#brenda starr reporter

[atomic-chronoscaph]

Brenda Starr - art by Dale Messick (1943)

[comic-art-showcase]

Brenda Starr by Ramona Fradon(R.I.P.)

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brenda starr, reporter |2023|

[downthetubes]

Art by Ramona Fradon (October 2, 1926 – February 24, 2024) the American comics artist known for her work illustrating Aquaman and Brenda Starr, Reporter, and co-creating the superhero Metamorpho. Her career began in 1950 and lasted until her retirement in January 2024. She was still sketching for fans into her nineties.

“So sad to hear of the passing of comic legend Ramona Fradon – she gave us all a lifetime of beautiful comic book art and storytelling ,” wrote Jimmy Palmiotti yesterday. “We lost a legend today at the age of 97. May she rest in peace. Her art and smile will live on forever in all our hearts.” https://x.com/jpalmiotti/status/1761508007689564458

[citizenscreen]

“Brenda Starr, Reporter” cartoon strip debuted in the Chicago Tribune on June 30, 1940. Brenda Starr was created by Dale Messick, one of the few female cartoonists at the time. #OnThisDay

[lesserknownwaifus]

Brenda Starr, Reporter.

[tea-ddie]

Paper dolls of my characters Beatrice and Floyd! These will both be featured as bonus content in the book I’m currently (slowly) printing titled Beatrice (wonder who it’s named after, haha). I’m very inspired by mid-20th-century paper dolls that were included in Sunday newspaper comics, particularly the paper dolls from Brenda Starr reporter. What you see here are scans of risograph prints, done with four colors.

[daydreamerdrew]

1, 4, 11, 13 for the asks!!

1. What are 2-5 already published fiction books you think you want to read in 2023?

My list of comics that I want to read in January is over ambitious and unrealistic but here are 5 things from it:

I want to start reading the Dr. Fate solo stories from the Golden Age starting with More Fun Comics (1935) #55

I’m not a fan of the Walking Dead franchise but I am a fan of Tillie Walden’s work so I’m going to read Clementine: Book One which she wrote and drew, but first I think I’m gonna read Alone in Space: A Collection even though I’ve already read everything in it except for the section reprinting her early comics from when she was young just cause it’s been awhile and I know they’ll be nice to revisit

I’ve been enjoying the “Connie” newspaper strip reprints in Famous Funnies (1934) which were written and drawn by Frank Godwin and I’m going to continue reading those, but Frank Godwin actually also drew some Wonder Woman stories in Sensation Comics (1942) 16-19 and #21 and Comic Cavalcade (1942) #2 which I think will be cool, but I don’t want to start reading early Wonder Woman comics with some random stories so before those I’m gonna read The Wonder Woman Chronicles vol. 1 which reprints her earliest appearances and which I’ve had for years but have never read before

I also need to get back on my Human Target character read through and next up on that is Human Target: Final Cut (2002)

and the stuff you were posting from Scribbly (1948) looked soo good but due to my love of going in order that means I’ve added the Scribbly stories in Popular Comics (1936) #6-9 and The Funnies (1936) #2-29 to my reading list

4. Do you plan to read any genres you haven't read much before?

Well, reading the “Connie” reprints in Famous Funnies (1934) is my first time reading newspaper comic strips and I’m thinking that this year I’d like to read more of those both by reading other stuff that got reprinted in Famous Funnies (1934) like “Jane Arden” and “Flapper Fanny” and also by checking out collections from my local library system like of Calvin and Hobbes, The Adventures of Tintin, the new Nancy stuff by Olivia James, and Brenda Starr, Reporter.

I’ve also never really read manga before but I’m thinking of starting the Sailor Moon anime and if I like it then I’ll probably also check out the manga. And once I’ve played or watched playthroughs of enough Legend of Zelda games then I want to start reading the manga adaptations of those.

11. How do you plan to keep track of your reading? E.g., goodreads, bullet journal, tumblr, etc.

I’m really happy with my current system of weekly round-ups on here, though I’d like to get better about finishing and posting those on Mondays.

And I already have a Comic Vine page to list my completed series and one-shots, but I don’t log that much of what I read on there cause a lot of it’s just certain stories in anthology books. I am thinking of making another list to mark the public domain Golden Age characters whose appearances I read all of.

Also I’m intending on doing a ‘best comics of the year’ list next December like you’ve been doing.

13. Do you plan to attend any author events?

I hadn’t really thought about attending any comic book conventions in 2023. I was never super into them and I haven’t gone to one since Covid started. I have attended Geek Girl Con several times before and Emerald City Comic Con once. I’m not really planning on going to either of those this year but I guess there’s a possibility.

