I picked up the manga version of Fullmetal Alchemist a week or so back and was suprised to find out that the author/artist is a woman. I, for the life of me, can’t think of any other women in the comic industry. Are there anymore females on the writing/drawing side of comics or manga? Any on any comics/manga that I would know?
There’s Devin Grayson, who I don’t think I’ve actually read, and Gail Simone who’s issues of Deadpool I read were hysterical. That’s off the top of my head and from someone who’s not THAT into comics so I’m sure there’ll be more!
I realise it’s petty but it’s really bugging me that I misspelled whose as who’s. Consider this the closest I can get to a correction!
Heck, right off the top of my head there;s Marie Severin from Marvel in the 60s and 70s. And the new Manga-fied Sabrina is drawn by a woman.
Yumiko Kawahara does the Dolls manga/graphic novel series. She both writes the stories and does the artwork.
Gail Simone is AWESOME. She writes Birds of Prey, Villains United, and Action Comics for DC (as well as the Rose and Thorn miniseries), Deadpool and Agent X for Marvel, and Simpsons Comics for Bongo. She’s known for a great sense of humor and is super-nice to fans online. She also wrote a comic-related online column called “You’ll All Be Sorry” (worth Googling up), and created a website called “Women In Refrigerators,” calling attention to the poor treatment, abuse, and violence suffered by female characters in comics.
Devin Grayson is another writer at DC, who I believe currently writes Batman: Gotham Nights.
Jill Thompson is a writer/artist who has worked on several Vertigo projects including Neil Gaiman’s Sandman (the “Brief Lives” arc) and the manga-style Death: At Death’s Door graphic novel. She is married to fellow comic writer Brian Azzarello.
Jen Van Meter has written for DC and Oni Press (including the fun Hopeless Savages series, with fellow female artist Christine Norrie), and is married to another comic writer, Greg Rucka.
Chynna Clugston-Major writes and draws the manga-influenced Blue Monday and Scooter Girl series for Oni Press.
Louise Simonson and Ann Nocenti were big writers at Marvel in the '80s, who worked on dozens of titles. I’m sure they’re still around, too.
Amanda Conner and Christina Z are very hot, popular artists, although I’m not sure exactly what projects they have worked on.
Rachel Pollack wrote Doom Patrol over at Vertigo in the '90s, but she had to follow Grant Morrison’s defining run on the title… pretty big shoes to fill.
Laura Martin is without a doubt the best colorist in the business, and also super-nice.
Carla Speed McNeill writes and draws her own series Finder, which is beyond description (although hopefully female comic fan Selkie will stop by this thread to give it a good “pitch.”)
Rumiko Takahashi is probably the single best humorist in manga today.
And Chynna Clugston-Major is utterly grand. Her work is what Archie & the gang should be, if the people over at Archie Comics Group had conjones.
I believe that Rumiko Takahashi, author of Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku, Urusei Yatsura, and Inuyasha is currently the most successful manga writer in existence. Though hte oldguys might have her beat (by virtue of being…well, old.) …Well, probably Stan Lee has her beat. But he has his own company.
Personally, I am currently reading series by Mihara Mitsukazu, Amano Kozue, Endo Narumi, and Toume Kei. But I don’t believe any of those have been translated.
Though generally, in Japan at least, comics for guys are written by guys and girl’s comics by girls. I just read the ones that look interesting regardless. Though every once in a while I have come across guys comics where the way the characters were drawn (particularly the eyes) has made me suspect that the author was actually female, writing under a pseudonym and using a male style.
Generally there are more stylistic differences among men than women. There are only about three or so female styles, while there may be anywhere from 20 to 30 for guys. Not certain why that is.
As may be guessed, this is discussing Japan. In the US, Wendy Pini was a god for many years, not sure of any others.
Well, on the manga side of things, there’s:
Rumiko Takahashi–The artist behind Inu Yasha, Ranma 1/2, Maison Ikkoku.
Naoko Takeuchi–Sailor Moon is pretty much her most famous work.
CLAMP–This is more like a collective of artists who have worked together to create X/1999, Clover, Magic Knights Rayearth, etc. I think the majority (if not all) of them are female.
Yuu Watase–She did Fushigi Yuugi and Ayashi no Ceres.
There seems to be lots of female manga artists, but not all of them are very well known, especially outside Japan.
Colleen Doran http://www.colleendoran.com/ (not only a comics person but also a LOTR and space geek not to mention a major babe)
Wendy Pini of Elfquest.
Brian
A lot of the ones I planned to mention (Takahashi, CLAMP, Simone, Pollack, Thompson) already have been. Two more manga-ka, though…
Ippongi Bang (I’ve only read Doctor! by her. It’s fun.)
Miho Obana (Creator of Kodocha.)
I actually have a copy of Villains United sitting next to me. Good stuff so far. I might have to pick up an issue of Birds of Prey now. I’ve actually seen “Women in Refrigerators” too. (Alex’s death is one of the few times a comic has effected me viscerally [I definately teared up.], but it was pretty over the top.)
Okay, so comics and definately manga aren’t necessarily the boys’ clubs I imagined. I’m sure that there is a huge gap between men and women, but there are women out there. Thanks and keep 'em coming!
Yes you do. Start with Chuck Dixon’s run. That’s fabulous, too. And it lacks Huntress, which is a good thing in my book.
(Her run on Action’s started? How many have I missed?)
Big Bad Voodoo Lou, you want me to describe a dreamfeed from the mind of a very creative person in mere words?! Finder is an amazing series, but I have yet to see anyone accurately describe the experience.
Marjane Satrapi (Persepolis)
Jane Irwin (Vogelein)
Laura Allred is an amazing colorist.
Lea Moore (Wild Girls)
Layla Lawlor (Raven’s Children)
Pia Guerra (Y, the Last Man)
Caitlin Kiernan (The Dreaming)
Nancy Collins (Swamp Thing)
Alison Bechdel (Dykes to Watch Out For)
Becky Cloonan (DEMO)
It might not be out yet, so don’t panic.
I liked what I read from Dixon’s BoP run, especially because he built a believable platonic friendship between Oracle and my favorite character, Blue Beetle. BoP #25 is one of my all-time favorite single-issue stories (and a nice tribute to Watchmen).
Yeah, there are lots of female artists in Japan but they write primarily women’s comics. Here’s just a sampling.
I don’t know if I’d agree that there are more styles among men tho’; maybe it’s that the differences are more extreme among men’s characters. A lot of women’s comics tend to be more realistic, character driven stories (as opposed to fantastic science fiction adventures) and that subject lends itself to a more realistic drawing style.
If a non-women’s oriented comic (like Inuyasha) has cute male characters, it’s a good bet that the artist is a female.
No mention of (Mary) Jo Duffy? Not sure what she’s doing today, but I recall she was writing The Punisher for Marvel with so much testosterone, a bunch of fans thought she was a guy. 
Well, realistic, but also pretty. Boy’s comics often lean towards the more cartoony and grotesque styles. If you want your art to look pretty, your characters have to look like the popular image of beauty at the time. And they have to look similar to each other, with a fewer variations, making character design a more subtle thing.
Of course, this doesn’t always work. Some people I know who are well into anime/manga styles nevertheless have trouble with FAKE’s style and can’t read it. Took me a long time to get used to Utena. On the other hand, I think One Piece (boys’) is terribly pretty, for all that the characters are a bunch of freaks.