Encyclopedia of Women in Comics

Casali, Kim (1941 - 1997)

New Zealand cartoonist

Casali is best known for creating the syndicated cartoon feature Love Is... , originally as love notes to her future husband, in the late 1960s.

As a receptionist for a design company, Casali made up little booklets of her winsome cartoons which she sold for a dollar apiece. Word soon spread and the demand for Love is... escalated. Roberto, her then future husband, recognized their commercial potential and showed them to an American journalist. The Los Angeles Times picked them up for publication and published the first of the series on January 5, 1970. Today the strip is syndicated worldwide by Tribune Content Agency.

One of her most famous drawings, "Love Is...being able to say you are sorry", published on February 9, 1972, was marketed internationally for many years in print, on cards and on souvenirs. The beginning of the strip coincided closely with the 1970 film Love Story. The film's signature line is "Love means never having to say you're sorry."

At the height of their popularity in the early to mid 1970s, the cartoons were earning Casali around five to six million dollars annually.

In 1975, Roberto Casali was diagnosed with terminal cancer and Kim stopped working on the cartoon to spend more time with him. Casali commissioned London-based British cartoonist Bill Asprey to take over the writing and drawing of the daily cartoons for her, under her pen name. Asprey has produced the cartoon continuously since 1975. Upon her death in 1997, Casali's son Stefano took over Minikim, the company which handles the intellectual rights.

If you want to learn more about Kim and Roberto's love story and you can follow the link https://www.loveiscartoon.com/ to the official website to Love Is...

Cestac, Florence (1949 - )

French Cartoonist and former Publisher

The first woman to win the Grand Prix De La Ville D' Angoulerne (2000), and was the only woman to win the award until Rumiko Takahashi won it in 2019.

In 1972, she took over the bookstore "Futuropolis" with her husband Étienne Robial, and transformed it into the comics publisher Futuropolis.

She created the humorous detective stories of Harry Mickson for the comics magazines L'Écho des savanes, Charlie Mensuel, Pilote and Ah ! Nana . After Futuropolis was bought by Gallimard in 1994, she created the series Les Déblok for Le Journal de Mickey, working with Nathalie Roques.

Her series Cestac pour les grands, aimed at an adult audience, brought her popular success and recognition.

Chase, Bobbie

American comic book editor and writer

Bobbie Chase is a comics and graphic novel publishing executive with over 40 years of experience in publishing. Her most recent position was as Executive Editor, Graphic Novels, of Wattpad Webtoon Studios, the publishing arm of a global company based in Korea that produces phone-based digital comics—the most popular global comics platform today.

Prior to this Bobbie spent a decade at DC Entertainment / Warner Bros. where she held three different Vice President positions, most recently as Vice President, Global Publishing Initiatives & Digital Strategy at DC Comics, in which she was charged with creating new global initiatives and partnerships, most successfully with Webtoons in Korea (Marvel Webtoons) and Kodansha, Japan (Marvel Manga).

Prior to that she was Vice President & Executive Editor of a new middle grade and YA graphic novel line. As VP-Talent Development she was also responsible for creating The DC Talent Development Workshops, which she launched in 2015. The program received thousands of applicants and was designed to give access and a voice to comic book writers and artists by providing educational and training programs for current and emerging talent. She joined DC in 2011, editing titles in the Batman Group such as Batgirl and Nightwing and then went on to become Editorial Director of the entire DC line.

Prior to joining DC, Bobbie spent 17 years at Marvel Comics, rising from assistant editor to Editor-In-Chief of Marvel Edge In 1994–1995. After years of editing almost every major character in the Marvel line, from The Avengers to the Incredible Hulk to G.I. Joe, Bobbie launched a new line of horror comics, elevating such characters as Ghost Rider, Blade and Spirits of Vengeance, and was herself elevated to a position as one of Marvel Group's Editors-in-Chief, the highest level a female editor has ever achieved at the company. In the years following, she worked for Disney Publishing and Stabenfeldt International, developing and writing middle grade and young adult books and magazines.

Some of Bobbie’s awards and honors include: Entertainment Industries Council in Partnership with National Institute of Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health and Robert Wood Johnson Foundation PRISM AWARD. Several Magazine & Bookseller Newsstand Cover Competition Awards. Will Eisner and Harvey (Comic Industry Awards) Nominations. Diamond GEM (Industry) Awards. GLAAD Media Awards nomination. Back in the day, she was consistently ranked as one of the industry's "Top 10 Comic Book Editors" by Comics Buyers Guide, a consumer magazine.

