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1999 Press Releases

3-5-1999 03/05/1999 - Woman and Historian to Lecture at EIU University Marketing and Communications

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For Immediate Release:

WOMAN CARTOONIST. HISTORIAN TO LECTURE AT EIU

CHARLESTON -- , one of the most prominent woman in the country, will discuss the history of women in as part of Eastern Illinois

University's Women's History and Awareness Month celebration.

Robbins' lecture, "Women in Comics," will begin at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March

10, in Lumpkin Hall, Room 17. Admission to the event is free and open to the public.

A historical perspective on the role of women in comics, both as characters and writers, is the focus, said Annette Samuels, program director for The Women's

Advocacy Council.

Robbins has been a illustrator since 1970 when she edited the first all-woman comic book, "It Ain't Me, Babe." Her work spans three decades with the

1999 release of her new bilingual children's book, "Califia, Queen of California."

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She is considered the foremost researcher of women cartoonists and women portrayed in comic books. Robbins has what she believes is the largest collection of comics by women in the United States.

According to her book, "A Century of Women Cartoonists," women cartoonists were abundant and received public recognition through the first half of the century but have been ignored or shortchanged in recent decades.

"Most of the books about comics have been written by men. And they have not mentioned these wonderful, wonderful, incredibly successful women. They just haven't. They've ignored them," she said in a 1994 interview with the St. Louis

Post-Dispatch.

Robbins' goal is to increase understanding of the importance of creating comics for girls and women, she said in a 1997 interview with the Daily Hampshire Gazette. "I desperately want to do something for girls in a field which is 98 percent aimed at adolescent boys," said Robbins.

She includes letters from fans and comments from people in the industry in her work.

Awards that Robbins has received include NOW Outstanding Feminist Activist

Award, National Organization for Women, 1990, 1991; Children's Entertainment

Finalist, New Media in Vision Award, 1993; Parents Choice Award, 1994; Lulu of the

Year (from Friends of Lulu) 1997; and Teen Age 1998 (New York Public Library).

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