Dorothy Woolfolk née Dorothy Roubicek (October 1, 1913 – November 27, 2000
[Dorothy A. Woolfolk]
, Social Security Number
In the United States, a Social Security number (SSN) is a nine-digit number issued to United States nationality law, U.S. citizens, Permanent residence (United States), permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents under section 205(c)(2 ...
113-07-8544, at the Social Security Death Index
The Social Security Death Index (SSDI) was a database of death records created from the United States Social Security Administration's Death Master File until 2014. Since 2014, public access to the updated Death Master File has been via the Limit ...
. Gives death date as November 12, but son, below, gives November 27.[ Note: Obituary gives middle initial "G" while Social Security Death Index gives middle initial "A".]) was one of the first women in the
American comic-book
A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and written narrative, ...
industry. As an editor at
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
, one of the two largest companies in the field, during the 1940s period historians and fans call the
Golden Age of Comic Books
The Golden Age of Comic Books describes an era in the history of American comic books from 1938 to 1956. During this time, modern comic books were first published and rapidly increased in popularity. The superhero archetype was created and ma ...
, she is credited with helping to create the fictional metal
Kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton (comics), Krypton that emits a u ...
in the
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
mythos
Myth is a genre of folklore consisting primarily of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society. For scholars, this is very different from the vernacular usage of the term "myth" that refers to a belief that is not true. Instead, the ...
.
Biography
Early life and education
Born Dorothy Roubicek, Woolfolk was a
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
high school graduate who never attended college but nonetheless won prizes on a 1950s
television
Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...
game show
A game show (or gameshow) is a genre of broadcast viewing entertainment where contestants compete in a game for rewards. The shows are typically directed by a game show host, host, who explains the rules of the program as well as commentating a ...
.
Editor
She served from 1942 to 1944 as an editor at
All-American Publications
All-American Publications, Inc.The name is spelled with a hyphen per its logo (pictured) and sources includinat Don Markstein's ToonopediaArchivedfrom the original on April 15, 2012. was one of two American comic book companies that merged to fo ...
, one of the three companies that would merge to form the present-day DC, before
Julius Schwartz
Julius "Julie" Schwartz ( ; June 19, 1915 – February 8, 2004) was an American comic book editor, and a science fiction agent. He was born in The Bronx, New York. He is best known as a longtime editor at DC Comics, where at various times he ...
took over, then spent the next two years at
Timely Comics
Timely Comics was the common name for the group of corporations that was the earliest comic book arm of American publisher Martin Goodman (publisher), Martin Goodman, and the entity that would evolve by the 1960s to become Marvel Comics. "Timely P ...
, the 1940s predecessor to
Marvel Comics
Marvel Comics is a New York City–based comic book publishing, publisher, a property of the Walt Disney Company since December 31, 2009, and a subsidiary of Disney Publishing Worldwide since March 2023. Marvel was founded in 1939 by Martin G ...
, and in 1948 was an editor at
EC Comics
E.C. Publications, Inc., (doing business as EC Comics) is an American comic book publisher. It specialized in horror fiction, crime fiction, satire, military fiction, dark fantasy, and science fiction from the 1940s through the mid-1950s, nota ...
.
Thomas, Roy
Roy William Thomas Jr."Roy Thomas Checklist" ''Alter Ego'' vol. 3, #50 (July 2005) p. 16 (born November 22, 1940) is an American comic book writer and editor. He was Stan Lee's first successor as editor-in-chief of Marvel Comics and possibly bes ...
, ed. ''All-Star Companion Volume 1'' (TwoMorrows Publishing
TwoMorrows Publishing is a publisher of magazines about comic books, founded in 1994 by John and Pam Morrow out of their small advertising agency in Raleigh, North Carolina, United States. Its products also include books and DVDs.
List of maga ...
, 2004)
Woolfolk said in 1993 that she had found
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
's invulnerability dull, and that DC's flagship hero might be more interesting with an
Achilles' heel
An Achilles' heel (or Achilles heel) is a weakness despite overall strength, which can lead to downfall. While the mythological origin refers to a physical vulnerability, idiomatic references to other attributes or qualities that can lead to do ...
such as adverse reactions to a fragment of his home planet. This gave rise to the famous fictional metal
kryptonite
Kryptonite is a fictional material that appears primarily in Superman stories published by DC Comics. In its best-known form, it is a green, crystalline material originating from Superman's home world of Krypton (comics), Krypton that emits a u ...
, which made its first appearance in the comics in the story "Superman Returns To Krypton!", credited to writer
Bill Finger
Milton "Bill" Finger (February 8, 1914 – ) was an American comic book writer who co-created the DC Comics character Batman with Bob Kane. Despite making major (sometimes, signature) contributions as an innovative writer, visionary mythos/world ...
, in ''Superman'' #61 (Dec. 1949).
After raising children Donald and
Donna,
the latter of whom would become an author, Woolfolk briefly returned to comics in the 1970s, editing ''
Wonder Woman
Wonder Woman is a superheroine who appears in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appeared in ''All Star Comics'' Introducing Wonder Woman, #8, published October 21, 1941, with her first feature in ''Sensation Comic ...
