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Trina Robbins is a friend not only to sexworkers, but to many progressive causes in the Bay Area. She caught my attention with her series Scarlet Pilgrim,which ran in the COYOTE newsletter in the late seventies. It later became a comic book with the same name, now out of print, published by Last Gasp. When I put together the Whorezine Comix Issue, still in print, I felt it imperitive toinclude a tribute to Ms. RObbins. Last Gasp told me I might be able to find acopy somewhere for forty or fifty dollars. I was lucky enough to locate a copyof Scarlet Pilgrim in a comic store on Divisidero for a steal.

I've sort of run into her on the street a couple times, sort of, since wehaven't been properly introduced yet, but i know who she is, and so do manyother people. Each time she stands still a small crowd forms to say hello andshe always has an encouranging, uplifitng manner. Ms. Robbins, I will make it apoint to introduce myself the next time, I promise.

Victor St. Blaise: How do you define what you do? what do you like to becalled?

Trina Robbins: It's a problem, I've been not only a cartoonist and illustrator,but I'm also writing. Now I call myself a writer/illustrator.

Victor: How did you get started and what were your influences?

Trina: My mom was a school teacher. When i was four she taught me to read and Ibecame an omniverous reader: cereal boxes, placards on the New York subways,comics, everything. She didn't think reading comics would keep me from readingother stuff because I read everything. She taught me to write at age five, and Iwas already drawing. It was already accepted that I'd rather be an artist, artwas never a "bad thing for girls vs. good thing for boys"

Victor: Did you make a choice as a kid?

Trina: Between writing and drawing? I decided to write AND illustrate my stories. I didn't really get back into it until the mid 60's. My image of an artist was awacky guy with a smock and goatee, living in Paris. I could do everything except grow the goatee. I took french so I could go to France.

Victor: What cartoonists did you liek then?

Trina: As a kid, Wally Wood from E.C. Comics, he signed his name to his work, andhe drew women really well. Also Marvel and Stan Lee, Patsy Walker, Millie theModel, I only cared about women characters

Victor: What influence did the 60's have on your work?

Trina: That was the time of the Silver Age of Marvel. In 1965 I was a hippygetting stoned and reading comics in L.A. I moved to New York for an art school,Cooper Union, where they taught whatever was fashionable in fine arts. At theywere pushing wall sized abstracts and I was drawing small things on paper. I got kicked out. I realized these drawings on small paper were comics.

Victor: And you wanted to do comics?

Trina: I was into Marvel, but i didn't want to do superheroes. I found this underground paper, the East Village Other, and they had this four page psychedelic comic that blew me away! I had a friend who knew the editor and within a couple weeks I submitted some work and was published! For the next two to three years I contributed psychedlic/strange strips.

Victor: Do you remember the artist who inspired you?

Trina: It was signed Panzika- two years later I found out that this big inspiration was a woman, Nancy Kalish.

Victor: What was the scene then?

Trina: It wasn't called "underground" yet, but in '68 or '69 underground comics had exploded. I was a regular contributer to Gothic Blimpworks, getting $20 apage.

Victor: When did you arrive in California?

Trina: In December of '69 I came to the mecca of underground, San Francisco. I contributed to Yello Dog, ZAP, etc.

Victor: How exciting!

Trina: I was part of a lemming migration of New York comics artists stopping short of the Pacific, only to discover a boys' club. There was incredible sexism and violence towards women. I really believed in "peace and love", but most of my male peers had hostility towards women. I was really shut out of the movement.

Victor: But that didn't stop you...

Trina: I had become a feminist. I came across a copy of "It Ain't Me, Babe" and the first article hit the right chords, and I started drawing for them. With their backings I edited the first all womens comic book, published by Last Gasp.

Victor: How did Scarlet Pilgrim come about?

Trina: She was inspired by Margot St. James of COYOTE. Margot was real big in San Francisco in the late seventies, just meeting and talking to her was a big inspiration. The politics in Scarlet Pilgrim was because of her.

Victor: Any hope of bringing back Scarlet?

