Dale Messick

Dale Messick, born Dalia Messick, studied at the Chicago Art Institute for one summer, and started her career in comics in the mid-1920s, when she tried to sell her first comic strip 'Weegee', about a country girl who goes to the city. Messick had a hard time finding a publisher, which she attributed to the fact that she was a woman, so she assumed the more sexually ambiguous name, Dale. She tried many new strips, in different genres, coming up with titles such as 'Mimi the Mermaid', 'Peg and Pudy, the Struglettes' and 'Streamline Babies', all of which remained unpublished.

Then, Dale Messick created 'Brenda Starr, Reporter', which has become her biggest success. The Sunday page was launched in 1940, and became very popular. A daily strip was added in 1945, for which Messick employed a large staff of assistants, including John Oleson and Jim Mackey. She retired in 1980, leaving the strip to writer Linda Sutter and artist Ramona Fradon.

Messick was influenced by the work of the famous female comic artist, Nell Brinkley. She also drew the newspaper comic version of 'Perry Mason', created by Erle Stanley Gardner. She died in April 2005 at the age of 98.