'', ''
Supergirl
Supergirl is the name of several fictional superheroines appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The original, current, and most well known Supergirl is Supergirl (Kara Zor-El), Kara Zor-El, the cousin of superhero Superman. Th ...
'', ''
Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane
''Superman's Girl Friend, Lois Lane'' is an American comic book series published monthly by DC Comics. The series focusing on the adventures of Lois Lane began publication with a March/April 1958 cover date and ended its run in September/October ...
'', ''
Young Romance
''Young Romance'' is a romantic comic book series created by Joe Simon and Jack Kirby for the Crestwood Publications imprint (trade name), imprint Prize Comics in 1947 in comics, 1947. Generally considered the first Romance comics in the United ...
'', and other DC
superhero
A superhero or superheroine is a fictional character who typically possesses ''superpowers'' or abilities beyond those of ordinary people, is frequently costumed concealing their identity, and fits the role of the hero, typically using their ...
and
romance titles from 1971 to 1974.
[Dorothy Woolfolk]
at the Grand Comics Database
The Grand Comics Database (GCD) is an Internet-based project to build a database of comic book information through user contributions. The GCD project catalogues information on creator credits, story details, reprints, and other information use ...
Comics artist
Alan Kupperberg
Alan Kupperberg (; May 18, 1953 – July 16, 2015) was an American comics artist known for working in both comic books and newspaper strips.
Early life
Alan Kupperberg was born on May 18, 1953 in New York City. He graduated from the High School ...
, who worked with her at
DC Comics
DC Comics (originally DC Comics, Inc., and also known simply as DC) is an American comic book publisher owned by DC Entertainment, a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. DC is an initialism for "Detective Comics", an American comic book seri ...
in the 1970s, said in 2001,
Her assistant editor at DC,
Ethan Mordden,
would go on to become a notable
LBGT author.
Writer
She also occasionally scripted comics, including an unknown number of ''Wonder Woman'' stories in the 1940s — making Woolfolk the first female writer of that series,
and, with
Ruth Atkinson and
Ruth Roche, among comic books' first female writers. Woolfolk also wrote for the
science fiction
Science fiction (often shortened to sci-fi or abbreviated SF) is a genre of speculative fiction that deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts. These concepts may include information technology and robotics, biological manipulations, space ...
magazine ''Orbit'' during the 1950s,
and in the 1970s and early 1980s was the author of the 10-book
Scholastic Press
Scholastic Corporation is an American multinational publishing, education, and media company that publishes and distributes books, comics, and educational materials for schools, teachers, parents, children, and other educational institutions. P ...
young-adult novel series about teen detective Donna Rockford.
Personal life
Her second husband was 1930s comic-strip cartoonist and 1940s comic-book writer Walter Galli.
She met her third husband,
novelist
William Woolfolk,
during her stint at DC, when she rejected a script he had submitted for a
Superman
Superman is a superhero created by writer Jerry Siegel and artist Joe Shuster, which first appeared in the comic book ''Action Comics'' Action Comics 1, #1, published in the United States on April 18, 1938.The copyright date of ''Action Comics ...
comic book.
Woolfolk's daughter,
Donna Woolfolk Cross, is also an author; her work includes the historical novel ''Pope Joan'' (
Ballantine, 1996).
Woolfolk, who lived on the
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...
of
Manhattan
Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...
while working in comics and as an author,
moved to
Norfolk, Virginia
Norfolk ( ) is an independent city (United States), independent city in the U.S. state of Virginia. It had a population of 238,005 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of cities in Virginia, third-most populous city ...
, in 1996.
Two years later, she began to reside at the St. Francis Nursing Center in
Newport News, Virginia
Newport News () is an Independent city (United States), independent city in southeastern Virginia, United States. At the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 186,247. Located in the Hampton Roads region, it is the List of c ...
, and died at Mary Immaculate Hospital in that city on November 27, 2000.
Awards
Woolfolk was nominated every year from 2001 to 2004 for induction into the
Women Cartoonists Hall of Fame.
In 2018, Woolfolk won the 2018
Bill Finger Award from
San Diego Comic-Con
San Diego Comic-Con is a comic book convention and multi-genre entertainment event held annually in San Diego, California, at the San Diego Convention Center. Founded in 1970, originally showcasing primarily comic books and science fiction/fant ...
.
See also
*
Women in comics
Books
Donna Rockford Mystery series
*''The Girl Cried Murder'' (original title: ''"Murder, My Dear!"''; Scholastic, 1974) 1983 reissue:
*''Murder in Washington and the Body on the Beach'' — Donna Rockford Double Mystery Series (Scholastic, 1982)
*''Mother Where Are You?'' (Scholastic, 1982)
*''Who Killed Daddy?'' (Scholastic, 1982)
*''Death of a Dancer'' (Scholastic, 1982)
*''Murder by Moonlight'' (Scholastic, 1983)
*''How to Look Like a Winner'' (Scholastic, 1983)
*''Abbey Is Missing'' (Scholastic, 1983)
*''Mystery in Studio 13'' (Scholastic, 1984)
References
External links
Dorothy Woolfolk at The Comic Book Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Woolfolk, Dorothy
1913 births
2000 deaths
American comic book editors
American comics writers
Golden Age comics creators
DC Comics people
American female comics writers
20th-century American women writers
Bill Finger Award winners
American people of Czech descent