Trina: I left it open, there is her "little innocent niece" who knows what will happen in the future?

Victor: What purpose do you see for Comics?

Trina: There's no point in a comic if it doesn't say something. I like to say things, not blatant propaganda, but comics have such potential. You can entertain and still have something to say. It's such a waste when comics are simply used to promote violence. Strip AIDS and Choices- they are both feature comics that say something!

Victor: What are you working on now?

Trina: In order to earn moeny, I'm one of the writers and inkers for Marvel Barbie, it's the only thing out there for women writers. It's written by three women, all feminists, but the one hurdle is we must get each synopsis approved by Mattel. I jsut submitted a story on AIDS about acceptance and compassion for a kid with AIDS going to school; I hopes Mattel approves it. I dd get a story on anorexia approved- in Marvel Barbie!

Victor: How long does the process take?

Trina: It can take a couple of months from synopsis approval to finished porduct, and another five months before it's printed

Victor: And your other projects?

Trina: I contribute to Red Girl Comics and Womens Comics, also do the paper dolls series for City Magazine's back page/ I want to write more: novels, children's books. I'm putting together the last installment for the book "A Century of Womens Cartoonists."

Victor: Did you see the film Funny Women?

Trina: I not only saw it, I wrote the first part, read by Jean Stapleton. I've become an expert, simply because no one else has, that's how you become an expert, on women cartoonists.

Victor: What changes have you seen comics go through since you started?

Trina: The latest look is "New Wave" in underground. Crumm typifies the old fashioned underground look: very grey, lot's of rendering, little black lines with little thin pens, Lynda Barry is new wave. I don;t fit in either; I'm an outsideer and that's ok.

Victor: What about women artists in comics?

Trina: There are many more women in underground, more women in general. There're two at Marvel, D.C., two prominent women in underground, but still, book after book- all male publications. Underground pays so little, few women can make a living.

Victor: And why not above ground?

Trina: One could, but it's all superhero, it goes against our grain.

Victor: Why the dominance of superhero comics?

Trina: They echo the times, which are very violent, and every consumer item, including comics, is aimed at young white heterosexual males. If I had my way I'd put them in special care from age twelve to 36. They're perpetrators of violence, they litter the streets! My industry is geared toward these little shits whom as you can tell I'm probably not to found about.

Victor: Why violence as the focus?

Trina: What is being tapped is the darker side. This is the Age of Sleaze: "take the money and run" and "how can I get this quick and easy?" Ever since Reagan it's been Quick and Easy, just like crack. We've had twelve years of white sugar and crack mentality, the whole bully boy concept, where we can march into a little country and bomb it back to the Stone Age if we feel like it- it all goes together.

Victor: What about sex in mainstream comics?

Trina: Sex is pushed in a violent way, the same for the other media. We have to change society before we can show sex in a positive way. Adolescents get weird,mixed messages about sex and women: constant sexuality pushed in the media, no sex education, Bush didn't want children to learn about safe sex and the official position is trying to pretend that sex doesn't exist for teenagers. One hand holding out a sign saying "Do it" and in the other hand a sing saying "Don't do it"

Victor: So how do we go about changing society?

Trina: Each one teach one: every person you meet you talk to, I wear my little buttons, I say something to everyone. I also protest. A great way to exercise is to march from Justin Herman Plaza to the Civic Center, and street theatre is a great way for us to get out our dramatic abilities. Never cave in and give in to your beliefs; don't jsut go back to sleep after a partial victory. For instance abortion: in 1973 it became legalized but during the next twenty years we bacame complacent while our rights were chiseled away and now there's all this catch up work to do.

Victor: What would you like to say to Whorezine readers?

Trina: Speak up for your beliefs, don't be silent. In regards to prostitution, when there are so many serious crimes happening out there, to have police arrest for victemless crimes is ridiculous. Prostitution, marijuana, and jay walking should all be decriminalized.

Whorezine was the brainchild of Vic St. Blaise and started at the front of the 'zine revolution in the 1990s, offering both men and women in the business fun insights and useful information from around the globe.