Encyclopedia of Women in Comics

Cestac, Florence (1949 - )

French Cartoonist and former Publisher

The first woman to win the Grand Prix De La Ville D' Angoulerne (2000), and was the only woman to win the award until Rumiko Takahashi won it in 2019.

In 1972, she took over the bookstore "Futuropolis" with her husband Étienne Robial, and transformed it into the comics publisher Futuropolis.

She created the humorous detective stories of Harry Mickson for the comics magazines L'Écho des savanes, Charlie Mensuel, Pilote and Ah ! Nana . After Futuropolis was bought by Gallimard in 1994, she created the series Les Déblok for Le Journal de Mickey, working with Nathalie Roques.

Her series Cestac pour les grands, aimed at an adult audience, brought her popular success and recognition.

Chase, Barbara "Bobbie"

American comic book editor and writer

Chase worked for Marvel Comics throughout the 1980s and 1990s. In 1994–1995, she was one of Marvel Group's Editors-in-Chief, the highest level a female editor has ever achieved at the company. She was Vice President of Talent Development at DC Comics from 2015 to 2020.

As an editor, she has helped launch the careers of such creators as Salvador Larroca and Jamal Igle, and worked closely with writer Peter David on his acclaimed run on The Incredible Hulk. She also edited significant runs on the Marvel Comics titles G.I. Joe, Captain America, Iron Man, Sensational She-Hulk, Thor, Fantastic Four, Ghost Rider, X-Force, Doctor Strange, Spirits of Vengeance, Morbius, Nightstalkers, Darkhold: Pages from the Book of Sins, Blade, Elektra, Alpha Flight, and the Marvel/Paramount Comics Star Trek line, including brand-new properties Starfleet Academy and Star Trek: Early Voyages.

For DC Comics she has edited titles such as Batgirl, Nightwing, Teen Titans, Red Hood and the Outlaws, Birds of Prey, and Green Arrow.

Chast, Roz (1954 - )

American cartoonist

Chast has been a staff cartoonist for The New Yorker. Since 1978, she has published more than 1000 cartoons in The New Yorker. She also publishes cartoons in Scientific American and the Harvard Business Review.

Her book, Can't We Talk About Something More Pleasant? is a graphic memoir, combining cartoons, text, and photographs to tell the story of an only child helping her elderly parents navigate the end of their lives.

In 2024, Chast was awarded a National Humanities Medal by the National Endowment for the Humanities for "deepen[ing] the nation's understanding of the humanities and broad[ening] our citizens' engagement with history, literature, languages, philosophy, and other humanities subjects".

To learn more about Chast and her extensive career in cartooning, please visit the link here http://rozchast.com to her official website.

Chevli, Lyn (1931-2016)

American Cartoonist

Also known as Lyn Chevely and Chin Lyvely, participated in the underground comix movement. With Joyce Farmer, she created the feminist comic-book anthology series Tits & Clits Comix (1972–1987) and Abortion Eve (1973), an educational comic book about women's newly-guaranteed reproductive rights.

In 1972, Chevli and Joyce Farmer founded Nanny Goat Productions in order to publish their own feminist comics. They published the first issue of Tits & Clits Comix (Tits & Clits Comix α) in July 1972, preceding Wimmen's Comix by a few weeks. Its first printing of 20,000 copies sold out by the next year.

In June 1973, following the Roe v. Wade Supreme Court decision on abortion, Chevli and Farmer published Abortion Eve, an educational comic begun the year before about women's reproductive rights. Drawing upon their experiences as birth control and pregnancy counselors at Laguna's Free Clinic, the single-issue comic book presented the stories of five women – all of them named variations on Eve, each in differing circumstances – going through the process of obtaining abortions.

Chin-Tanner, Wendy

American author and co-publisher

Chin-Tanner is the co-founder of A Wave New World with her husband Tyler in 2005. AWNW is a GLAAD Media and Ringo Award winning independent publisher of high-quality graphic novels and anthologies, focusing on socially conscious storytelling and providing a platform for a multitude of creative voices.

Chin-Tanner is also the author of the critically acclaimed novel King of the Armadillos, which won the 2025 Louisiana Literary Award, and the poetry collections "Turn" and "Anyone Will Tell You." She is also the editor of Embodied: An Intersectional Comics Poetry Anthology and co-author of American Terrorist.

