Meet The Jewish Artist Who Was The First Woman To Draw ‘Wonder Woman’

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By Jenny Singer June 5, 2017

Maybe one day they will say that behind every “great woman” there has to be countless stories of other great women who supported them. And behind the icon of great womanhood “Wonder Woman” is the legendary cartoonist Trina Robbins.

Robbins, 78, has made a career of shading in the colorful histories of unsung female heroes. She was approached to illustrate the limited series “The Legend of Wonder Woman” in 1986.

She says she imagined producers at DC reasoned: “Why don’t we just give it to Trina — we all know she loves “Wonder Woman”. Even if she screws it up, it’s just four issues.”

Robbins went on to produce the first comic book ever to feature an out gay character.

Robbins’ identity-driven work includes several pieces about Jewish women. One comic strip from 1978 boldly revisits the devastation of the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire.

She has adapted work by partisan poet Hirsch Glick, and most recently authored a graphic novel depicting the true story of Lily Renee, a Jewish girl who escaped the Nazis via Kindertransport and was miraculously reunited with her family.

Attending the premier of “Wonder Woman” in Hollywood, Robbins praised the movie’s star Gal Gadot, calling her: “Perfect. Just perfect.”

Jenny Singer is a freelance writer with pieces in Vox, the Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Teen Vogue, and more. She was previously a staff writer at Glamour and the Forward, and she’s currently getting an MFA in nonfiction writing at the University of Iowa.

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