Aline Kominsky-Crumb

Aline Kominsky-Crumb (August 1, 1948 – November 29, 2022) was a cartoonist, editor, and underground comics pioneer whose unflinching, confessional work broke open what comics could say about women's inner lives. Born Aline Goldsmith on Long Island, she studied at Cooper Union and arrived in San Francisco in the early 1970s, where she joined the all-female Wimmen's Comix collective and published her first strip, 'Goldie: A Neurotic Woman' — widely cited as the first autobiographical comic by a woman. Her comics avatar 'The Bunch' became a vehicle for brutally honest self-examination: her body, her sexuality, her parents, her marriage, her contradictions. With Diane Noomin she co-founded Twisted Sisters in 1976. From 1986 to 1993 she edited Weirdo, introducing new voices — many of them women — to readers. Her work influenced generations of women in comics, animation, and comedy. Her daughter Sophie Crumb is also a cartoonist. She died from pancreatic cancer at her home in southern France at age 74.