O'Flynn, Tamsyn
American comic book writer and edtior
Perhaps the first female writer with a solid claim on writing Lois Lane as a protagonist beyond her signifier as “Superman’s Girl Friend,” O’Flynn wrote Lane solo stories through the early 1980s in Superman Family #215-222 and Daring New Adventures of Supergirl #2-8.
O'Neill, Rose (1874-1944)
American cartoonist, illustrator, artist and writer
O'Neill rose to fame for her creation of the popular comic strip characters, Kewpies, in 1909, and was also the first published female cartoonist in the United States.
O'Neill also wrote several novels and books of poetry, and was active in the women's suffrage movement. She was for a time the highest-paid female illustrator in the world upon the success of the Kewpie dolls. O'Neill has been inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
In 2022 at San Diego Comic-Con, Rose O'Neill was inducted into the Eisner Awards Hall of Fame as a Comic Pioneer.
Oliver, Glynis (1949 - )
American comic book colorist
She was the wife of writer Len Wein for several years. Since 1985 (June 1985 Marvel cover dated comics), she has been using her maiden name Oliver.
In the fall of 1972, Len Wein and writers Gerry Conway and Steve Englehart crafted a metafictional unofficial crossover spanning titles from both major comics companies. Each comic featured Oliver, Englehart, Conway, and Len Wein interacting with Marvel or DC characters at the Rutland Halloween Parade in Rutland, Vermont. Beginning in Amazing Adventures #16 (by Englehart with art by Bob Brown and Frank McLaughlin), the story continued in Justice League of America #103 (by Len Wein, Dick Dillin and Dick Giordano), and concluded in Thor #207 (by Conway and penciler John Buscema).
She has been recognized for her work in the industry with a Shazam Award for Best Colorist in 1973.
Ormes, Zelda Jackie (1911-1985)
American cartoonist
Zelda Jackson Ormes is considered the first African-American Cartoonist as well as also being the first African-American woman to produce a national appearing comic strip with her creation Torchy Brown in Torchy Brown in Dixie to Harlem (May, 1, 1937- April 30, 1938) in the Pittsburgh Courier.
She was also the creator of the single panel comic strip Patty-Jo N' Ginger, which ran for 11 years in the Pittsburgh Courier (Sept. 1, 1945- Sept. 22, 1956)
Starting in August 19, 1950 (and ending in Sept. 18, 1954), the Courier began an eight-page comic insert, where Ormes re-invented her Torchy character in a new comic strip, Torchy and the Heartbeats. She used the comic strip as a sounding board for several big issues at the time.
Ormes creation, Torchy, will always be remembered for its presentation of an image of a black woman who, in contrast to the contemporary stereotypical media portrayals, was confident, intelligent, and brave.
The Zelda awards (founded by Karla Medrano [Founder of Blaq Girl Comics] in April 2026) were created to honor the women of comics, the visionaries whose brilliance is too often overlooked during award season, is named in her honor.
Ōshima, Yumiko 大島弓子 (1947 - )
Japanese mangaka
According to Mizuki Takahashi, Ōshima is considered the most influential artist of the Year 24 group because of her visual innovation in shōjo manga, especially in panel design around representing emotions in drawing. She is credited with popularizing the kemonomimi (catgirl) character type through her creation of Chibi-neko from The Star of Cottonland.
Ōshima made her debut as a professional manga artist in 1968 with the short story "Paula no Namida" in the magazine Weekly Margaret. She became known for publishing short stories for this and other major magazines targeted at girls like Shōjo Comic, Bessatsu Shōjo Comic, Seventeen and Shōjo Friend. One of her short stories appeared in Funny, one of the earliest magazines for josei manga (then called "women's gekiga"). Her series Tanjō!, published from 1970 until 1971, gained attention for its depiction of teenage pregnancy. From 1978 until 1987 she published her most famous series The Star of Cottonland in LaLa which she received the 1978 Kodansha Manga Award for.
Ōshima often places text that represents inner monologue outside of speech bubbles and instead flows freely. She also was innovative in giving panels a delicate, thin frame that is at times even broken. Takahashi writes: "The panels are not sequential, which forces readers to look at the whole page in order to understand the atmosphere of a scene rather than just read ahead in the story."
