Kathleen Louise Worley (March 16, 1958 – June 6, 2004) was an American comic book writer, best known for her work on ''

Omaha the Cat Dancer Omaha ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nebraska. It is located in the Midwestern United States along the Missouri River, about north of the mouth of the Platte River. The nation's 41st-most-populous city, Omaha had a popu ...

'', a sexually explicit

anthropomorphic animal Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics to ...

comic book series about a female

stripper A stripper or exotic dancer is a person whose occupation involves performing striptease in a public adult entertainment venue such as a strip club. At times, a stripper may be hired to perform at private events. Modern forms of stripping m ...

. Worley was also a musician, and a writer and performer for the science fiction comedy

radio program A radio program, radio programme, or radio show is a segment of content intended for broadcast on radio. It may be a one-time production, or part of a periodically recurring series. A single program in a series is called an episode. Radio netw ...

Shockwave Radio Theater ''Shockwave Radio Theater'' was broadcast for 28 years on Fresh Air Radio, the community radio station KFAI, 90.3FM Minneapolis, 106.7FM St. Paul from 1979 to 2007. Much of Shockwave Radio is archived on archive.org Podcasts of some shows are ava ...

Biography

Worley was born in

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It is a southeastern suburb of St. Louis. The population was 42,404 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populated city in the Me ...

on March 16, 1958. After moving to

Minneapolis Minneapolis is a city in Hennepin County, Minnesota, United States, and its county seat. With a population of 429,954 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the state's List of cities in Minnesota, most populous city. Locat ...

, Minnesota in the 1970s, she became one of the early contributors the

there. While in the process of divorcing from her husband, she and

cartoonist A cartoonist is a visual artist who specializes in both drawing and writing cartoons (individual images) or comics (sequential images). Cartoonists differ from comics writers or comics illustrators/artists in that they produce both the litera ...

and musician Reed Waller began a romantic and professional relationship. Moving in together, they wrote songs and performed, both as a duet and with local bands, as well as being popular figures at

Minicon Minicon is a science fiction and fantasy Science fiction convention, convention in Minneapolis usually held on Easter weekend. Started in 1968 and running approximately annually since then, it is one of the oldest science fiction conventions in ...

and other

science fiction convention Science fiction conventions are gatherings of fans of the speculative fiction subgenre, science fiction. Historically, science fiction conventions had focused primarily on literature, but the purview of many extends to such other avenues of ex ...

s. In the mid 1980s, Waller and Worley began collaborating on ''Omaha the Cat Dancer'', which had originated as a strip by Waller in the local fanzine ''Vootie'', before evolving into a nationally distributed

comic book A comic book, comic-magazine, or simply comic is a publication that consists of comics art in the form of sequential juxtaposed panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

series published by

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 ...

. Four pages into issue #2, Waller suffered

writer's block Writer's block is a non-medical condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author is either unable to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. Writer's block has various degrees of severity, from difficulty in coming ...

, and Worley offered "a few tentative suggestions about directions for the storyline, new characters, anything she could think of that might help...." At his invitation, she became the series' writer, enhancing its characterization and themes. In 1988, Waller identified them both as bisexual in the letters column of the series. ''Omaha'' went on hiatus when Worley and Waller were both injured in a car accident; this hiatus was greatly extended when they had an acrimonious parting, which made their attempts at working together difficult. During this time, Worley wrote comics for various publishers, including ''Mulkon Empire'' for Tekno Comix, ''

The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest ''The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest'' (also known as ''Jonny Quest: The Real Adventures'') is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Cartoons and broadcast on Cartoon Network from August 26, 1996, to April 16, 1997. ...

'' for

Dark Horse A dark horse is a previously lesser-known person, team or thing that emerges to prominence in a situation, especially in a competition involving multiple rivals, that is unlikely to succeed but has a fighting chance, unlike the underdog who is exp ...

, ''Roger Rabbit'' for

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly referred to as simply Disney, is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Di ...

, and a "Year One" annual issue of ''

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 ...

''. She married comic book writer

Jim Vance James Howard Vance III (January 10, 1942 – July 22, 2017) was an American television news presenter in Washington, D.C. Early life Born on January 10, 1942,Heil, Emily, "5 minutes with Jim Vance", ''The Washington Post'', January 11, 201 ...

, with whom she moved to

Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa ( ) is the List of municipalities in Oklahoma, second-most-populous city in the U.S. state, state of Oklahoma, after Oklahoma City, and the List of United States cities by population, 48th-most-populous city in the United States. The po ...

, and had a son and daughter. In 2002, she and Waller reached a deal with

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 ...

to reprint ''Omaha,'' with an additional 100 pages. However, she was diagnosed with cancer, and she died June 6, 2004. Vance and Waller would later complete the ''Omaha'' series together, based on notes left by Worley.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Worley, Kate 1958 births 2004 deaths American comics writers Deaths from cancer American female comics writers LGBTQ comics creators American bisexual writers Bisexual women writers 20th-century American LGBTQ people DC Comics people