''Twisted Sisters'' is an all-female

underground comics 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, ...

anthology put together by

Aline Kominsky Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 201 ...

and

Diane Noomin Diane Robin Noomin ( Rosenblatt, May 13, 1947 – September 1, 2022) was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as ...

, and published in various iterations. In addition to Kominsky (later Kominsky-Crumb) and Noomin, contributors to ''Twisted Sisters'' included M. K. Brown,

Dame Darcy Darcy Megan Stanger (born June 19, 1971, Caldwell, Idaho), better known by the pen name Dame Darcy, is an alternative comics, alternative cartoonist, fine artist, musician, cabaret performer, and animator/filmmaker. Her "Neo-Victorian" comic boo ...

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

, Debbie Drechsler,

Mary Fleener Mary Fleener (born September 14, 1951) is an American alternative comics artist, writer and musician from Los Angeles. Fleener's drawing style, which she calls ''cubismo'', derives from the cubist aesthetic and other artistic traditions. Her f ...

Phoebe Gloeckner Phoebe Louise Adams Gloeckner (born December 22, 1960), is an American cartoonist, illustrator, painter, and novelist. Early life Gloeckner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Her mother was a librarian and her father, David Gloeckner, was ...

Krystine Kryttre Krystine Kryttre (born 1958) is an American alternative comics artist, painter, animator, writer, and performer from San Francisco. currently based in Los Angeles. Her work is dark, often explicit, and visually distinctive." Her work has been e ...

Carol Lay Carol Lay (born 1952) is an American alternative cartoonist best known for her weekly comic strip, ''Story Minute'' (later to evolve into the strip ''Way Lay''), which ran for almost 20 years in such US papers as the ''LA Weekly'', the ''NY Press' ...

, Dori Seda, and

Carol Tyler Carol Tyler (born November 20, 1951) is an American painter, educator, comedian, and eleven-time Eisner Award-nominated cartoonist known for her autobiographical comics. She has received multiple honors for her work including the Cartoonist Studi ...

. ''Twisted Sisters'' was the first "breakaway project" by former contributors to the ground-breaking all-female comix collective ''

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 ...

''.

Background

In 1975, ''

'' contributors Kominsky and Noomin left that collective due to internal conflicts that were both aesthetic and political.Williams, Paul. ''The Rise of the American Comics Artist: Creators and Contexts'' (Univ. Press of Mississippi, 2010), p
139
Kominsky-Crumb later stated that a large part of her break with the ''Wimmen's Comix'' group was over

feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social equality of the sexes. Feminism incorporates the position that society prioritizes the male po ...

-related issues, and particularly over her romantic relationship with

Robert Crumb Robert Dennis Crumb (; born August 30, 1943) is an American cartoonist and musician who often signs his work R. Crumb. His work displays a nostalgia for American folk culture of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and satire of contem ...

, whom ''Wimmen's Comix'' mainstay

Trina Robbins Trina Robbins (born Trina Perlson; August 17, 1938, in Brooklyn, New York) is an American cartoonist. She was an early participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the first female artists in that movement. In the 1980s, Robbins beca ...

particularly disliked.Kominsky-Crumb, Aline. (2007). ''Need More Love''. New York: MQ Publications. .

Publication history

''Twisted Sisters'' one-shot

Kominsky and Noomin put together a 36-page one-shot issue of ''Twisted Sisters'', published in June 1976 by

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'', a 2007 album by Impaled * ''The Last Gasp'' (novel) * "Last Gasp" (song) {{dab ...

, which featured their own humorous and "self-deprecating" stories and art. Noomin's stories featured her character DiDi Glitz while Kominsky's featured her fictional analog The Bunch.

Kominsky-Crumb editorial run on ''Weirdo''

A decade later, the title "Twisted Sisters" was informally revived when Kominsky-Crumb took over the editing reins of '' Weirdo'', the

comics anthology A comics anthology collects works in the medium of comics, typically from multiple series, and compiles them into an anthology or magazine. The comics in these anthologies range from comic strips that are too short for standalone publication to co ...

started by her husband R. Crumb. Kominsky-Crumb and Noomin's own comics work appeared frequently in the pages of ''Weirdo'' during this period, as well as the work of female contributors

, Penny Van Horn,

, Krystine Kryttre, Julie Doucet, Leslie Sternbergh, Carel Moiseiwitsch, Dori Seda, and Carol Tyler. In 1991, Noomin edited and put together ''Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art'', a 260-page trade paperback anthology published by

Viking Penguin Viking Press (formally Viking Penguin, also listed as Viking Books) is an American publishing company owned by Penguin Random House. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim and then acquire ...

, featuring the work of herself, Kominsky-Crumb, and 13 other female cartoonists. All the work in the collection had been previously published, most of it in '' Weirdo'' and ''Wimmen's Comix''.Noomin, Diane.
Wimmen's and Comix"
a transcript of Noomin's presentation at the 2003 UF Comics Conference. Accessed July 26, 2016.

Kitchen Sink series

The success of that book led to

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hard ...

publishing a four-issue ''Twisted Sisters Comix''

limited series Limited series may refer to: *Limited series, individual storylines within an anthology series *Limited series, a particular run of collectables, usually individually numbered *Limited series (comics), a comics series with a predetermined number of ...

in 1994, also edited by Noomin, with each issue featuring 44 pages of new comics by a number of female contributors. The limited series was subsequently collected in 1995 as ''Twisted Sisters, vol. 2: Drawing the Line''. An exhibition of artists' work, also called ''"Twisted Sisters — Drawing the Line"'', was held from January 19–February 18, 1996, at

White Columns White Columns is New York City’s oldest alternative non-profit art space. White Columns is known as a showcase for up-and-coming artists, and is primarily devoted to emerging artists who are not affiliated with galleries. All work submitted is ...

in New York City.

Issues

* ''Twisted Sisters'' (Last Gasp, June 1976) — contributors:

Aline Kominsky-Crumb Aline Kominsky-Crumb (née Goldsmith; August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was an American underground comics artist. Kominsky-Crumb's work, which is almost exclusively autobiographical, is known for its unvarnished, confessional nature. In 20 ...

and

* ''Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art'' (Viking Penguin, 1991) — contributors: M. K. Brown,

Julie Doucet Julie Doucet (born December 31, 1965)
is a Canadian

, Caryn Leschen, Carel Moiseiwitsch,

, Dori Seda, Leslie Sternbergh,

, and Penny Moran Van Horn * ''Twisted Sisters'' (Kitchen Sink Press, April-July 1994) — 4 issues; contributors: M. K. Brown,

, Debbie Drechsler,

, Caryn Leschen, Carel Moiseiwitsch, Fiona Smyth, Carol Swain, and Penny Moran Van Horn * ''Twisted Sisters, vol. 2: Drawing the Line'' (Kitchen Sink Press, 1995) — collecting the Kitchen Sink limited series

Accolades

''Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art'' was nominated for the 1992 Eisner Award for Best Anthology. The ''Twisted Sisters'' limited series was nominated for the 1995 Eisner Award for Best Anthology.

References

Notes

Sources

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Twisted Sisters (comic) Comics magazines published in the United States 1976 comics debuts Comics about women Feminist comics Kitchen Sink Press titles Last Gasp titles Underground comix