''It Ain't Me Babe Comix'' is a

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 ...

underground comic 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, ...

book published in 1970. It is the first comic book produced entirely by women. It was co-produced by

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 ...

and

Barbara "Willy" Mendes Barbara "Willy" Mendes (; )(born January 30, 1948) is an American cartoonist, fine artist, and influential member of the underground comix movement. She is best known for her work alongside Trina Robbins on ''It Ain't Me Babe'' and ''All Girl Thr ...

, and published 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 Impaled is a death metal band from Oakland, California. The band's name is a backronym, standing for "Immoral M ...

. Robbins and other staff members from a feminist newspaper in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, also called ''It Ain't Me, Babe'', contributed. Many of the creators from the ''It Ain't Me Babe'' comic went on to contribute to the long-running 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 ...

''.

Background

Female cartoonists Robbins, Mendes, and "Hurricane" Nancy Kalish (who sometimes signed her work "Panzika") were frustrated with the boy's club atmosphere of underground comix, which was dominated by male artists glorying in their depictions of sex, drugs and rock & roll—and the casual misogyny typical of those stories. The editors recruited other contributors, including Carole Kalish, Lisa Lyons (a cartoonist for a socialist newspaper), Meredith Kurtzman (cartoonist and daughter of '' Mad'' magazine creator

Harvey Kurtzman Harvey Kurtzman (; October 3, 1924 – February 21, 1993) was an American cartoonist and editor. His best-known work includes writing and editing the parodic comic book '' Mad'' from 1952 until 1956, and writing the ''Little Ann ...

), and

Michele Brand Michele Wrightson, also known as Michele Brand, was an American artist who worked in the comic book industry. The former wife of underground cartoonist Roger Brand, she started out as an underground comix cartoonist. Later, when she was married to ...

(

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 ...

's wife and, according to Robbins, "a better artist"). Last Gasp publisher Ron Turner was interested in publishing a comic tied to the

women's liberation movement The women's liberation movement (WLM) was a political alignment of women and feminist intellectualism that emerged in the late 1960s and continued into the 1980s primarily in the industrialized nations of the Western world, which effected great ...

, and he paid Robbins $1,000 for the publishing rights.

Publication history

The 36-page one-shot was published in July 1970. The cover of the first printing featured

Olive Oyl Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a ...

Little Lulu ''Little Lulu'' is a comic strip created in 1935 by American author Marge (cartoonist), Marjorie Henderson Buell. The character, Lulu Moppet, debuted in ''The Saturday Evening Post'' on February 23, 1935, in a single panel, appearing as a flower ...

Wonder Woman Wonder Woman is a superhero created by the American psychologist and writer William Moulton Marston (pen name: Charles Moulton), and artist Harry G. Peter. Marston's wife, Elizabeth Holloway Marston, Elizabeth, and their life partner, Olive Byr ...

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle Sheena, Queen of the Jungle, is a fictional American comic book jungle girl heroine, originally published primarily by Fiction House during the Golden Age of Comic Books. She was the first female comic book character with her own title, with her ...

Mary Marvel Mary Marvel is a fictional character, a superheroine originally published by Fawcett Comics and now owned by DC Comics. Created by Otto Binder and Marc Swayze, she first appeared in '' Captain Marvel Adventures'' #18 (cover-dated Dec. 1942). The ...

and

Elsie the Cow Elsie the Cow is a cartoon cow developed as a mascot for the Borden Dairy Company in 1936 to symbolize the "perfect dairy product". Since the demise of Borden in the mid-1990s, the character has continued to be used in the same capacity for the c ...

on a blue-and-fuscia background with the words "women's liberation"; the second and third covers featured the same characters on a dark-blue-and-green background."Underground Comix Collection"
Comix Joint. The first print run sold 20,000 copies; the second and third sold 10,000 each. ''It Ain't Me, Babe'' was reprinted in ''The Complete Wimmen's Comix'', published by

Fantagraphics Books Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

in February 2016."The Complete Wimmen's Comix" page
Fantagraphics website. Accessed Dec. 3, 2016.

Legacy

The success of ''It Ain't Me, Babe'' led Turner to ask two of his employees, Patricia Moodian and Terre Richards—who teamed with Robbins—to recruit creators for another women's lib comic, which in 1972 became the Wimmen's Comix Collective.Paul Williams, "Questions of 'Contemporary Women's Comics'", in Paul Williams, James Lyons (eds.), ''The Rise of the American Comics Artist'', University Press of Mississippi, 2010, p
138

References

{{Underground comix works 1970 comics debuts Comics about women Comics anthologies Satirical comics Feminist comics Underground comix Last Gasp titles

Background

Publication history

Legacy

See also

References