Ruth Atkinson

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ruth Atkinson Ford née Ruth Atkinson and a.k.a. R. Atkinson (died May 31 or June 1, 1997; accounts differ) was a pioneering female cartoonist and comic book artist who helped create the long-running Marvel Comics chararacters Millie the Model and Patsy Walker.

[edit] Biography

Her creation Patsy Walker would become the superheroine Hellcat in 1976, but Ruth Atkinson was drawing Hellcats long before then. From Wings Comics #45 (Nov. 1944).

Under the Atkinson names, she entered the field at Fiction House in 1943, during the World War II military draft that necessitated women joining the American workforce in large numbers. Fiction House was more accommodating to women than most publishing houses, according to artist Murphy Anderson, who also got his start there. Note: The Connectituct Historical Society says, alternately, that Atkinson and fellow female artists Fran Hopper, Lily Renée, and Marcia Snyder worked for the outsourced comic-book "packager" the Iger Studio, where one of the business partners was a woman, Ruth Roche.

Atkinson penciled and inked such features as "Clipper Kirk" and "Suicide Smith" in Wings Comics, as well as the single-page, airplane feature "Wing Tips"; "Tabu" in Jungle Comics; and "Sea Devil" in Rangers Comics. Atkinson became the Fiction House art director, but left the position to freelance after seeing that managerial position left little time for her art. Atkinson went on to launch the feature "Patsy Walker", in Timely's Miss America #2 (Nov. 1944), and which she would draw for two years, and the series Millie the Model. Some sources credit her with creating those character, while others list them as co-creations with writer and Timely editor-in-chief Stan Lee. Following the Millie premiere (Winter 1945), subsequent issues were drawn mostly by Mike Sekowsky and, for a 10-year run from #18-93 (June 1949 - Nov. 1959), by future Archie Comics great Dan DeCarlo.

Atkinson later drew for some of the first romance comics, including Lev Gleason Publications' Boy Meets Girl, through the early 1950s. In a twist of irony, she retired from comics both romantic and in general shortly afterward upon finding real-life romance and marriage. Atkinson Ford died of cancer.

[edit] Personal

Her brother, horseracing Hall of Fame jockey Ted Atkinson, died in 2005. The comic-book artist and cartoonist Ruth Atkinson is not the New Zealand author Ruth Atkinson.

[edit] See also

• List of women in comics

[edit] References

• Lambiek Comiclopedia: Ruth Atkinson Gives death date as May 31, 1997
• The Comics Journal #198 (Aug. 1997): Newswatch - "Atkinson Ford Dead at 79", p. 31 (offline) Gives death date as May 31, 1997
• MSNBC: "Ink Blots" (column) by Ed Mcgeean: Oct. 3, 1997 Gives death date as June 1, 1997
• CBGXtra: "1997: The Year in Comics", by John Jackson Miller Gives death date as June 1, 1997
• Collecgtor's Society BBoard: Boy Meets Girl
• Sequential Tart (Dec. 2001): Interview with Murphy Anderson
• The Connectituct Historical Society: "Fiction House: History and Influences, by Andrew Goldstein

[edit] Further reading

• The Who's Who of American Comic Books, by Jerry Bails, Hames Ware (Detroit, Mich.: J. Bails, 1973-1976), entries, pp. 6 & 93
• Women and the Comics, by Trina Robbins, Catherine Yronwode (Eclipse Books, 1985), index entries, pp. 52, 55, 56, 64, 66
• A Century of Women Cartoonists, by Trina Robbins (Kitchen Sink Press, 1993), index entries, pp. 83, 101-102, 104, 109, 111, 121
• The Great Women Superheroes, by Trina Robbins (Kitchen Sink Press, 1996), index entry, p. 86
• Comics Between the Panels, by Steve Duin, Mike Richardson (Dark Horse Comics, 1998), entry, p. 30
• From Girls to Grrrlz: A History of Comics from Teens to Zines, by Trina Robbins (Chronicle Books, 1999), index entries, pp. 26, 35, 61, 67