women into the fold.
In 2013, Trina was inducted into the Will Eisner Comic Book Hall of Fame.
Today, Trina Robbins is 85 years old.
But she's barely slowed down.
She's still busy writing and attending annual conventions like Comic-Con.
One of her most recent projects is a pro-choice comic anthology called Won't Back Down. She conceived of it in response to the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Livid at the decision to rescind a woman's right to choose, Trina deployed her superpower of drawing to raise money for Planned Parenthood.
The anthology blends fantasy and superhero motifs with real-life abortion stories to raise awareness and call for action.
For years, Trina Robbins has influenced the role women play in the world of comics, both internally and externally. And she has no plans to stop anytime soon.
In a recent interview, she said, All month, we're talking about women in science fiction.
For more information, find us on Facebook and Instagram, at Womanica Podcast. Special thanks to Liz Kaplan, my favorite sister and co-creator. As always, we'll be taking a break for the weekend. Talk to you on Monday!
