THE SILVER METAL LOVER by Trina Robbins (Wimmen’s Comix)
Trina Robbins (1938-2024) was a firebrand. Trina Robbins will be fondly remembered as the raucous female alternative voice to the acknowledged underground superstar cartoonists of the 1960s (think R. Crumb), a group that just happened to be predominantly male. There doesn’t appear to be any documented proof that the ’60s comix scene was somehow formed by some conspiracy to create a “no girls allowed” cabal. That said, it was a “man’s world” back then and that attitude and power structure did manage to permeate, ya dig? So, it made perfect sense for Robbins to launch into her own female-focused Wimmen’s Comix comic book series, which became a lightning rod in the culture wars. The men got to create experimental comics. And so did the women.
The Complete Wimmen’s Comix
In fact, the best thing you can do now in order to get a good sense of a certain time and place, is to seek out The Complete Wimmen’s Comix, published by Fantagraphics, which I had the honor to review some years back. All in all, this collection can speak for itself and you can determine what works will stand the test of time. In the big picture, great work will ultimately rise to the top and eclipse lesser work. Trina Robbins was not only an advocate for women in comics but a great cartoonist in her own right.
I leave with a couple of more observations you won’t easily find elsewhere. For one thing, I did try to interview Trina but we simply weren’t able to connect. Quite naturally, timing being what it is, I did interview one of Trina’s contemporaries, Sharon Rudahl, which is one of my favorite interviews. So, I encourage you to check it out. Another thing, Trina Robbins was active all her life and created notable work up to within the last few years. One such title is Dope (2017), which features London’s mysterious and glittery drug culture of the early 20th century.
