Even today, a true womanist hero is hard to come by, but in 1940–when most
of the women in film, radio and other written entertainment media (and comics
more specifically) were distressed damsels, clueless girlfriends, girl fridays
or some combination of the three, Brenda Starr was a real revelation.

Last week, we reported the passing of the vivacious, spunk and
courageous creator of the Brenda Starr series, Dale
Messick. And this week, we’d like to tell you a bit more about her and
the franchise she spearheaded.

In 1940, The Chicago Tribute Syndicate
began to distribute Brenda Starr, Reporter–but not without significant
opposition and an initial rejection. The Tribune’s then-editor Joseph Medill
Patterson placed an immediate stamp of disapproval on the series and many
believed that the only reason he did so was because Dale Messick wasn’t a man.
Eventually, the syndicate saw the light and offered the woman-centric strip a
small supplemental trial.

Audiences loved it from that day to this. The
idea of a globe-trotting journalist with affairs and adventures in no small
measures appeals to all of us–just check out the Gwyneth Paltrow character in
last summer’s Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow… or His Gal
Friday… or Katie Couric every day on The Today Show for that
matter.

Messick knew what she was doing in creating her scarlet-haired
bombshell. She wouldn’t sacrifice a glamorous look for a serious plotline or
vice versa. She allowed her heroine to be just as feminine and romantic as she
was hardnosed and unrelenting in investigations. Brenda cracks her own cases and
finds her own scoops–and the reason she’s able to do it so plausibly is because
Messick proved it possible in getting Brenda Starr printed and distributed.