Jennifer Camper
Encyclopedia
Jennifer Camper is an American comics artist, graphic artist and editor residing in Brooklyn, New York.
Camper, who is openly
lesbian
, has been producing comics
since the 1980s. Her work has appeared in many publications including The Village Voice
, San Francisco Bay Times
, Ms. Magazine
, Curve
, On Our Backs
, Washington Blade, The Advocate
, Out Magazine, and Girlfriends
, among many, many others. Her work has also appeared in comic anthologies such as Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby
; Gay Comix
; and The Great Women Cartoonists and A Century of Women Cartoonists, both edited by Trina Robbins
; to give just a small example. She has released two books of her comic art: Rude Girls and Dangerous Women, published by Laugh Lines Press in 1994 and SubGURLZ, published by Cleis Press
in 1999.
Camper is also the editor of the important anthology of queer
comics entitled Juicy Mother. It is the first anthology of queer comics to have appeared since the release of Gay Comix, edited by Howard Cruse
, which was first released in 1980 and appeared throughout the 1990s. Two volumes of Juicy Mother have been released so far. The first, entitled Juicy Mother: Celebration, was published by Soft Skull Press
in 2005. This anthology featured the work of the artists and writers Alison Bechdel
, the aforementioned Howard Cruse, Diane DiMassa
, Michael Fahy, Leanne Franson, Joan Hilty, G.B. Jones, Rupert Kinnard, Robert Kirby
, Serena Pillai, Karen Platt, Ariel Schrag
, Robert Triptow
, Ivan Valez Jr., Stephen Winter and Camper herself. The anthology was a finalist for the 18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in the 'Humor' category.
The second volume appeared in 2007, published by Manic D Press
and subtitled How They Met. This edition was substantially larger than the first and included even more artists and writers. Many of the contributors from the first issue were on hand again, such as Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Diane DiMassa, Michael Fahy, Leanne Franson, Joan Hilty, G.B. Jones, Robert Kirby, Ariel Schrag, Robert Triptow, Ivan Valez Jr., Stephen Winter and Camper. They were joined by Lawrence Ferber, Fly
, Chitra Ganesh
, David Kelly, Carrie McNinch, Sara Rojo Perez
, Lawrence Schimel
, and Scott Treleaven
, among others. Juicy Mother 2 was one of the finalists for a 20th Annual Lambda Literary Award in the 'Anthology' category.
Camper, who is openly
Coming out
Coming out is a figure of speech for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people's disclosure of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity....
lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...
, has been producing comics
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
since the 1980s. Her work has appeared in many publications including The Village Voice
The Village Voice
The Village Voice is a free weekly newspaper and news and features website in New York City that features investigative articles, analysis of current affairs and culture, arts and music coverage, and events listings for New York City...
, San Francisco Bay Times
San Francisco Bay Times
The San Francisco Bay Times is a free weekly LGBT newspaper in San Francisco, California that started as COMING Up! in October 1979 as "the gay lesbian newspaper and calendar of events for the Bay Area."...
, Ms. Magazine
Ms. magazine
Ms. is an American feminist magazine co-founded by American feminist and activist Gloria Steinem and founding editor Letty Cottin Pogrebin together with founding editors Patricia Carbine, Joanne Edgar, Nina Finkelstein, and Mary Peacock, that first appeared in 1971 as an insert in New York magazine...
, Curve
Curve (magazine)
Curve is a lesbian magazine in the United States. It covers news, politics, social issues, and includes celebrity interviews and stories on entertainment, pop culture, style, travel, and a website that hosts an internet forum focusing on lesbian issues, active since 2000.The magazine was first...
, On Our Backs
On Our Backs
On Our Backs was the first women-run erotica magazine and the first magazine to feature lesbian erotica for a lesbian audience in the United States....
, Washington Blade, The Advocate
The Advocate
The Advocate is an American LGBT-interest magazine, printed monthly and available by subscription. The Advocate brand also includes a web site. Both magazine and web site have an editorial focus on news, politics, opinion, and arts and entertainment of interest to LGBT people...
, Out Magazine, and Girlfriends
Girlfriends (magazine)
Girlfriends was a women's magazine that provided critical coverage of culture, entertainment and world events from a lesbian perspective. It was founded by Jacob Anderson-Minshall, Diane Anderson-Minshall, and Heather Findlay. It also offered relationship, health and travel advice. Published...
