| Lee Marrs | |
|---|---|
 Marrs at the 1982 San Diego Comic Con (today calledComic-Con International). | |
| Born | (1945-09-05)September 5, 1945 (age 80) |
| Nationality | American |
| Area | Cartoonist, Writer |
Notable works | The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp |
| www | |
Lee Marrs (born September 5,[1] 1945)[2] is an American cartoonist andanimator, and one of the first femaleunderground comix creators. She is best known for her comic book seriesThe Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp, which lasted from 1973 to 1977.
Lee Marrs grew up inMontgomery, Alabama,[3] and attendedAmerican University, graduating in 1967 with a degree in fine arts.[4] During her time at American University, Marrs was introduced tocomic strip artistTex Blaisdell by his daughter, with whom she attended school.[3] Marrs then began assisting Blaisdell, working on comics such asLittle Orphan Annie,Prince Valiant, andHi and Lois.[3] At the same time, Marrs also worked forCBS News in Washington, DC, atWTOP, where she created artwork for the station and also drew liveeditorial cartoons on Saturday nights.[3] Marrs was as a graphic artist on an Emmy-Award-winninganimation aboutthe 1968 riots.[5]
In the late 1960s, Marrs moved to San Francisco, where she helped foundAlternative Features Service, a news service that supplied college and underground newspapers with feature stories.[3] Through the Alternative Features Service, Marrs metTrina Robbins, who would introduce her to theunderground comix movement.[3]
Marrs was a frequent contributor tounderground comix and one of the "founding mommies" of theWimmen's Comix collective. In the first issue ofWimmen's Comix (1972), Marrs' "All in a Day's Work" epitomizes how a woman's only leverage in a male-dominated society is to utilize her body to negotiate politics. Marrs' comic emphasizes the idea that equality for all women is equality not only of entrance but equality of execution. The last section of Marrs' comic "positions the naked female body as a panel divider, [and] viscerally connects the female body to the comics form."[6][7][8]
Marrs provided stories for the underground titlesWet Satin,Manhunt,El Perfecto, andGates of Heaven. Her parodies often substitutedlesbians in place of heterosexual figures, as in feature strips in the long-runningGay Comix. Her story, "My Deadly Darling Dyke," published inGay Comix #3 (Dec. 1982) is a popular and outspoken interdisciplinary crossover between queer identity and a cheeky parody of gothic melodrama.[9]
As one ofMike Friedrich'sStar Reach regulars, she expanded her writing and art style to include serious fantasy fiction inStark's Quest (1977–1979), a study ofESP, politics, and social engineering. From this body of work, "Waters of Requital" (1977) is especially powerful. She created short futuristic graphic tales forHeavy Metal magazine,Epic Illustrated, andImagine magazine.
The Further Fattening Adventures of Pudge, Girl Blimp is a three-part comic book series about an overweight seventeen-year-old girl named Pudge who hitchhikes to San Francisco at the height of the counterculture movement with the goal of losing her virginity. The series addresses themes offeminism,sexual orientation,racial diversity, andbody positivity.[10] The first issue ofPudge, Girl Blimp was published byLast Gasp Eco Funnies in 1973, while the final two issues were published byStar Reach in 1975 and 1977.[11] In 2016, Marrs published a complete edition ofPudge, Girl Blimp which was nominated for anEisner Award in 2017.[12]
Marrs was one of few underground cartoonists to also work for mainstream comics publishers, and one of the first women to work for DC Comics and Marvel Comics simultaneously.[13] She was introduced toDC Comics editorJoe Orlando byTex Blaisdell. After working on DC’sPlop!,Weird Mystery Tales, andHouse of Secrets, she created "Crazy Lady" (1975), a series about growing up female, forMarvel Comics’Crazy magazine. Much of her mainstream comics work was as a writer, includingWonder Woman Annual 1989,Viking Glory: the Viking Prince (DC, 1991), andZatanna: Come Together (DC, 1993).
She wrote 2Indiana Jones miniseries forDark Horse Comics:Indiana Jones and the Arms of Gold (1994) andIndiana Jones and the Iron Phoenix (1995), both drawn by Leo Durañona.
In 1986Blackthorne Publishing publishedPre-Teen Dirty-Gene Kung Fu Kangaroos, a three-issue series created by Marrs which parodied the originalTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles comic book series, as well as theAmerican Flagg! comics.[14]
Lee Marrs runsLee Marrs Artwork, a digital design and animation company. She worked in 2D digital animation in the early 1980s. Her clients have included Disney/ABC, Apple Computer, IBM, Time Warner Inc., Children's Television Workshop, Nickelodeon, Electronic Arts, and MTV. She began teaching at Berkeley City College in 2000, serving as Multimedia Chair there until her retirement in 2014.[15]
Lee Marrs' comics influenced feminism, queer theory, and visual culture in the 1980s. Her comics explore how women participated in the feminist wave while they were understanding and exploring their queer sexuality. In the era when theEqual Rights Amendment had come to the forefront, feminists believed that women as human beings were denied the chance to develop their fullest human potential. Marrs produced the four-page “Equal Rites” forWimmen’s Comix #8, where female protagonists live in a futuristic world where standards are mono-gendered, and the implementation of the ERA amendment has blossomed; the glass ceiling for feminist stereotypes has been shattered.[16][6]
In a media interview, Marrs discussed prejudice from leaders of the feminist movement, and how feminists critique female comic authors who think outside the box:[10] "But we got totally rejected by the women's movement, for the most part. Not just thatMs. magazine wouldn't run us, but bookstores across the country wouldn't carry us, because we did not have a heavy, traditional, feminist political line."[17]
Marrs equates these concrete examples with rejection, for they foreclose the ability of the collective to reach a broader feminist audience despite their varied attempts to participate. Her quotation also foregrounds their comics as something done differently from the feminist norm in their content, even though Marrs also equates their comics with the "work[ing] through" that happened in consciousness-raising group."[10]
Marrs was awarded theComic-Con InternationalInkpot Award in 1982.[18]
Marrs won an Emmy for her work as an animation director.[19][20]
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