If you would like to know more about A Wave New World, please follow this link https://www.awbw.com/ to the publisher's website.

Chmakova, Svetlana (1979 - )

Russian-born Canadian comic book artist

Chmakova is best known for Dramacon, an original English-language (OEL) manga spanning three volumes and published in North America by Tokyopop. Her other original work includes Nightschool and Awkward for Yen Press. She has been nominated for an Eisner Award twice. Previously, she created The Adventures of CG for CosmoGIRL! magazine and the webcomic Chasing Rainbows for Girlamatic.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution described Dramacon as "surprisingly true-to-life (and occasionally harrowing) emotional drama and humor ... Creator Svetlana Chmakova doesn't skimp on character development or plot progression. Her art is top-notch as well, outstripping even many of her Japanese inspirations with clear storytelling and polished technique."

Dramacon was nominated for an Eisner Award in 2007.

Nightschool won the Dragon Award for Kids Comics at the Shuster Awards in 2010.

To learn more of Chmakova's work, please follow the link https://svetlania.com where you can see her official website.

Ciardo, Barbara (1983 - )

Italian comic book fumettista (colorist)

Ciardo has been working in the fields of art and publishing for 20 years. Besides her native country, Ciardo has been active in both the Franco-Belgium and the North American markets of the comic book industry.

In 2004, she started working on various series for the Italian publisher, GG Studio: Route Des Maisons Rouges, P'n'P, Mediterranea and The Bodysnatchers. Some of them have also been published in the United States.

Ciardo's comic career started in the American industry in 2007 for WildStorm Productions on the title Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Shortly after, she was hired by Marvel Comics and worked on some of their most iconic titles. In 2009 she was hired by DC Comics and worked on the title Wednesday Comics and later worked on a few other titles including Bruce Wayne: The Road Home.

Over the years, she has collaborated on comics, book covers, collectible cards and board games with both national and international publishers, including Mondadori, DC Comics, Warner Bros., Marvel, Disney, Podium Audio, Don't Panic Games, Lo Scarabeo, Gribaudo, and Sergio Bonelli Editore.

She also contributed as a concept and background artist to the award-winning animated feature film Cinderella the Cat.

If you want to explore more of Ciardo's extraordinary art and publishing career, please follow the link https://www.barbaraciardo.com to her official website.

CLAMP (mid-1980s - )

Japanese manga artist group

Clamp is an all-female manga group that currently consists of leader and writer Nanase Ohkawa, and three artists whose roles shift for each series: Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi.

originally an eleven-member group creating dōjinshi (self-published fan works), and began creating original manga in 1987. By the time the group made its mainstream publishing debut with RG Veda in 1989, it was reduced to seven members; three more members left in 1993, leaving the four current members of the group.

The original group consisted of the following eleven members: O-Kyon, Sei Nanao, Tamayo Akiyama, Leeza Sei , Sōshi Hishika, Hishika Sōshi, Kazue Nakamori, Shinya Ōmi, Mokona, Tsubaki Nekoi, and Satsuki Igarashi.

Notable works by Clamp include X (1992), Magic Knight Rayearth (1993), Cardcaptor Sakura (1996) and its sequel Cardcaptor Sakura: Clear Card (2016), Chobits (2000), and xxxHolic and Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle (both 2003). Various series by the group cross-reference each other, and characters reappear in multiple works by the group.

Clamp are noted as among the most critically and commercially acclaimed manga artists in Japan, and as of 2007, have sold nearly 100 million books worldwide.

Cloonan, Becky (1980)

American comic book publisher and creator

Cloonan is best known for becoming the first female artist to draw the main Batman title for DC Comics in 2012 and is one of the founding members of the comic book publisher DSTLRY Media since it's creation in 2023.

Throughout her career she has worked with the majority of major comic publishers. Beside Batman for DC Comics, Cloonan is known for her runs on the titles Wonder Woman and Batgirls. For Marvel Comics, she has had a famous run on the Punisher series, while at Dark Horse Comics Cloonan contributed art to a fan favorite run of Conan and The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys and at Image Comics her writing for Southern Cross and collecting her celebrated self published work into the anthology, By Chance or Providence.

Cloonan has also been nominated and won multiple Eisner Awards. In 2013 for her self-published, written and drawn "Best Single Issue/One-Shot" The Mire and then received two more in 2024 for Somna (Best New Series) and "The Kelpie" from Four Gathered on Christmas Eve (Best Short Story). Her Other major works include DEMO, which was nominated for two Eisner Awards in 2004 and East Coast Rising, which earned her a third Eisner nomination for her first ever solo graphic novel.

