Funny ladies, a portrait of women cartoonists

Duration: :46

Year Published: 1991

Creator: New Day Films

Format: 16mm

Color: Color

Sound: sound

Description: Opening with a visual history of early comic strips created by women from the turn of the century to 1940, this film goes on to analyze the process of creating a comic strip through the work of four renowned women cartoonists, Dale Messick (Brenda Starr), Cathy Guisewite (Cathy), Nicole Hollander (Sylvia), and Lynda Barry (Ernie Pook's Comeek). Dale Messick describes her ostracism in the male-dominated world of the comics, the sources of inspiration for the Brenda Starr strip and its widespread popularity due, in part, to the lead character's innovative fashions. Messick is presented at work on an illustrated autobiography entitled Still stripping at 80. Cathy Guisewite's creation Cathy is a thinly-disguised alter ego for herself and her insecurities. Nicole Hollander self-syndicates her strip Sylvia, loosely based on her mother and her amusing friends. Ernie Pook's comeek is Lynda Barry's offbeat take on the dreams, tribulations and awakenings of childhood.