Debbie Drechsler (born 1953) is an American

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicate ...

and

comic book creator developed specialized terminology. Several attempts have been made to formalize and define the terminology of comics by authors such as Will Eisner, Scott McCloud, R. C. Harvey and Dylan Horrocks. Much of the terminology in English is under di ...

. Her semi-autobiographical graphic novel about

incest Incest ( ) is sexual intercourse, sex between kinship, close relatives, for example a brother, sister, or parent. This typically includes sexual activity between people in consanguinity (blood relations), and sometimes those related by lineag ...

, ''

Daddy's Girl Daddy's Girl or Daddy's Girls may refer to: Literature * ''Daddy's Girl'', novel originally written in 1971 (but not published until 1980 because of its incestual content) by Charlotte Vale Allen * ''Daddy's Girl'' (graphic novel), a 1996 graphi ...

'' (1996), was nominated for an

Ignatz Award The Ignatz Awards recognize outstanding achievements in comics and cartooning by small press creators or creator-owned projects published by larger publishers. They have been awarded each year at the Small Press Expo since 1997, only skipping a ...

Biography

Drechsler was born in

Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in ...

, in 1953. She knew early in life that she wanted to make art of some kind. She studied at the

Rochester Institute of Technology The Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) is a private university, private research university in Henrietta, New York, a suburb of Rochester, New York, Rochester. It was founded in 1829. It is one of only two institute of technology, institut ...

. In the 1970s, she discovered the

feminist movement The feminist movement, also known as the women's movement, refers to a series of social movements and political campaigns for Radical politics, radical and Liberalism, liberal reforms on women's issues created by inequality between men and wom ...

as well as alternative comics. She was originally encouraged to draw comics by fellow cartoonists

Richard Sala Richard Sala (June 2, 1954 – May 7, 2020) was an American cartoonist, illustrator, and comic book creator with a unique expressionistic style whose books often combined elements of mystery, horror and whimsy. Biography Richard Sala was born i ...

and Michael Dougan. In 1992, she got her first piece published by

Drawn & Quarterly Drawn & Quarterly (D+Q) is a publishing company based in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, specializing in comics. It publishes primarily comic books, graphic novels and comic strip collections. The books it publishes are noted for their artistic con ...

. Her work later appeared in the

Kitchen Sink Press Kitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in hardcov ...

anthology '' Twisted Sisters'', edited by

Diane Noomin Diane Robin Noomin ( Rosenblatt, May 13, 1947 – September 1, 2022) was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as ...

. In 1996, her first graphic novel was ''Daddy's Girl'', published by

Fantagraphics Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...

. It was a semi-autobiographical story dealing with difficult subjects such as

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...

and incest. It was nominated for an

and also appeared as #81 in ''The Comics Journal'' "Top 100 Comics list" in February 1999. In 2002, her new graphic novel was ''The Summer of Love'', released by

. Inspired by ''

Wimmen's Comix ''Wimmen's Comix'', later retitled (respelled) as ''Wimmin's Comix'', is an influential all-female underground comics anthology published from 1972 to 1992. Though it covered a wide range of genres and subject matters, ''Wimmen's Comix'' focused m ...

'', ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

'', and ''

Mad Magazine ''Mad'' (stylized in all caps) is an American humor magazine which was launched in 1952 and currently published by DC Comics, a unit of the DC Entertainment subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. ''Mad'' was founded by editor Harvey Kurtzman an ...

'', it was also partly based on Drechsler's own experiences dealing with typical teenage emotions such as alienation, confusion, and anger. This book is a collection of issues 1-5 of Nowhere. Drechsler has since largely left comics work to concentrate on commercial art. Drechsler used to live in

upstate New York Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...

, but she is currently living in

Santa Rosa, California Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...

References

External links

* Archived May 17, 2018.
Debbie Drechsler profile
at

Lambiek Galerie Lambiek is a Dutch comic book store and art gallery in Amsterdam, founded on November 8, 1968 by Kees Kousemaker (, – Bussum Bussum () is a commuter town and former municipality in the Gooi region in the south east of the prov ...

"What It Feels Like for a Girl"
October 2002 review of ''Summer of Love'' (by Andrew Arnold at ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

'') * {{DEFAULTSORT:Drechsler, Debbie 1953 births Living people Alternative cartoonists American women illustrators American comics writers American female comics writers American female comics artists American graphic novelists 21st-century American women artists