Michele Brand Wrightson (October 25, 1941 – May 30, 2015), often misspelled Michelle, was an American underground cartoonist and colorist for mainstream comics.[1][2] She was a key contributor to the first all-female underground comic, It Ain't Me Babe, as well as its follow-up series, Wimmen's Comix.
Life & Career[]
Born Michele Robinson, she grew up in New Orleans, where her parents were on the faculty at Tulane University.
In 1966, she and her first husband, Roger Brand, moved from Oakland, California, to New York City, specifically to break into the comics business. Roger Brand began working for Wally Wood and Bill Pearson on witzend and other projects.[3] Michele assisted Gil Kane on His Name is Savage #1 (Adventure House Press, 1968). By the late 1960s the couple were back in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Michele's first comics credit was in the groundbreaking all female one-shot It Ain't Me, Babe (Last Gasp, 1970), with the story "Tirade Funnies."[4] She later became a contributor to the follow-up series Wimmen's Comix, as well as anthologies like Arcade. She and her husband were part of the group of cartoonists who formed the United Cartoon Workers of America, an informal union designed to safeguard creators' rights.[5]
Around 1974, during the downturn of the underground comix market, she moved to New York City and began working in the mainstream comics industry, mostly as a colorist. One of her last (photo-)underground contributions was to Flo Steinberg's Big Apple Comix, published in 1975. She worked for Marvel Comics (doing color separations for Marvel UK) and Warren Publishing from 1974–1975, and Heavy Metal in 1977, and then took time off to marry artist Bernie Wrightson and raise their sons.
She returned to comics coloring in the mid-1980s, working for Marvel, Eclipse Comics, and DC Comics for the balance of that decade. She often worked on projects illustrated by Bernie Wrightson, including Heavy Metal #65–70 (HM Communications, Inc., 1977), Stephen King's Creepshow (Plume/Penguin Group, 1982), and The Weird (DC Comics, 1988). She colored many books published by the DC imprint Milestone Media during its run (1993–1997), chiefly Blood Syndicate.
She had no significant comics credits after 1997.
Personal Life[]
She and Roger Brand lived in San Francisco in the late 1960s/early 1970s, at one point living across the street from fellow underground cartoonist Larry Todd.
She and Brand divorced around 1974.[citation needed] She married Bernie Wrightson some time later; together they had two sons,[6] named John and Jeffrey. She and Wrightson had been divorced for some time before her death.[7]
Bibliography[]
Cartoonist[]
- It Ain't Me Babe (Last Gasp, 1970)
- "Monday"
- "Tirade Funnies"
- Wimmen's Comix (Last Gasp, 1972) #1, 2, 6
- "You Are What You Know"
- "There I Was..."
- "Victoria the Woodhull" (with Mary Skrenes)
- Nickel Library (Eric Fromm, 1976) #24
- Big Apple Comix (Big Apple Productions, 1975) one-shot
- Foreword (with writer Dennis O'Neil)
- Arcade: The Comics Revue (Print Mint, 1975) #5, 7
- "A Dream Is a Wish Your Heart Makes"
- "Captive Bride Of The Shark Men / Tales From The Aquarium / Victoria Woodhull, The Continuing Saga / Alligator Dream"
External Links[]
- Michelle Brand Wrightson at Mike's Amazing World
- Stephen Bissette's Facebook tribute
- "Tirade Funnies" at Scans Daily
Sources[]
- ↑ Alverson, Brigid. "Comics A.M. | Artist Michele Wrightson passes away," Comic Book Resources (June 2, 2015).
- ↑ MacDonald, Heidi. RIP Michele Wrightson," The Beat (06/01/2015).
- ↑ Rosenkranz, Patrick. Rebel Visions: The Underground Comix Revolution 1963-1975 (Fantagraphics Books, 2002), p. 56.
- ↑ Edelman, Scott. "Michelle Wrightson 1941-2015," ScottEdelman.com (May 31, 2015).
- ↑ Young Lust #3 (Last Gasp, June 1972).
- ↑ "Gone But Not Forgotten, 2015 Edition," A Dispensable List of Comic Book Lists (Dec. 20, 2015).
- ↑ Cooke, Jon B. "Wrightson's Warren Days: Bernie Wrightson talks about his great b-&-w work," Comic Book Artist #4 (Spring 1999).
See Michele Wrightson's entry on Bails' Who's Who of American Comic Books.
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