, among many, many others. Her work has also appeared in comic anthologies such as Boy Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby (comics artist)
Robert Kirby is the creator of the syndicated comic Curbside.Curbside is the story of two young men, Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship...
; Gay Comix
Gay Comix
Gay Comix was an underground comics series published from 1980–1998. Created by Howard Cruse, Gay Comix featured the work of gay, lesbian, and transsexual artists. Much of the early content was autobiographical, but more diverse themes were explored in later editions...
; and The Great Women Cartoonists and A Century of Women Cartoonists, both edited by Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins
Trina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
; to give just a small example. She has released two books of her comic art: Rude Girls and Dangerous Women, published by Laugh Lines Press in 1994 and SubGURLZ, published by Cleis Press
Cleis Press
Cleis Press is an independent publisher of books in the areas of sexuality, erotica, feminism, gay and lesbian studies, gender studies, fiction, and human rights. The press was founded in 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, later moved to San Francisco, and is now based out of Berkeley, CA...
in 1999.
Camper is also the editor of the important anthology of queer
Queer
Queer is an umbrella term for sexual minorities that are not heterosexual, heteronormative, or gender-binary. In the context of Western identity politics the term also acts as a label setting queer-identifying people apart from discourse, ideologies, and lifestyles that typify mainstream LGBT ...
comics entitled Juicy Mother. It is the first anthology of queer comics to have appeared since the release of Gay Comix, edited by Howard Cruse
Howard Cruse
Howard Cruse is an American alternative cartoonist known for the exploration of gay themes in his comics.Cruse was raised in Springville, Alabama, the son of a preacher and a homemaker. His earliest published cartoons were in The Baptist Student when he was in high school. His work later appeared...
, which was first released in 1980 and appeared throughout the 1990s. Two volumes of Juicy Mother have been released so far. The first, entitled Juicy Mother: Celebration, was published by Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press
Soft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...
in 2005. This anthology featured the work of the artists and writers Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel is an American cartoonist. Originally best known for the long-running comic strip Dykes To Watch Out For, in 2006 she became a best-selling and critically acclaimed author with her graphic memoir Fun Home.-Early life:...
, the aforementioned Howard Cruse, Diane DiMassa
Diane DiMassa
Diane DiMassa is an American feminist author and cartoonist. Her works include comics, illustrations, and a graphic novel. She is best known for the character Hothead Paisan, Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist.- Hothead Paisan :...
, Michael Fahy, Leanne Franson, Joan Hilty, G.B. Jones, Rupert Kinnard, Robert Kirby
Robert Kirby (comics artist)
Robert Kirby is the creator of the syndicated comic Curbside.Curbside is the story of two young men, Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship...
, Serena Pillai, Karen Platt, Ariel Schrag
Ariel Schrag
Ariel Schrag is an American cartoonist and television writer who achieved critical recognition at an unusually early age for her autobiographical comics.-Biography:...
, Robert Triptow
Robert Triptow
Robert Triptow is a writer and "the last of the underground cartoonists." His 1989 anthology Gay Comics is one of the earliest histories of the subject, and won the first Lambda Literary Award for Humor....
, Ivan Valez Jr., Stephen Winter and Camper herself. The anthology was a finalist for the 18th Annual Lambda Literary Awards in the 'Humor' category.
The second volume appeared in 2007, published by Manic D Press
Manic D Press
Manic D Press is an American literary press based in San Francisco, California publishing fiction , poetry, cultural studies, art, narrative-oriented comix, and alternative travel trade paperbacks...
and subtitled How They Met. This edition was substantially larger than the first and included even more artists and writers. Many of the contributors from the first issue were on hand again, such as Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, Diane DiMassa, Michael Fahy, Leanne Franson, Joan Hilty, G.B. Jones, Robert Kirby, Ariel Schrag, Robert Triptow, Ivan Valez Jr., Stephen Winter and Camper. They were joined by Lawrence Ferber, Fly
Fly (artist)
Fly is a comic book artist and illustrator, whose art has been published in several magazines and fanzines, including Slug and Lettuce, Maximum Rock 'N' Roll, World War 3 Illustrated, Village Voice...