Bobbie graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a BA in English. She also studied at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland, and studied design and illustration at the Parsons School of Design and the New School for Social Research.

In 2026, Bobbie receives an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the State University of New York.

Chast, Roz (1954 - )

American cartoonist

Chast has been a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. Since 1978, she has published more than 1000 cartoons in The New Yorker. She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.

Her book, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is a graphic memoir, combining cartoons, text, and photographs to tell the story of an only child helping her elderly parents navigate the end of their lives.

In 2024, Chast was awarded a National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment for the Humanities for "deepen[ing] the nation's understanding of the humanities and broad[ening] our citizens' engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects".

To learn more about Chast and her extensive career in cartooning, please visit the link here http://rozchast.com to her official website.

Chevli, Lyn (1931-2016)

American Cartoonist

Also known as Lyn Chevely and Chin Lyvely, participated in the underground comix movement. With Joyce Farmer, she created the feminist comic-book anthology series Tits & Clits Comix (1972–1987) and Abortion Eve (1973), an educational comic book about women's newly-guaranteed reproductive rights.

In 1972, Chevli and Joyce Farmer founded Nanny Goat Productions in order to publish their own feminist comics. They published the first issue of Tits & Clits Comix in July 1972, preceding Wimmen's Comix by a few weeks. Its first printing of 20,000 copies sold out by the next year.

In June 1973, following the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion, Chevli and Farmer published Abortion Eve, an educational comic begun the year before about women's reproductive rights. Drawing upon their experiences as birth control and pregnancy counselors at Laguna's Free Clinic, the single-issue comic book presented the stories of five women – all of them named variations on Eve, each in differing circumstances – going through the process of obtaining abortions.

Chestney, Lillian (1913 - 2000)

American illustrator and painter

Chestney was one of the female artists who worked for the famous Classics Illustrated series by Gilberton Publishing. Her luscious style lent itself perfectly for the rendering of the comic book adaptations of the 'Arabian Nights' tales (#8) and Jonathan Swift's first 'Gulliver's Travels' story (#16) in 1943. Chestney had studied at the Pratt Institute and the Art Students League in New York City.

Chestney continued to work as an illustrator throughout the 1940s and 1950s. She later drew advertisements for cook books and music books, as well as covers for paperback romance novels. She drew mostly for children's books however, and also drew for magazines like McCall's, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier's. She was married to artist Stanley Maxwell.

Chin-Tanner, Wendy

American author and co-publisher

Chin-Tanner is the co-founder of A Wave New World with her husband Tyler in 2005. AWNW is a GLAAD Media and Ringo Award winning independent publisher of high-quality graphic novels and anthologies, focusing on socially conscious storytelling and providing a platform for a multitude of creative voices.

Chin-Tanner is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel King of the Armadillos, which won the 2025 Louisiana Literary Award, and the poetry collections "Turn" and "Anyone Will Tell You." She is also the editor of Embodied: An Intersectional Comics Poetry Anthology and co-author of American Terrorist.

If you would like to know more about A Wave New World, please follow this link https://www.awbw.com/ to the publisher's website.

Chmakova, Svetlana (1979 - )

Russian-born Canadian comic book artist

Chmakova is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other original work includes Nightschool and Awkward for Yen Press. She has been nominated for an Eisner Award twice. Previously, she created The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described Dramacon as "surprisingly true-to-life (and occasionally harrowing) emotional drama and humor ... Creator Svetlana Chmakova doesn't skimp on character development or plot progression. Her art is top-notch as well, outstripping even many of her Japanese inspirations with clear storytelling and polished technique."

Dramacon was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2007.

Nightschool won the Dragon Award for Kids Comics at the Shuster Awards in 2010.

To learn more of Chmakova's work, please follow the link https://svetlania.com where you can see her official website.

Chu, Amy (1968 - )

American comic book author

Amy Chu is a comic writer and co-founder of Alpha Girl Comics, a publisher dedicated to comics about and by women founded in 2011. She also writes and produces comics for non-profit organizations including the New York Historical Society, Baltimore Museum of Art, Pop Culture Classroom and the Museum of Chinese in Americas.

In 2010, Chu started Alpha Girl Comics when she and her friend, Georgia Lee, discussed the lack of female voices in comics. Chu took a course in creative writing and developed her interest in comics writing from there. She has continued to focus on the lack of representation of women in the comics industry speaking on panels at comic events.

