Encyclopedia of Women in Comics

Naar, Connie (1893-1964)

American editor and writer

Naar was Assistant Editor at National Publications/DC Comics in 1935. She also wrote text stories under her own name.

Naar contributed “Junior Funsters” illustrated stories to issues of New Fun, More Fun and New Fun Comics in the 1930s.

The indicia of New Fun #5 identified the Assistant Editor as Connie Naar. She also contributed to New Comics #1 a short story "Petey the Pup," which was illustrated by her drawings, making her the only person who contributed their talents as an editor, writer, and artist to these historic publications.

Nelson, Diane Whelon (1968 - )

American business executive

Nelson was President of DC Entertainment from 2009 to 2018, and President and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment from 2013 to 2018.

After working at Foote, Cone & Belding, Nelson served as Director of National Promotions for Walt Disney Records and moved to Warner Bros. in 1996, where she oversaw the cross-company brand management of the Harry Potter property. She became the executive vice president, Global Brand Management in May 2004.

In September 2009, Warner Bros. announced that DC Comics would become a subsidiary of DC Entertainment, Inc. and Nelson would serve as President of the new division. Nelson reported to Jeff Robinov, president of Warner Bros. Pictures Group. She appointed Jim Lee and Dan DiDio as Co-Publishers of DC Comics and Geoff Johns as chief creative officer on February 18, 2010.

After Kevin Tsujihara became chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Entertainment, he promoted Nelson to the post of chief content officer of Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. In 2013. Later that year, Nelson announced the decision to relocate DC's offices from New York City to Burbank, California. She explained that "it was never optimal to run any business, but certainly not a creative business, on two coasts."

Newell, Mindy (1953 - )

American comic book writer and editor

Newell is the first credited woman to write the Wonder Woman series in an ongoing capacity (with Joye Hummel and Dorothy Woolfork having written Wonder Woman before Newell, they were uncredited, so, in retrospect, Mindy Newell would be the 'third' woman to write for this title). covering the title both Pre-Crisis, in issues #326-328, and Post-Crisis, in issues #37-45.

In 1989, she wrote a Catwoman solo mini series, which has given her the claim of being the first woman to write Catwoman, along with a Catwoman feature in Action Comics #611-614. She has also written a two issue Lois Lane comic and on Legion of Superheroes, and Amethyst, Princess of Gemworld.

Nishitani, Yoshiko (1943 - )

Japanese manga artist

Nishitani is one of the earliest pioneers of the Shojou genre of manga. Drawing from her own experiences as a girl, Nishitani was a first in terms of incorporating scenes from ordinary high school life and situational romance, as well as the normal mainstays of being a teenage girl in Japan during the 1960s.

Her most notable work is the manga Mary Lou which was initially published by Shueisha in 1965. Yoshiko Nishitani was a pioneering shōjo manga artist who released her works in Shoujo Club and Margaret. According to Rachel Thorn, Nishitani "more or less single-handedly invented the school campus romance that remains the mainstay of shoujo manga today", and Robert Petersen regards her innovation as giving her characters personality. Her success inspired an influx of female manga artists. Her manga Mary Lou, which was initially published by Shueisha in 1965, is thought to have opened up the idea of shōjo manga telling stories about ordinary teenagers. Nishitani's influence on both the slice of life and high school romance narratives of today is seminal.

Noomin, Diane (1947-2022)

American underground comix artist

Diane Robin Rosenblatt is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as feminism, female masturbation, body image, and miscarriages.

Noomin was the editor of the anthology series Twisted Sisters, and published comix stories in many underground titles, including Wimmen's Comix, Young Lust, Arcade, and Weirdo.

In 1984, after a ten-year hiatus, Noomin returned to the pages of Wimmen's Comix; her work appeared in almost every issue from that point forward. She was also a regular contributor to Weirdo from 1985–1993 (a period in which Weirdo was edited by Kominsky-Crumb, whose editorial tenure was informally known as "Twisted Sisters")

In 1991, Noomin edited and put together a 260-page trade paperback anthology which she called Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art (Viking Penguin), featuring the work of herself, Kominsky-Crumb, and 13 other female cartoonists, including many former Wimmen's Comix contributors. All the work in the collection had been previously published, most of it in anthologies such as Weirdo and Wimmen's Comix.

Nocenti, Ann (1957 - )

American journalist, filmmaker, teacher, comic book writer and editor

Nocenti is best known for her work at Marvel in the late 1980s, particularly a four-year stint as the editor of Uncanny X-Men and The New Mutants (written by Chris Claremont) as well as her run as a writer of Daredevil, illustrated primarily by John Romita Jr. Nocenti has created such Marvel characters as Longshot, Mojo, Spiral, Blackheart, and Typhoid Mary.

Nocenti is noted for her outspoken political views, including but not limited to animal rights and alcoholism, which characterized her run on Daredevil (#236 11/86, #238-291 1/88-7/90).

In Marvel Comics Presents #150 (1994), Nocenti introduced Jessie Drake, a teenaged mutant, who revealed in issue #151 that she was transgender, marking Marvel's first transgender mutant, and hero.

Nocera, Alessia (1987 - )

Italian comic book colorist/fumettista

Between 2007 and 2008, Nocera worked as a colorist for Disney and Marvel.

In 2008. Her first official project was the comic book series Mediterranea, with which she debuted on the Italian and, subsequently, the American market. In that same year, Nocera joined the GG Studio Comics team as an assistant colorist on the projects Route Des Maisons Rouges, High School Musical and She Hulk, within that year becoming the Head Colorist for the Neapolitan publisher, where she worked on Gore, The One, Extinction Seed and Violet.

Nocera's other work includes collaborations with Zenescope coloring the covers of various titles, Napoleon (2013), Luther (2016), and Churchill (2017) for Glenat, the GN, Abbadon, (w/Jimmy Palmiotti and Justin Gray in 2014), and Dragonero magazine (2016-2017) for Bonelli.

She is currently a teacher at the International School of Comics in Naples.