[siscosfavoritecomics]

The Brenda Starr reporter comic strip makes its debut in the Chicago Tribune Comic Book Magazine on June 30, 1940. The strip was drawn and written by Dalia Messick (April 11, 1906 – April 5, 2005) under the pen name of Dale Messick. The reason for the pen name? Simply put: sexism.

The newspaper publishers didn't put any stock in women artists and writers. It was easier for Messick to use a man's name in order to get her work published. Once the comic strip became a stable part of the Daily newspaper strip pages on October 22, 1945, Messick would draw the strip until 1980 and write it until 1982. The strip would continue to be drawn and written by various women artists and writers.

The last Brenda Starr reporter strip was printed on January 2, 2011.

For Further Reading:

How Women Broke Into the Male-Dominated World of Cartoons and Illustrations by Anna Diamond from Smithsonian Magazine dated January 11, 2018

[kylesvariouslistsandstuff]

An aesthetic I often think about... The Golden Age of Hollywood, particularly the animation and cartoons, but revisited through a late '80s/early '90s lens...

Yeah, that was a thing circa 1988-1994ish. A real nostalgia rush for the way movies used to be made and how things used to look, but reinvented with those signature offbeat qualities of the late '80s and the tech/effects they had on hand.

In a way, Robert Zemeckis' WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT - featuring exemplary animation directed by Richard Williams and an unsung Dale Baer - and Tim Burton's BATMAN really ushered in this era. Throwback films like the INDIANA JONES series already existed by this point, but I feel it was movies like these that really started a brief movement of sorts.

The former reminded audiences that it was not only cool to like cartoons again, but that the old favorites were actually pretty neat. After Roger Rabbit, you saw revivals in Looney Tunes and you saw many TV cartoons made in a similar vein, ending a frustrating era where most cartoons on TV were kidvid toy commercials. This was also greatly helped by Disney releasing their animated classics and cartoon shorts on video for the first time during this era, and soon Warner Bros. and Turner were releasing retrospective VHS and LaserDisc compilations pulling from their vast libraries of animated shorts. Especially w/ character birthdays coming up!

The latter lead to a bunch of pulp-style superhero/action movies, though that aesthetic seemed to quickly flame out by the mid-1990s. THE ROCKETEER went down as a cult classic, while THE SHADOW, THE PHANTOM, and others just couldn't cut it at the box office. Curiously, there was also a BRENDA STARR, REPORTER movie - simply titled BRENDA STARR - that was filmed in 1986 (it's the image of the woman on top of the windowsill, high off the ground), but wasn't released in the U.S. until 1992. While it was a big critical and commercial flop, this campy take on the 1940s comic strip kind of beat this wave to the punch? There was also a CAPTAIN AMERICA movie partially set during World War II made after the success of Tim Burton's BATMAN, too, one that also had a hard time getting released after it was completed.

It all just happened to come out around the same time.

[glam-apollo]

[micweekly-blog]

Definitely not failed impression of Lois Lane who wasn’t a super-heroine, but  career aspiration for girls who like to write and travel.

[driveintheaterofthemind]

Original Art - Brenda Starr Sunday Comic Strip (Feb28th1982) by Ramona Fradon (Tribune Media Services)

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In Memoriam: Comic Artist Ramona Fradon

American artist Ramona Fradon, co-creator of DC Comics Metamorpho, was 97, and still working until January this year

We’re sorry to report the passing of award-winning American comic artist Ramona Fradon (2nd October 1926 – 24th February, 2024), known for her work illustrating Aquaman, as one of artists who drew the internationally syndicated newspaper Brenda Starr, Reporter, and co-creating the superhero Metamorpho with Bob Haney. She was 97. Artist Ramona Fradon, via Catskill Comics Ramona also worked other…

[zarinaqueen]

Brenda Starr, Reporter debuts on June 30, 1940. Although the strip might be thought of as primarily a romance w/ plenty of fashion, Brenda’s reporting - like Lois Lane’s - often wound up with her in adventures in exotic locales. Brenda’s creator, Dale Messick, was also a female cartoonist at a time when it was no doubt extremely unusual to be one and she worked on the strip for a whopping 40+ years! 

Starting as a newspaper comic strip, she was popular enough to be featured in comic books, movies serials (Joan Woodbury, pictured up top, starred in it), a tv movie starring Jill St. John and a feature film in 1989 starring Brooke Shields. The Shields film is a notorious flop but some of its intentionally campy moments were pretty funny.   

[citizenscreen]

#OnThisDay in 1940, “Brenda Starr, Reporter", 1st cartoon strip by a woman, Dale Messick, debuted as a comic-book supplement to Chicago's Sunday Tribune. Messick was known as the “Grand Dame of the Funnies.”