She published three collections of short stories under Alpha Girl Comics titled Girls Night Out from 2012 to 2014. Several were funded through Kickstarter, as well as in 2017, a remaster and collection of all three volumes into paperback format.

For DC comics, she wrote for the titles Sensation Comics (2014), Wonder Woman '77 (2015) and the six-issue miniseries, Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death (Jan-July 2016).

In December 2017, a new Red Sonja comic series debuted with a zero issue priced at 25 cents by Amy Chu with art by Carlos Gomez. The series ran for 25 issues, ending 2019.

In a 2018 Green Hornet series written by Amy Chu, Mulan Kato becomes the Green Hornet after Britt Reid Jr. mysteriously disappears.

In 2023, she won the Bram Stoker Award for Superior Achievement in a Graphic Novel.

If you want to learn more about Amy Chu's suberb works, please follow the link https://alphagirlcomics.bigcartel.com/ to her official website.

Ciardo, Barbara (1983 - )

Italian comic book fumettista (colorist)

Ciardo has been working in the fields of art and publishing for 20 years. Besides her native country, Ciardo has been active in both the Franco-Belgium and the North American markets of the comic book industry.

In 2004, she started working on various series for the Italian publisher, GG Studio: Route Des Maisons Rouges, P'n'P, Mediterranea and The Bodysnatchers. Some of them have also been published in the United States.

Ciardo's comic career started in the American industry in 2007 for WildStorm Productions on the title Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Shortly after, she was hired by Marvel Comics and worked on some of their most iconic titles. In 2009 she was hired by DC Comics and worked on the title Wednesday Comics and later worked on a few other titles including Bruce Wayne: The Road Home.

Over the years, she has collaborated on comics, book covers, collectible cards and board games with both national and international publishers, including Mondadori, DC Comics, Warner Bros., Marvel, Disney, Podium Audio, Don't Panic Games, Lo Scarabeo, Gribaudo, and Sergio Bonelli Editore.

She also contributed as a concept and background artist to the award-winning animated feature film Cinderella the Cat.

If you want to explore more of Ciardo's extraordinary art and publishing career, please follow the link https://www.barbaraciardo.com to her official website.

CLAMP (mid-1980s - )

Japanese manga artist group

Clamp is an all-female manga group that currently consists of leader and writer Nanase Ohkawa, and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi.

originally an eleven-member group creating dōjinshi (self-published fan works), and began creating original manga in 1987. By the time the group made its mainstream publishing debut with RG Veda in 1989, it was reduced to seven members; three more members left in 1993, leaving the four current members of the group.

The original group consisted of the following eleven members: O-Kyon, Sei Nanao, Tamayo Akiyama, Leeza Sei , Sōshi Hishika, Hishika Sōshi, Kazue Nakamori, Shinya Ōmi, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi.

Notable works by Clamp include X (1992), Magic Knight Rayearth (1993), Cardcaptor Sakura (1996) and its sequel Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card (2016), Chobits (2000), and xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (both 2003). Various series by the group cross-reference each other, and characters reappear in multiple works by the group.

Clamp are noted as among the most critically and commercially acclaimed manga artists in Japan, and as of 2007, have sold nearly 100 million books worldwide.

Cloonan, Becky (1980 - )

American comic book publisher and creator

Cloonan is best known for becoming the first female artist to draw the main Batman title for DC Comics in 2012 and is one of the founding members of the comic book publisher DSTLRY Media since it's creation in 2023.

Throughout her career she has worked with the majority of major comic publishers. Beside Batman for DC Comics, Cloonan is known for her runs on the titles Wonder Woman and Batgirls. For Marvel Comics, she has had a famous run on the Punisher series, while at Dark Horse Comics Cloonan contributed art to a fan favorite run of Conan and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and at Image Comics her writing for Southern Cross and collecting her celebrated self published work into the anthology, By Chance or Providence.

Cloonan has also been nominated and won multiple Eisner Awards. In 2013 for her self-published, written and drawn "Best Single Issue/One-Shot" The Mire and then received two more in 2024 for Somna (Best New Series) and "The Kelpie" from Four Gathered on Christmas Eve (Best Short Story). Her Other major works include DEMO, which was nominated for two Eisner Awards in 2004 and East Coast Rising, which earned her a third Eisner nomination for her first ever solo graphic novel.