, Chitra Ganesh
Chitra Ganesh
Chitra Ganesh is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York.Ganesh was born in New York, the daughter of Indian immigrant parents. She works in various media including drawing and installation, inspired by topics including South Asian history, myth and legend, poetry, imperialism and queer politics...
, David Kelly, Carrie McNinch, Sara Rojo Perez
Sara Rojo Pérez
Sara Rojo Perez is a painter and artist born in Madrid 1973.She has illustrated a variety of children’s books and also works for magazines like MAN and newspapers like Diario 16....
, Lawrence Schimel
Lawrence Schimel
Lawrence Schimel is an American science fiction and fantasy writer, translator, and anthologist whose work frequently deals with gay and lesbian themes, and with Jewish themes. He was born in New York, and received his B.A. in Literature from Yale University. Schimel is a member of the National...
, and Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven
Scott Treleaven is a Canadian artist whose work employs a variety of media including collage, film, video, drawing, photography and installation.-Artwork:...
, among others. Juicy Mother 2 was one of the finalists for a 20th Annual Lambda Literary Award in the 'Anthology' category.
Books
- Rude Girls and Dangerous Women, Laugh Lines Press, 1994
- SubGURLZ, Cleis PressCleis PressCleis Press is an independent publisher of books in the areas of sexuality, erotica, feminism, gay and lesbian studies, gender studies, fiction, and human rights. The press was founded in 1980 in Minneapolis, Minnesota, later moved to San Francisco, and is now based out of Berkeley, CA...
, 1999
Anthologies
- Juicy Mother: Celebration, edited by Jennifer Camper, Soft Skull PressSoft Skull PressSoft Skull Press is an independent publisher founded by Sander Hicks in 1992, and run by Richard Eoin Nash from 2001 to 2009. In 2007, Nash sold Soft Skull to Counterpoint LLC, where it continues to function as a division of the press...
, 2005 ISBN 1-932360-70-0 - Juicy Mother:How They Met, edited by Jennifer Camper, Manic D PressManic D PressManic D Press is an American literary press based in San Francisco, California publishing fiction , poetry, cultural studies, art, narrative-oriented comix, and alternative travel trade paperbacks...
, 2007 ISBN 978-1-933149-20-2
Contributions
- A Century of Women Cartoonists, edited by Trina RobbinsTrina RobbinsTrina Robbins is an American comics artist and writer. She was an early and influential participant in the underground comix movement, and one of the few female artists in underground comix when she started. Both as a cartoonist and historian, Robbins has long been involved in creating outlets for...
, Kitchen Sink PressKitchen Sink PressKitchen Sink Press was a comic book publishing company founded by Denis Kitchen in 1970. Kitchen owned and operated Kitchen Sink Press until 1999. Kitchen Sink Press was a pioneering publisher of underground comics, and was also responsible for numerous republications of classic comic strips in...
, 1993, ISBN 0-87816-206-2 - The Great Women Cartoonists, edited by Trina Robbins, Kitchen Sink Press, 1997, ISBN 0-8230-2170-X
- "A Day In The Life...Reference Librarian", Cathy and Jennifer Camper, Revolting Librarians Redux: Radical Librarians Speak Out, edited by Katia Roberts and Jessamyn WestJessamyn West (librarian)Jessamyn Charity West is an American librarian and blogger, best known as the creator of librarian.net and for her unconventional views of her profession...
, McFarland and Company, Inc., 2003, ISBN 0-7864-1608-4 - Boy Trouble, edited by Robert KirbyRobert Kirby (comics artist)Robert Kirby is the creator of the syndicated comic Curbside.Curbside is the story of two young men, Drew, an aspiring writer, and Nathan, an aspiring musician, who meet and eventually form a tumultuous relationship...
and David Kelly, Boy Trouble Books, 2004 ISBN 0-9748855-0-9 - Dead High Yearbook, edited by Ivan Valez Jr., Dutton Books, (a division of Penguin Group (USA) 2007 ISBN 0-525-47783-7
- The Book of Boy Trouble 2: Born to Trouble, edited by Robert Kirby and David Kelly, Green Candy Press, 2008 ISBN 978-1-931160-65-0