Sarah Dyer is an 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 panel (comics), panels that represent individual scenes. Panels are often accompanied by descriptive prose and wri ...

writer and artist with roots in the zine movement of the late 1980s and early 1990s. In 1998, ''Action Girl'' was awarded with the "Lulu of the Year" award of

Friends of Lulu Friends of Lulu (FoL) was a non-profit, national charitable organization located in the United States, designed to promote readership of comic books by women and the participation of women in the comic book industry. FoL operated from 1994 to 20 ...

Early life

Dyer was born in Louisiana, went to college in

Gainesville, Florida Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, United States, and the most populous city in North Central Florida, with a population of 145,212 in 2022. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gainesv ...

and then moved to New York City. She showed an early interest in self-publishing and the DIY philosophy by self-publishing her own zines and making her own clothes. At the age of 10, she published the "family newspaper" with comics in it.

Career

Zines

Dyer's first work was a small publication called ''The Silhouette.'' While in school in Gainesville, Florida in 1988, she worked on the ''No Idea'' fanzine with Var Thelin. Unsatisfied with not getting credit for her work to date, Dyer created ''Mad Planet'' as her first solo work, and started collecting female

zine A zine ( ; short for ''magazine'' or ''fanzine'') is, as noted on Merriam-Webster’s official website, a magazine that is a “noncommercial often homemade or online publication usually devoted to specialized and often unconventional subject ...

work. This collection grew into a project in 1992, when Dyer created and began distributing the ''Action Girl Newsletter''. This was a review zine, listing zines and mini-comics created by female writers and artists. In an interview, Dyer described the ideal audience of works such as ''Xena'' as "post-feminist women and girls." Dyer donated these zines, accumulated from reviewing for the ''Action Girl Newsletter'', to

Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...

, where it formed the core of their Zine Collections at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.

Comic books

Her first comic book credit was for coloring the cover for ''Pirate Corp$'' #5 (December 1992). In October 1994, Dyer launched the all-female comics anthology ''

Action Girl Comics ''Action Girl Comics'' is a comic book anthology series, edited by Sarah Dyer. It features the work of female comic book creators, and is published by Slave Labor Graphics. The most prominent recurring character is the eponymous superhero A ...

'', which ran for a total of 19 issues and showcased comics and mini-comics by female artists and writers, as well as Dyer's own ''Action Girl'' series, which featured all-female characters and depicted the world from the viewpoint of a woman. This anthology has black and white contents, while also has colorful covers. In addition to her work with comics, Dyer has self-published manuals and articles on topics ranging from zine publishing to cooking to making clothing, all firmly rooted in DIY philosophy. Dyer has also colored

Evan Dorkin Evan Dorkin (born April 20, 1965) is an American comics artist and cartoonist. His best known works are the comic books ''Milk and Cheese'' and ''Dork'', the latter of which features his comic '' Eltingville''. His comics often poke fun at fandom ...

's work including the

cover art Cover art is a type of artwork presented as an illustration or photograph on the outside of a published product, such as a book (often on a dust jacket), magazine, newspaper ( tabloid), comic book, video game ( box art), music album ( album ar ...

for several

ska Ska (; , ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a w ...

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one Performing arts#Performers, performer or by several performers. If the recordings are from ...

s in the 1990s. Dyer wrote for ''

Space Ghost Coast to Coast ''Space Ghost Coast to Coast'' is an American live-action/ adult animated hybrid television series created by Mike Lazzo for Cartoon Network and first broadcast in 1994. It takes the form of a surreal parody of talk shows, hosted by a reimagi ...

'', ''

Superman Adventures ''Superman Adventures'' is a DC Comics comic book series featuring Superman. It is set in the continuity (and style) of '' Superman: The Animated Series''. It ran for 66 issues between 1996 and 2002. Writers on the series included Paul Dini, Mark ...

'', and ''

Batman Beyond ''Batman Beyond'' (also known as ''Batman of the Future'' in Europe) is an American superhero animated television series based on the DC Comics superhero Batman, and serving as the sequel to both '' Batman: The Animated Series'' and '' The New Ba ...

''.

Animation

Dyer worked with Dorkin on the pilot episode for ''

Welcome to Eltingville ''Welcome to Eltingville'' is an American adult animated comedy pilot created by Evan Dorkin, as an adaptation of his comic book series '' Eltingville''. It premiered in the United States on March 3, 2002, on Cartoon Network's late night progra ...

'' in 2002. The couple also wrote some episodes of the '' Superman: The Animated Series'', such as the episode "Live Wire", which introduced a new character of the same name. The pair contributed to the script of the 2006 English-language version of the anime '' Shin Chan'', which ran for six episodes.

Personal life

Dyer is married to fellow comics writer/artist

with whom she has a daughter named Emily.

Awards and nominations

Sarah Dyer was nominated for a

Lulu Award The Lulu Awards were a group of literary awards in the field of comics, presented by the Friends of Lulu from 1997 to 2010. The awards were intended to "recognize the people and projects that help open the eyes and minds to the amazing comic and c ...

in the category "Lulu of the Year" in 1997 and won in 1998 for her ''Action Girl'' series. Also in 1998, she was nominated for Best Colorist for ''Amy Racecar Color Special'' #1 by the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. In 1999 she and her husband

were nominated for the Annie Award for Best Writing for the ''

'' episode "Lawsuit".

References

External links

*
Sarah Dyer's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyer, Sarah 20th-century American writers 21st-century American writers American album-cover and concert-poster artists American comics writers American television writers Comics colorists American female comics writers Living people People from Louisiana Place of birth missing (living people) American women television writers Year of birth missing (living people) 20th-century American women writers 21st-century American women writers