In 2023, she received the prestigious Inkpot award from Comic Con International ( San Diego Comic Con).

If you would like to know more about Cloonan's work, please see the link https://www.beckycloonan.net to her official website or to the DSTLRY's homepage www.dstlry.co.

Conesa, Diana Egea (1982 - )

Spanish comic book character designer and inker

Diana Egea Conesa is an introverted artist who studied fine arts in Barcelona and started out doing 2D coloring for animation studios in 2006. She has done character design and concept art for toys and games since 2008. In 2011 and 2012 she was affiliated to the Comicon agency in Barcelona, through which she has done art on German magazines like Kosima (the 'Lilly & Luna comic) for Blue Ocean Entertainment.

At DC Comics, she has inked most of Axel Giménez's comics. Among her comic book credits are Emperor Aquaman, Smallville, Smallville Effigy and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. She has continued her work on Masters of the Universe at Dark Horse.

Egea has also done character designs of new Angry Birds characters for Rovio Entertainment. She has subsequently worked on additional Rovio material, such as books and posters.

Conner, Amanda (1967 - )

American comic book and commercial artist

Conner is possibly best known (along with her husband, Jimmy Palmiotti) as the creative team responsible for the successful relaunch of the Harley Quinn comic series during the New 52 and Rebirth eras. Their work, which began with Harley Quinn #0 in 2013, moved the character away from her abusive relationship with the Joker and established her as a prominent anti-hero in her own solo series set in Coney Island.

Conner is also the co-creator of Gatecrasher comic series (2000-2001 by Black Bull Comics) and the prestige one-shot comic book The Pro (2002 by Image Comics) a creator-owned series with Jimmy Palmiotti and Garth Ennis.

Conner began her career in the late 1980s for Archie Comics (The Advenures of Bayou Billy #1-#4, 1989-1990) and Marvel Comics, before moving on to contribute work for Claypool Comics' Soulsearchers and Company (1994) and Harris Comics' Vampirella in the 1990s.

Her artist credits include X-Men Unlimited, Yellow Jacket, West Coast Avengers, Barbie, and Gargoyles for Marvel Comics, Lois Lane, Codename: Knockout, and Birds of Prey for DC Comics and Painkiller Jane Vs. The Darkness and Painkiller Jane #0 for Event Comics.

Conner, Palmiotti, and writer Justin Gray had worked together via their multimedia entertainment company PaperFilms and collaborated on the 'Terra' mini-series, which premiered in November 2009, and on the first 12 issues of the 'Power Girl' ongoing series in 2009 and 2010.

To learn more about Amanda Conner and Jimmy Palmiotti's company Paperfilms, please follow the link https://www.paperfilms.com/ to their official website.

Coover, Colleen (1969 - )

American comic book writer and author

Coover is known for creating the lesbian-themed erotic comic book Small Favors from Eros Comix, illustrator of the comic book limited series Banana Sunday from Oni Press, and for illustrating several short stories in X-Men: First Class from Marvel Comics.

Her first major comics project was Small Favors, a sex-positive, woman-friendly adult comic published from 2000 to 2003.

She illustrated the graphic novels Gingerbread Girl (2011) and Banana Sunday (2006), both written by Paul Tobin.

Since 2012 she has illustrated the digital comic Bandette, also written by Paul Tobin. Bandette was nominated for four Eisner Awards, and won the award for Best Digital/Webcomic in 2016. She won the Eisner Award again in 2017 for Best Digital Comic with Bandette.

To learn more about Coover's career and more, please follow this link https://www.colleencoover.net to her website.

Corsetto, Danielle American cartoonist

Creator of Girls with Slingshots, a completed web comic series (2004). She has received praise for her depiction of LGBTQ characters and characters with disabilities.

To see the series, you can follow this link to the site https://www.girlswithslingshots.com.

Or you can head to her websites https://dcorsetto.carrd.co/ or https://www.daniellecorsetto.com/.

Cory, Fanny Young (1877-1972)

American Cartoonist and Book Illustrator

Best known for her comic strips Sonnysayings (1926-1956) and Little Miss Muffet (1935-1956). Cory was one of America's first female syndicated cartoonists.

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