R.I.P. Trina Robbins

(Communist dinner table panel from the adaptation of the 1927 novel "Red Love" by Alexandra Kollantai, serialized in Renegade Romance #1-2, 1987.)

by BK Munn

This Trina Robbins dinner table panel sums up every meal my wife and I ever share! R.I.P. Trina Robbins (1938-2024). The great feminist cartoonist and historian broke through into the pantheon with her underground classic It Ain't Me Babe and created the first comic featuring an "out" lesbian in "Sandy Comes Out" in Wimmen's Comix #1. She designed the character Vampirella and was the first woman to draw Wonder Woman for DC Comics. She was such a revolutionary she was actually featured in the first verse of Joni Mitchell's "Ladies of the Canyon." She was a fashion designer, an editor, a muse, a leader, and organizer. Trina herself was a tireless and groundbreaking researcher and comics historian, responsible for a seemingly endless series of history books that studied and popularized the careers of women in comics dating back to the 1800s. She was an amazing spirit and had a legendary life! Rest in Power, Trina!

As a preteen kid, I first encountered her through a page in Les Daniels' history book Comix (found in the Public Library) which reprinted a collaborative comic with her then-partner Kim Deitch announcing the birth of their daughter. One of Trina's panels on that page depicted a who's who of famous women superheroes, alongside Trina's own creation, the half-woman/half-cat Panthera, who tantalizingly went about topless. The first whole comics story I read was her adaptation of Sax Rohmer's "Dope" in the pages of Eclipse Monthly circa 1983. I've collected her comics ever since as well as her history books which have made an immeasurable impact on my understanding of comics history and my knowledge of women cartoonists, and one of the pillars of my own ongoing Comics Canon project. 

Phyllis Wright, 1930-2023

 

by BK Munn

Sad news today as we learn that Phyllis Wright died July 9 after a stroke and a short stay in palliative care at Joseph Brant Hospital in Burlington, Ontario. Phyllis was the model for the mother in "Doug Wright's Family," the long-running Canadian comic strip drawn by her first husband Doug Wright, and was instrumental in the founding of the Doug Wright Awards for Canadian Cartooning. She was a continual and joyful presence at the annual awards ceremonies held in Toronto since 2004.

Phyllis and Doug had three boys, Bill, Jim, and Ken, who all became the models for the boys in the comic strip, which ran from 1948 to 1980. As depicted by Doug, Phyllis was a loving but exasperated suburban housewife, with a stylish pixie haircut and often clad in slacks or mod skirt ensembles. Through her association with the Wright Awards, Phyllis was a living link to the world depicted in the comic strip, generous with her support and time, and generous in sharing her family's memories and archive of artwork and photos, some of which became source material for the massive two-volume Collected Doug Wright compiled by the cartoonist Seth and writer Brad Mackay.

After Doug Wright's death in 1983, Phyllis remarried, to Derek Thomas (d. 1998), greatly expanding the size of her family.

Cremation and a private interment at Greenwood Cemetery happened earlier this month. There will be a memorial service July 31 at 11am at Port Nelson United Church.

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Hamilton Spectaor Obituary