Elizabeth Safian Berube (January 7, 1943 – January 15, 2021) was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

comic book A comic book, also called comicbook, comic magazine or (in the United Kingdom and Ireland) simply comic, is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are of ...

artist, best known as a

romance comics Romance comics is a comics genre depicting strong and close romantic love and its attendant complications such as jealousy, marriage, divorce, betrayal, and heartache. The term is generally associated with an American comic books genre published t ...

artist for

DC Comics DC Comics, Inc. (doing business as DC) is an American comic book publisher and the flagship unit of DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC Comics is one of the largest and oldest American comic book companies, with thei ...

in the 1970s. Simply signing her work "Elizabeth," her modern, stylized art was used to illustrate fashion features,

horoscope A horoscope (or other commonly used names for the horoscope in English include natal chart, astrological chart, astro-chart, celestial map, sky-map, star-chart, cosmogram, vitasphere, radical chart, radix, chart wheel or simply chart) is an ast ...

pages, tables of contents, and other various ornamental pieces. She was also a prolific

colorist In comics, a colorist is responsible for adding color to black-and-white line art. For most of the 20th century this was done using brushes and dyes which were then used as guides to produce the printing plates. Since the late 20th century it is ...

, first for

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.children’s books Children's literature or juvenile literature includes stories, books, magazines, and poems that are created for children. Modern children's literature is classified in two different ways: genre or the intended age of the reader. Children's ...

greeting cards A greeting card is a piece of card stock, usually with an illustration or photo, made of high quality paper featuring an expression of friendship or other sentiment. Although greeting cards are usually given on special occasions such as birthdays ...

, and other commissioned work.

Biography

Berube was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

, where she was influenced by '' Pogo'' and

EC Comics Entertaining Comics, more commonly known as EC Comics, was an American publisher of comic books, which specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-195 ...

, as well as the movie ''

Fantasia Fantasia International Film Festival (also known as Fantasia-fest, FanTasia, and Fant-Asia) is a film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. Regularly held in July of each year, it is valued by both hardcore ...

''. Fine arts influences included

Alphonse Mucha Alfons Maria Mucha (; 24 July 1860 – 14 July 1939), known internationally as Alphonse Mucha, was a Czech painter, illustrator and graphic artist, living in Paris during the Art Nouveau period, best known for his distinctly stylized and decorat ...

, and the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

and

Art Nouveau Art Nouveau (; ) is an international style of art, architecture, and applied art, especially the decorative arts. The style is known by different names in different languages: in German, in Italian, in Catalan, and also known as the Modern ...

movements. She attended

Martin Van Buren High School Martin Van Buren High School (MVBHS) is a public high school in Queens Village, New York. The school is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Academics The high school is accredited by the New York State Board of Regents.

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

(graduating at age 16 in 1959), where she started a comic strip for the school newspaper, which has been continued by different students to this day. She studied cartooning at the

School of Visual Arts The School of Visual Arts New York City (SVA NYC) is a private for-profit art school in New York City. It was founded in 1947 and is a member of the Association of Independent Colleges of Art and Design. History This school was started by ...

from 1959 to 1961. After leaving SVA, Berube became a colorist and assistant editor for

Archie Comics Archie Comic Publications, Inc., is an American comic book publisher headquartered in Pelham, New York.Jack Adler Jack Adler (July 1, 1917 – September 18, 2011)Bails, Jerry''Who's Who of American Comic Books, 1928–1999''.Accessed Feb. 18, 2009. was an artist who worked as a cover artist and colorist for DC Comics. He was a staff member of DC's production ...

, who later brought her into the publisher. In the late 1960s, her

newspaper strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st c ...

, ''Karen'', (credited to her maiden name "Elizabeth Ann Safian")Nodell, Jacque
"Women of the Romance Comics - Interview with Liz Berube!,"
''Sequential Crush'' (Jan. 13, 2012). was carried by Newsday Syndicate in 40 newspapers at its peak. Berube had called ''Karen'' "my alter ego." In 1969 she began working on DC’s romance comics line, bringing more modern, stylized art to the genre, which was still being drawn in the realistic style that had become parodied (particularly by

Roy Lichtenstein Roy Fox Lichtenstein (; October 27, 1923 – September 29, 1997) was an American pop artist. During the 1960s, along with Andy Warhol, Jasper Johns, and James Rosenquist among others, he became a leading figure in the new art movement. Hi ...

