Michele Wrightson, also known as Michele Brand, was an American artist who worked in the

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 ...

industry. The former wife of underground cartoonist

Roger Brand Roger Brand (January 5, 1943 – November 23, 1985) was an People of the United States, American cartoonist who created stories for both mainstream and Underground comix, underground comic books. His work showed a fascination with Horror comics, h ...

, she started out as an

underground comix Underground comix are small press or self-published comic books that are often socially relevant or satirical in nature. They differ from mainstream comics in depicting content forbidden to mainstream publications by the Comics Code Authority, ...

cartoonist. Later, when she was married to comics artist

Bernie Wrightson Bernard Albert Wrightson (October 27, 1948 – March 18, 2017), sometimes credited as Bernie Wrightson, was an American artist, known for co-creating the Swamp Thing, his adaptation of the novel ''Frankenstein'' illustration work, and for his o ...

, she made her name as a

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 ...

. She was a key contributor to the first all-female underground comic, ''

It Ain't Me, Babe "It Ain't Me Babe" is a song by Bob Dylan that originally appeared on his fourth album ''Another Side of Bob Dylan'', which was released in 1964 by Columbia Records. According to music critic Oliver Trager, this song, along with others on the albu ...

'', as well as its follow-up series, ''

Wimmen's Comix ''Wimmen's Comix'', later titled ''Wimmin's Comix'', is an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genres and subject matters, ''Wimmen's Comix'' focused more than other an ...

''.

Biography

Michele Robinson grew up in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans
Merriam-Webster. ; french: La Nouvelle-Orléans , es, Nuev ...

, where her parents were on the faculty at

Tulane University Tulane University, officially the Tulane University of Louisiana, is a private university, private research university in New Orleans, Louisiana. Founded as the Medical College of Louisiana in 1834 by seven young medical doctors, it turned into ...

. In 1966, she and husband Roger Brand moved from

Oakland, California Oakland is the largest city and the county seat of Alameda County, California, United States. A major West Coast of the United States, West Coast port, Oakland is the largest city in the East Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, the third ...

, to New York City, specifically to break into the comics business. Roger Brand began working for

Wally Wood Wallace Allan Wood (June 17, 1927 – November 2, 1981) was an American comic book writer, artist and independent publisher, widely known for his work on EC Comics's titles such as ''Weird Science (comic), Weird Science'', ''Weird Fantasy'', an ...

and Bill Pearson on ''

witzend ''witzend'', published on an irregular schedule spanning decades, is an underground comic showcasing contributions by comic book professionals, leading illustrators and new artists. ''witzend'' was launched in 1966 by the writer-artist Wallace Wo ...

'' and other projects. Michele assisted

Gil Kane Gil Kane (; born Eli Katz ; April 6, 1926 – January 31, 2000) was a Latvian-born American comics artist whose career spanned the 1940s to the 1990s and virtually every major comics company and character. Kane co-created the modern-day versio ...

on ''His Name is Savage'' #1 (Adventure House Press, 1968). By the late 1960s the couple were back in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. Michele's first comics credit was in the groundbreaking all female

one-shot One shot may refer to: Film and television * One-shot film, a feature film shot in one long take with no edits, or manufactured to look like so * ''One Shot'' (2005 film), a Sri Lankan action film directed by Ranjan Ramanayake * ''One Shot'' (2 ...

'' (

Last Gasp Last Gasp or The Last Gasp may refer to * Last Gasp (publisher) * ''Last Gasp'' (''Inside No. 9''), a TV episode * ''The Last Gasp Impaled is a death metal band from Oakland, California. The band's name is a backronym, standing for "Immoral M ...

, 1970), with the story "Tirade Funnies." She later became a contributor to the follow-up series ''

'', as well as anthologies like ''

Arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

''. She and her husband were part of the group of cartoonists who formed the United Cartoon Workers of America, an informal union designed to safeguard

creators' rights In the United States, creator ownership in comics is an arrangement in which the comic book creator retains full ownership of the material, regardless of whether the work is self-published or published by a corporate publisher. In some fields of ...

. In c. 1974, during the downturn of the underground comix market, she moved to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and began working in the mainstream comics industry, mostly as a colorist. One of her last (proto-)underground contributions was to

Flo Steinberg Florence Steinberg (March 17, 1939 – July 23, 2017) was an People of the United States, American publisher of one of the first independent comic books, the underground comics, underground/alternative comics hybrid ''Big Apple Comix'', in 1975. Ad ...

's ''

Big Apple Comix ''Big Apple Comix'' is an early independent comic book published by Flo Steinberg in 1975. A historically important link between underground comix and what would later be called alternative comics, this 36-page, 6" × 9" hybrid with glossy color c ...

'', published in 1975. She worked for

Marvel Comics Marvel Comics is an American comic book publishing, publisher and the flagship property of Marvel Entertainment, a divsion of The Walt Disney Company since September 1, 2009. Evolving from Timely Comics in 1939, ''Magazine Management/Atlas Co ...

(doing color separations for

Marvel UK Marvel UK was an imprint of Marvel Comics formed in 1972 to reprint US-produced stories for the British weekly comic market. Marvel UK later produced original material by British creators such as Alan Moore, John Wagner, Dave Gibbons, Steve Dill ...

