Michelle Rau

Michelle Rau is an American cartoonist, writer, and artist known for publishing her cartoon zine, ''Lana's World''. She was an active contributor in the alternative publishing, queer zine, and comics landscape of the 1980s and 1990s.

Life

Rau received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Oregon and later completed graduate studies in journalism and communication.Warren, Roz, editor. “Michelle Rau.” ''Dyke Strippers: Lesbian Cartoonists A to Z'', Cleis Press, 1995, pp. 164–165.

Career

Contributions

Rau has contributed to a number of publications, collaborating alongside many well-known queer cartoonists, editors, and publishers.

* ''Strange Looking Exile'', issues no. 2, 3, and 5, created and published by Robert KirbyZine Collection Catalog Excel Spreadsheet, ''Steven McNabb Archives of Social Research'', 2020 https://mcnabbarchives.wordpress.com/2020/09/17/zine-cataloging-finished/ https://mcnabbarchives.files.wordpress.com/2020/09/mcnabbarchiveszinecollection.xlsx
* ''Girljock Magazine'', issue no. 2, created and edited by Roxxie
* ''Holy Titclamps'', issues no. 4, 10, and 11, created by Larry Bob Roberts
* '' Lesbian Contradiction'', issue no. 30

''Factsheet Five''

Rau assisted R. Seth Friedman after he became the publisher and editor of ''Factsheet Five''. Rau worked as a staff reviewer, using the staff reviewer tag MIR. In Issue no. 38, Rau contributed her experience to the "Why Publish?" article.

''Lana's World''

In 1989 Rau started creating a comic book, ''Lucky Rabbit's Reality No.1,'' which instead became the first issue of ''Lana's World'', her cartoon zine.Rau, Michelle (2018-02-18). "It ain't Kansas, Toto, it's Lana's World". ''Medium''. ''Lana's World'' circulated from 1989 to 1992.

''Lana's World'' began as a solo endeavor, but quickly featured editorials, book, comic, and zine reviews, advertisements, and comics by many cartoonists in the total of 11 issues that were published between 1989 and 1991.

Rau collaborated with and received support from many in the field. ''Lana's World'' includes contributions from Gail Elber, Trina Robbins, Roxxie, Heather Perkins, Anne Lehmer, Nikki Gosch, Karen Platt, Angela Bocage, Rhonda Dicksion, Roberta Gregory, Dawn Manna, among many others. Rau frequently credits names like Mike Gunderloy and Alison Bechdel in the issues for their support in publishing ''Lana's World.''

"From APA to Zines"

Rau While attending graduate school, Rau studied fanzines, zines, and alternative media publishing. She continued researching the history of zines, publishing "From APA to Zines: Towards a History of Fanzine Publishing" in the ''Alternative Press Media'' in 1994''.'' Rau's work has been referenced a number of times by scholars of zines, alternative media, underground publishing, and self-publishing.

Self-publishing

Rau was frequently acknowledged for her work in the zine and self-publishing world.“E- Mail Addresses for Many 'Zine Publishers.” ''The FACTSHEET FIVE Electronic Mail Address List::: Release 4.0'', Totse.com, 23 Sept. 1990, totseans.com/totse/en/ego/on_line_zines/zmail.html. Kirby repeatedly acknowledged Rau in the forewords of ''Strange Looking Exile'' issues, and later commented crediting Rau as one of his inspirations for self-publishing ''Strange Looking Exile.''

Rau is not a career cartoonist or author, but she has continued to write, publish, and pursue creative projects including works like her 2011 novel ''Guest Room of the Heart''. Rau works as a technical writer and she also started a company, How Do You Spell It Productions. Rau has written and published in recent years sharing work through her website, Medium account, email newsletter, and social media.

References

External links

* https://michellerau.com/
* https://www.howdoyouspellit.net/
* https://medium.com/@mirautweets

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rau, Michelle
American comics artists
American comics writers
American magazine cartoonists
American female comics artists
American female comics writers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people