Roberta Gregory
May 7, 1953
Los Angeles, California, United States
Inkpot Award (1994)[1]
Career[edit]
While attending college, Gregory was exposed to the underground comix movement, one of the first times she had seen widespread works by female comic artists. At school, she contributed full-page strips called "Frieda the Feminist" and other artwork to Phil Yeh's campus humor paper, Uncle Jam, as well as art for the Women's Resource Center newsletter.
Gregory began her career in earnest in 1974 by sending a strip titled "A Modern Romance" to the all-female Wimmen's Comix anthology. She also created the strip Feminist Funnies in 1974, expanding it in 1976 for her own original comic book Dynamite Damsels, after it was rejected by Wimmen's Comix due to an alleged similarity to her other work.[7][8] Dynamite Damsels was the first continuing series self published comic by a woman.[9] Gregory has commented on this, stating that she was unaware of the groundbreaking nature of her work at the time of publishing.[6]
She continued to contribute to many other underground comix in the 1970s, including Gay Comix (later renamed Gay Comics) and Robert Kirby's Strange Looking Exile. She is the most prolific contributor to Gay Comix, having appeared in nearly every one of its 25 issues.[10]
In 1990 Gregory created "Bitchy Bitch" Midge McCracken, a woman angry at the world who frequently explodes with rage.[11] She starred in the 40-issue series Naughty Bits, which was published by Fantagraphics from 1991 to 2004. Bitchy Bitch has a lesbian counterpart character named Bitchy Butch. Beginning in 2001, a series of shorts featuring Bitchy Bitch called Bitchy Bits was shown on the Oxygen Network animated series X-Chromosome.[12] Life's a Bitch, an animated series spun-off from the X-Chromosome shorts, aired from 2003–2004 on Oxygen in the U.S. and on The Comedy Network in Canada.[6]
Gregory's other work includes the fantasy graphic novel Winging It (a spinoff of a comic she wrote for Gay Comix),[8] the 3-issue series Artistic Licentiousness, and the comic strip Sheila and the Unicorn.
Much of Gregory's recent work has focused on illustrated stories of her own and others' cats. Real Cat Toons was initially published as a fundraiser for her cat's medical bills, but was republished with additional material under the title True Cat Toons.[13]
She is one of the contributors to Free to Fight, the interactive self-defense project for women.[14]
She is currently working to complete Mother Mountain, the first chapter of which is available to read free on her website. Originally conceived as a spin-off from Winging It, Gregory has been working sporadically on it since the 1990s. Though it began as a graphic novel, she eventually chose to begin again, limiting it to text only. Gregory has stated that the story will span four novels, two of which are complete. She has also planned to complete a graphic novel prequel. Describing its content, Gregory states that the work is a fantasy romance which deals with the consequences of choices made in youth.[7]
Personal life[edit]
Gregory was born in Los Angeles, California, to Disney comics writer and artist Bob Gregory.[9][6]
In 1971, she began college at California State University, Long Beach, where she was exposed to the feminist movement and comic influences such as Nanny Goat Productions members Joyce Farmer and Lyn Chevli. She contributed to her college humor paper until 1974, when she began her own Feminist Funnies.[6]
She moved to Seattle, Washington in 1989, where she resides to this day with her long-term partner, author Bruce B. Taylor. Though she chooses not to use labels with regards to her sexuality, Gregory is a long time participant in bisexual newsletter North Bi Northwest and other LGBTQ organizations.[19]
In addition to her comics, Gregory has been employed in many different day jobs, such as a marine biologist, production artist, market researcher, and most recently, a maintenance worker at McCaw Hall.[6]