) and

Warren Publishing Warren Publishing was an American magazine company founded by James Warren (publisher), James Warren, who published his first magazines in 1957 and continued in the business for decades. Magazines published by Warren include ''After Hours (magazin ...

from 1974–1975, and '' Heavy Metal'' in 1977, and then took time off to marry Bernie Wrightson and raise their sons. She returned to comics coloring in the mid-1980s, working for Marvel,

Eclipse Comics Eclipse Comics was an American comic book publisher, one of several independent publishers during the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1978, it published the first graphic novel intended for the newly created comic book specialty store market. It was ...

, and

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 ...

for the balance of that decade. She often worked on projects illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, including '' Heavy Metal'' #65–70 (HM Communications, Inc., 1977), '' Stephen King's Creepshow'' (Plume/Penguin Group, 1982), and ''

The Weird ''The Weird: A Compendium of Strange and Dark Stories'' is an anthology of weird fiction edited by Ann and Jeff VanderMeer. Published on 30 Oct 2011, it contains 110 short stories, novellas and short novels. At 1,152 pages in the hardcover editi ...

'' (DC Comics, 1988). She colored many books published by the DC imprint

Milestone Media Milestone Media is a company best known for creating Milestone Comics, which were published and distributed by DC Comics and the ''Static Shock'' animated series. It was founded in 1993 by a coalition of African-American artists and writers, con ...

during its run (1993–1997), chiefly ''

Blood Syndicate The Blood Syndicate is a fictional multicultural vigilante gang of superhumans created by Milestone Media, Milestone Comics and published by DC Comics. The team first appeared in ''Blood Syndicate'' #1 (April 1993), and was created by Dwayne McDu ...

''. She had no significant comics credits after 1997.

Personal life

She and Roger Brand lived in San Francisco in the late 1960s/early 1970s, at one point living across the street from fellow underground cartoonist

Larry Todd Larry S. ToddTodd entry
''Who's Who of American Comics Books, 1928–1999.'' Accessed Sept. 19, ...

. She and Brand divorced circa 1974. She married Bernie Wrightson some time later; together they had two sons,"Gone But Not Forgotten, 2015 Edition,"
A Dispensable List of Comic Book Lists (Dec. 20, 2015). named John and Jeffrey. She and Wrightson had been divorced for some time before her death.Cooke, Jon B

''

Comic Book Artist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comic book illustrators in that they produce both the literary and ...

'' #4 (Spring 1999).

Bibliography

''As artist'': * ''

'' (Last Gasp, 1970) — "Monday" and "Tirade Funnies" * ''

'' #1 (Last Gasp, Nov. 1972) — ""You Are What You Know" * ''Wimmen's Comix'' #2 (Last Gasp, 1973) — "There I Was..." * ''Nickel Library'' (Eric Fromm, 1973) — one-page homage to

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 ...

* (with writer

Dennis O'Neil Dennis Joseph O'Neil (May 3, 1939 – June 11, 2020) was an American comic book writer and editor, principally for Marvel Comics and DC Comics from the 1960s through the 1990s, and Group Editor for the Batman family of titles until his retir ...

) ''

'' (Big Apple Productions, 1975) — art for the foreword * (with

Mary Skrenes Mary Skrenes is a comic book writer and screenwriter. She may be best known as co-creator (with Steve Gerber) of Omega the Unknown for Marvel Comics, although she worked on other Marvel characters such as the Defenders and Guardians of the Galaxy ...

) ''Wimmen's Comix'' #6 (Last Gasp, Dec. 1975) — "Victoria the Woodhull" * '' Arcade: The Comics Revue'' #5 (Print Mint, Spring 1976) — "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes" * ''Arcade: The Comics Revue'' #7 (Print Mint, Fall 1976) — "Captive Bride Of The Shark Men / Tales From The Aquarium / Victoria Woodhull, The Continuing Saga / Alligator Dream" * (with writer

Bill Mantlo William Timothy Mantlo (born November 9, 1951) is an American comic book writer, primarily at Marvel Comics. He is best known for his work on two licensed toy properties whose adventures occurred in the Marvel Universe: ''Micronauts'' and ''Ro ...

, penciler

Joe Staton Joe Staton ( born January 19, 1948) is an American comics artist and writer. He co-created the Bronze Age Huntress (Helena Wayne), as well as the third Huntress (Helena Bertinelli), Kilowog and the Omega Men for DC Comics. He was the artist of t ...

, and co-inker

Sonny Trinidad Celso L. "Sonny" Trinidad (died November 23, 2009) was a Filipino comics artist who worked in the Filipino and American comic book industries. In the U.S., he is mostly known for his work for Marvel Comics in the mid–1970s. Career Trinidad bega ...

) ''

Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Deadly may refer to: * Deadliness, the ability to cause death Arts and entertainment * ''Deadly'', a 2011 novel by Julie Chibbaro * ''Deadly'', a children's book series by Morris Gleitzman and Paul Jennings * ''Deadly'' (Australian TV series), a ...

'' #32 (Marvel, Jan. 1977) — "The Tiger-Sons Must Die!"

References

External links

* ("Michele Wrightson") * ("Michelle Brand") * ("Michele Brand")
Michelle Brand Wrightson
at Mike's Amazing World
Stephen Bissette's Facebook tribute

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wrightson, Michele 1941 births 2015 deaths Comics colorists Feminist artists Underground cartoonists Female comics writers American female comics artists