) in Pop Art. One of the few women in the field, Berube worked on such titles as ''

Date with Debbi ''Date with Debbi'' is a DC Comics comic book series, which ran for 18 issues between 1969 and 1972. About Debbi's attempts to find happiness, often through dating, the series combined humor and romance elements. Similar in appearance and tone to A ...

'', ''

Falling in Love Falling in love is the development of strong feelings of attachment and love, usually towards another person. The term is metaphorical, emphasizing that the process, like the physical act of falling, is sudden, uncontrollable and leaves the ...

'', ''

Girls' Love Stories ''Girls' Love Stories'' was an American romance comic book magazine published by DC Comics in the United States. Started in 1949 as DC's first romance title, it ran for 180 issues, ending with the Nov-Dec 1973 issue. The stories covered such topic ...

'', ''

Girls' Romances ''Girls' Romances'' was a romance comic anthology published by DC Comics in the United States. Debuting with a Feb.,/Mar. 1950 cover-date, it ran for 160 issues, ending with the Oct. 1971 issue (the final issue came out on October 3, 1971, and s ...

'', ''

Heart Throbs ''Heart Throbs'' was a romance comic published by Quality Comics and DC Comics from 1949 to 1972. Quality published the book from 1949–1957, when it was acquired by DC. Most issues featured a number of short comics stories, as well advice column ...

'', ''

Secret Hearts ''Drowning Girl'' (also known as ''Secret Hearts'' or ''I Don't Care! I'd Rather Sink'') is a 1963 American painting in oil and synthetic polymer paint on canvas by Roy Lichtenstein, based on original art by Tony Abruzzo. The painting is conside ...

'', '' Young Love'', and ''

Young Romance ''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint Prize Comics in 1947. Generally considered the first romance comic,Ro, Ronin. ''Tales to Astonish: Jack Kirby, Stan L ...

''. At some point during this period, Berube was offered the position of editor of the whole line, but as a single mother in her mid-twenties, she preferred the flexibility of working from home that pencilling and coloring allowed, and declined. The DC romance line folded a few years later; Berube was the last female contributor. From the mid-1970s through the 1980s Berube worked as a colorist, mostly for DC. She was known for mixing her own hues and marking the combinations for the printing separators. She also did coloring for

Neal Adams Neal Adams (June 15, 1941 – April 28, 2022) was an American comic book artist. He was the co-founder of the graphic design studio Continuity Associates, and was a creators-rights advocate who helped secure a pension and recognition for Supe ...

’

Continuity Studios Continuity Studios (formerly Continuity Associates, originally known as Continuity Graphics Associates)Eury, Michael and Giordano, Dick. ''Dick Giordano: Changing Comics, One Day at a Time'', TwoMorrows Publishing, 2003. is a New York City and Los ...

in the mid-to-late 1980s. Berube credits Jack Adler and Corey Adams (Neal Adams' wife) for teaching her the techniques of comics coloring.Stroud, Bryan D
"Liz Berube interview,"
''The Silver Age Sage''. Accessed Aug. 10, 2014.

Personal life and death

Her son David was born in 1965; she raised him as a single mother. In 1981, Berube moved from New York City to

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and north ...

. She returned to New York in the mid-1980s. In 1999, Berube moved to

Bandon, Oregon Bandon () is a city in Coos County, Oregon, United States, on the south side of the mouth of the Coquille River. It was named by George Bennet, an Irish peer, who settled nearby in 1873 and named the town after Bandon in Ireland, his hometown. ...

, and by 2001 had relocated to

Jerome, Arizona Jerome is a town in the Black Hills of Yavapai County in the U.S. state of Arizona. Founded in the late 19th century on Cleopatra Hill overlooking the Verde Valley, Jerome is located more than above sea level. It is about north of Phoenix alon ...

. She later lived in

Scottsdale, Arizona , settlement_type = City , named_for = Winfield Scott , image_skyline = , image_seal = Seal of Scottsdale (Arizona).svg , image_blank_emblem = City of Scottsdale Script Logo.svg , nick ...

. Berube died on January 15, 2021.Degg, D. D
"LIZ BERUBE – RIP,"
''The Daily Cartoonist'' (March 1, 2021).

References

External links

*
Young Romance: A tribute to Liz Safian Berube at CopperCon 2013

"How Hero Initiative Helped Liz Safian-Berube Get Her Life Back,"
The Hero Initiative website.
Biography at SuperPouvoir.com
(in French and English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Berube, Liz 1943 births 2021 deaths American female comics artists Comics colorists Artists from Brooklyn Martin Van Buren High School alumni People from Bandon, Oregon People from Jerome, Arizona People from Scottsdale, Arizona School of Visual Arts alumni