In 2023, she received the prestigious Inkpot award from Comic Con International ( San Diego Comic Con).

If you would like to know more about Cloonan's work, please see the link https://www.beckycloonan.net to her official website or to the DSTLRY's homepage www.dstlry.co.

Conesa, Diana Egea (1982 - )

Spanish comic book character designer and inker

Diana Egea Conesa is an introverted artist who studied fine arts in Barcelona and started out doing 2D coloring for animation studios in 2006. She has done character design and concept art for toys and games since 2008. In 2011 and 2012 she was affiliated to the Comicon agency in Barcelona, through which she has done art on German magazines like Kosima (the 'Lilly & Luna comic) for Blue Ocean Entertainment.

At DC Comics, she has inked most of Axel Giménez's comics. Among her comic book credits are Emperor Aquaman, Smallville, Smallville Effigy and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. She has continued her work on Masters of the Universe at Dark Horse.

Egea has also done character designs of new Angry Birds characters for Rovio Entertainment. She has subsequently worked on additional Rovio material, such as books and posters.

Conner, Amanda (1967 - )

American comic book and commercial artist

Conner is possibly best known (along with her husband, Jimmy Palmiotti) as the creative team responsible for the successful relaunch of the Harley Quinn comic series during the New 52 and Rebirth eras. Their work, which began with Harley Quinn #0 in 2013, moved the character away from her abusive relationship with the Joker and established her as a prominent anti-hero in her own solo series set in Coney Island.

Conner is also the co-creator of the Gatecrasher comic series (2000-2001, Black Bull Comics) and the prestige one-shot comic book The Pro (2002 by Image Comics) a creator-owned series with Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis.

Conner began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics (The Advenures of Bayou Billy #1-#4, 1989-1990) and Marvel Comics, before moving on to contribute work for Claypool Comics' Soulsearchers and Company (1994) and Harris Comics' Vampirella in the 1990s.

Her artist credits include X-Men Unlimited, Yellow Jacket, West Coast Avengers, Barbie, and Gargoyles for Marvel Comics, Lois Lane, Codename: Knockout, and Birds of Prey for DC Comics and Painkiller Jane Vs. The Darkness and Painkiller Jane #0 for Event Comics.

Conner, Palmiotti, and writer Justin Gray had worked together via their multimedia entertainment company PaperFilms and collaborated on the 'Terra' mini-series, which premiered in November 2009, and on the first 12 issues of the 'Power Girl' ongoing series in 2009 and 2010.

To learn more about Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti's company Paperfilms, please follow the link https://www.paperfilms.com/ to their official website.

Conner, Danielle (1984 - )

American comic book creator and graphic novelist

Conner is a New York Times Best-Selling comics creator best known for her series creation My Gal, the Zombie: The Delusion of Life with Patricia 'Zoom-cat' Krmpotich, featuring the adventures of an undead teenage girl named Chelsea, blending horror, romance, and comedy with a lighthearted, "Archie-meets-Harvey" vibe.

For Tokyopop/Disney Manga, Conner wrote The Nightmare Before Christmas: The Battle For Pumpkin King which was also a Circana Book Scan #1 best seller. She also colored The Nightmare Before Christmas: Zero's Journey and provided art for The Nightmare Before Christmas: Full-Color Manga Edition.

Especially popular in schools and libraries, she has written adaptations of William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream and Bram Stoker's Dracula that have recently received new editions from ABDO.

She has provided art and writing for various other comics, such as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Sabrina, the Teenage Witch, Tomorrow Girl from Antarctic Press and the historic, Punk Magazine.

To explore more of Danielle Conner's prolific career, please follow the link https://connercomics.wordpress.com/ to her official website.

Conway, Carla (1945 - )

American comic book writer , playwright, director, and actor

Carla L. Joseph wrote for Marvel and DC during the 1970s and 1980s, often in collaboration with her then-husband Gerry. Her credits include The Fury of Firestorm, Superman, Challengers of the Unknown, Ms.Marvel.

In the debut issue of the comic, Ms. Marvel #1 (January 1977), writer Gerry Conway credited his wife at the time, Carla Conway, on the splash page as providing "more than a little aid and abetment". This was his way of acknowledging her input and influence on incorporating a feminist sensibility into the process of creating the character and the series' premise, which centered Carol Danvers as the editor of the fictional Woman magazine.

These contributions to the transformation of Carol Danvers into Ms. Marvel were sufficient enough for her to receive "Special Thanks" credits on the Marvel blockbusters Captain Marvel and Avengers: Endgame.

