Diane Noomin, the underground cartoonist behind DiDi Glitz, dies at 75

In her loud leopard or floral print dresses, fishnet stockings and big blonde bob wig, DiDi endured lazy men, bad hookups and hangovers but loved and needed gossip and cocktails. Decorated more than The character, who began life as a costume Ms. Nauman made for a Halloween party, gave voice to many of Ms. Nauman’s quirks and quirks.

“DiDi was the epitome of all the housewives she knew growing up in Canarsie (Brooklyn),” Griffith said. “They were the role models she had to follow even though her parents were left-wing. She was kind of afraid of them but also worried that she might become one of them. I think She did it as an exorcism of them. She shared an aesthetic with them, distinctly, ironically. She often said that she kept her DiDi costume in her closet and only wore it on special occasions. But it’s taken out.

In an early story, “I Chose Crime” (1974), DiDi is pregnant and decides to rob a bank. She gets away with the robbery, takes a trip to Rio and has a baby.

“In the comics, there’s no great need for continuity, so I don’t have to tell you the next time you see her she’s not in Rio, not pregnant,” Ms. Nomin said in 2003.

In later stories, DiDi attends a women’s camp for the inorgasmic, becomes a private eye and marries a homosexual hypochondriac.

“At first glance, DiDi Glitz’s life is nothing short of spectacular: ‘charmingly disastrous love affairs,’ ‘brilliant interior design schemes,’ and ‘absolutely beautiful clothes,'” art historian Nicole Roddick wrote in Comics Journal in 2012. “But Daddy wouldn’t be so excited if she had it all. Created in the crucible of underground comics and the women’s movement, she’s equal parts sex, angst, domesticity and rebellion — in turn a badass. , boozy shit and a modern, self-affirming woman.”

DiDi appeared on stageSomething else I’d like to do instead: The DI Glitz story“A 1981 production by San Francisco’s all-women theater group Les Nicolettes.

Last year, Ms Nominee donned a blonde wig and portrayed DiDi in it. “Zippy for President” series Produced by San Francisco Public Radio Station KQED. In the episode, Zippy the Pinhead tries to pick her up in a bar when she gets overwhelmed.

Ms. Nauman, whose background was in sculpture, did not become a cartoonist. She moved from New York City to San Francisco, a major center of underground comics, in the early 1970s after her first marriage ended. (Her pen name was homophonic with her first husband’s surname, Newman.) New styles of comic books, rarely published by small presses and sold in head shops, contained dark satire. , drug use and explicit sex and violence are featured.

“one of the [San Francisco] Jay Kinney, the cartoonist, mapped out all the places where each of us lived,” Griffith said. “There were 16 of us, and we all lived within 10 blocks. We were a very close group before. There were only two publishers, Last Gasp and Rip of Press, and every time a comic came out there was a party celebrating the premiere.

After showing her sketchbook to cartoonist Elaine Kominski, she joins the Wimmen’s Comix collective, a group of like-minded artists struggling in a predominantly male underground genre.

Ms Nauman draws her work on a white scratchboard, a painstaking form of engraving where the artist scrapes away the ink to reveal the black layer underneath.

Wimmen’s Comix (later Wimmin’s Comix), where DiDi Glitz initially appeared, ran 17 issues from 1972 to 1997, challenging the male and often sexist culture of underground comics. Contributors included creators such as Kominsky, Trina Robbins, Lee Marrs and Sharon Rundahl. Artists took turns as editors and the books were often themed—a caching issue, a disastrous relationship issue and even a 3D issue, complete with mandatory glasses.

Ms. Nauman and Kominsky — who would marry cartoonist Robert Crumb, creator of Fritz the Cat and Mr. Natural — resented the constant awareness-raising at mass meetings. After leaving Wimmen’s Comix – Ms. Noomin would return to edit occasionally in later years – they teamed up to produce the comic “Twisted Sisters” (1976), which featured DiDi Glitz and Kominsky as alternate characters. Anna, “The Bunch” was featured.

The back cover of the book featured a pie chart of DiDi’s priorities in life, broken down into percentages. Love affairs were rated 21.7 percent and beautiful clothes were rated 19 percent while sex was rated 1 percent.

Ms. Noomin revived the name “Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art” (1991), a paperback anthology of women’s comics featuring the work of 15 cartoonists, as well as four issues in 1996. Includes anthology series.

In later years, his work took on a more serious tone. “Baby Talk: A Tale of 4 Miscarriages” (1994), chronicles a couple’s painful attempts to conceive. Initially, she created a couple for herself and Griffith named Glinda and Jimmy. DiDi, acting as Greek chorus and comic relief, pulls Ms. Nomen directly into the story, saying: “Are you going to let some cartoon yuppies cry cartoon tears over your lost children?”

Most recently, she edited “Drawing Power: Women’s Stories of Sexual Violence, Harassment, and Survival” (2019). The book — dedicated to Anita Hill, the lawyer who accused future Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas of sexual harassment — and inspired by the #MeToo movement against men who abuse their power through sexual exploitation. Misuse — features over 60 female artists of various ages, ethnicities, and backgrounds. and sexuality.

Diane Robin Rosenblatt was born on May 13, 1947 in Brooklyn. His father owned a jewelry repair shop in Manhattan’s Diamond District, and his mother was a civil servant.

“I grew up on Long Island in the 1950s, and my parents were Communists,” Ms. Nomen told the Library of Congress in 2015. “They were basically running a safe house for people who were trying to leave the country, fleeing. [the anti-communist Sen. Joseph] McCarthy, did not want to testify. [or] I didn’t want to go to jail. My sister and I knew nothing about it. We were just going to the Republican Party picnic and trying to fit in.

“My parents didn’t start talking about it until I was in my 40s,” he added. Referring to husband and wife, he continued: “My father said what he and my mother did was worse than what Rosenberg did. I didn’t ask him what he did. I stood there with my mouth open.”

After graduating from New York City’s Arts High School, Ms. Nauman attended Brooklyn College and the Pratt Institute, where she studied sculpture and photography.

Her marriage to Alan Newman ended in divorce. In addition to her husband of 42 years, of Hadlyme, survivors include one sister;

When asked if she thought of her work as women’s art, Ms. Nomin replied, “No, but I think unless you’re a white, Anglo-Saxon male, you An adjective will come in. You’re going to be a black artist or an Asian artist or a female artist.