Dale Messick: A Comic Strip Life
by Jackie Leger

Dale Messick, America's first woman syndicated comic strip artist, is a celebrity in her own time. Creator of the legendary Brenda Starr, Messick worked hard to become what "herstorian," Trina Robbins considers to be "the most important woman cartoonist of the Twentieth Century." Dale Messick was witty and energetic when I visited her a few years ago at her Santa Rosa home to interview her for a documentary film I was making about her unique life. At that time, she was still drawing daily, creating a new comic strip, Granny Glamour, for senior citizens like herself and selling her work at local charity events. Dale's dedication to the art of cartooning, her success as an inte...