As a television writer she is known for for Spiral Zone (1987), Centurions (1986) and Dinosaucers (1987) along with episodes of G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero, My Little Pony 'n Friends, and Conan the Adventurer.

She currently works on writing programs for low-income youth.

Coover, Colleen (1969 - )

American comic book writer and author

Coover is known for creating the lesbian-themed erotic comic book Small Favors from Eros Comix, illustrator of the comic book limited series Banana Sunday from Oni Press, and for illustrating several short stories in X-Men: First Class from Marvel Comics.

Her first major comics project was Small Favors, a sex-positive, woman-friendly adult comic published from 2000 to 2003.

She illustrated the graphic novels Gingerbread Girl (2011) and Banana Sunday (2006), both written by Paul Tobin.

Since 2012 she has illustrated the digital comic Bandette, also written by Paul Tobin. Bandette was nominated for four Eisner Awards, and won the award for Best Digital/Webcomic in 2016. She won the Eisner Award again in 2017 for Best Digital Comic with Bandette.

To learn more about Coover's career and more, please follow this link https://www.colleencoover.net to her website.

Corsetto, Danielle

American cartoonist

Creator of Girls with Slingshots, a completed web comic series (2004). She has received praise for her depiction of LGBTQ characters and characters with disabilities.

To see the series, you can follow this link to the site https://www.girlswithslingshots.com.

Or you can head to her websites https://dcorsetto.carrd.co/ or https://www.daniellecorsetto.com/.

Cory, Fanny Young (1877-1972)

American Cartoonist and Book Illustrator

Best known for her comic strips Sonnysayings (1926-1956) and Little Miss Muffet (1935-1956). Cory was one of America's first female syndicated cartoonists.

Crumb, Sophie (1981 - )

American-French musician, tattoo artist and cartoonist

Sophia "Sophie" Violet Crumb is the daughter of underground comix artists Robert Crumb and Aline Kominsky-Crumb.

When Crumb was a child, her parents published some of her drawings in their comics anthology, Weirdo. She later contributed to their comic book series Dirty Laundry Comics, originally published from 1977 to 1992. Her artwork as a six-year-old was also featured in Wimmen's Comix #11 (Apr. 1987).

Crumb illustrated a sketchbook for the American film Ghost World (2001). Her drawings were meant to reflect the personality and inner life of Enid Coleslaw (Thora Birch), the film's protagonist.

In 2002, Fantagraphics Books and Oog & Blik published Crumb's first comic book, Belly Button, followed by Belly Button Comix #2 in 2004. She contributed multiple pieces to installments of Mome published between 2005 and 2008.

Her development as a graphic artist is documented in Sophie Crumb: Evolution of a Crazy Artist (W.W. Norton, 2010). Her debut solo show, which featured more than 20 drawings and giclée prints, coincided with the book's publication. The show ran from November 4 to December 30, 2010, at DCKT Contemporary, Dennis Christie and Ken Tyburski's contemporary art gallery in New York City.

Curtis, Carole (1954-2025)

American comic book writer and publisher

Curtis was the co-publisher of comic book company Shanda Fantasy Arts and the writer for the comic series Katmandu.

In 1992, Carole and her husband, James Michael 'Mike' Curtis, an accomplished comic writer and artist in his own right, released the comic Shanda the Panda. Shanda would provide the namesake for the publishing company Shanda Fantasy Arts (Initially an imprint of Vision Comics), which they founded in 1996 after Shanda the Panda and various other furry comics were dropped by Antarctic Press.

Shanda Fantasy Arts would go on to publish a number of prominent furry comics and anthologies, including Steve Gallacci's Albedo Anthropomorphics, Shawntae Howard's Extinctioners, the late Mary Hanson-Roberts' Here Comes a Candle, and many more over its 22 years of operation.

Carole was heavily involved in editing Shanda the Panda and other comics, including directly overseeing the anthologies New Horizons and Women in Fur. Her most notable work, however, was writing the fantasy comic series Katmandu.

Carole reduced her public appearances in the mid-2010s, due in no small part to her ongoing battle with cancer. She and Mike did, however, attend Mephit Fur Meet in 2017 as guests of honour for the second time, having been initial guests of honour at the Meet's very first iteration in 1997.

the bios were created using public information, if there are any errors, please contact me at leonardbonnano@gmail.com.

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