Diane Robin Noomin ( Rosenblatt, May 13, 1947 – September 1, 2022) was an American comics artist associated with the underground comics movement. She is best known for her character DiDi Glitz, who addresses transgressive social issues such as feminism, female masturbation, body image, and miscarriages. Noomin was the editor of the anthology series Twisted Sisters, and published comix stories in many underground titles, including Wimmen's Comix, Young Lust, Arcade, and Weirdo. She also did theatrical work, creating a stage adaptation of DiDi Glitz.

Early life and career

Noomin was born the elder of two sisters in Canarsie. The family moved to Hempstead, Long Island, in 1952, and then back to Canarsie in 1960. She attended The High School of Music & Art, Brooklyn College, and the Pratt Institute. Noomin's first comics work was published in 1973 in Wimmen's Comix #2, and soon after had stories in Young Lust and El Perfecto. The first DiDi Glitz story, "Restless Reverie", appeared in Short Order Comix #2 (Family Fun, 1974). Noomin's work appeared in all seven issues of Arcade, co-edited by Bill Griffith and Art Spiegelman. In 1975, Noomin and Aline Kominsky left the Wimmen's Comix collective due to internal conflicts that were both aesthetic and political. Kominsky and Noomin put together a 36-page one-shot issue of Twisted Sisters in 1976, published by Last Gasp, which featured their own humorous and "self-deprecating" stories and art. In 1978, Noomin edited the Print Mint one-shot Lemme Outa Here, a comics collection of stories of life in mid-century American suburbs, featuring Noomin, Michael McMillan, Robert Armstrong, Griffith, Robert Crumb, Aline Kominsky, Kim Deitch, Justin Green, Mark Beyer, and M. K. Brown. In 1980, Noomin collaborated with Les Nickelettes, a San Francisco-based women's theater group, to produce a musical comedy based on DiDi Glitz. I'd Rather Be Doing Something Else — The DiDi Glitz Story featured Noomin's costumes and scenery, and sets by Deitch, Paul Mavrides, and Griffith. A cabaret version of the show, titled Anarchy in High Heels, was later performed at New York City's Westbeth Artists Community. In 1984, after a ten-year hiatus, Noomin returned to the pages of Wimmen's Comix; her work appeared in almost every issue from that point forward. She was also a regular contributor to Weirdo from 1985–1993 (a period in which Weirdo was edited by Kominsky-Crumb, whose editorial tenure was informally known as "Twisted Sisters"). In 1991, Noomin edited and put together a 260-page trade paperback anthology which she called Twisted Sisters: A Collection of Bad Girl Art (Viking Penguin), featuring the work of herself, Kominsky-Crumb, and 13 other female cartoonists, including many former Wimmen's Comix contributors. All the work in the collection had been previously published, most of it in anthologies such as Weirdo and Wimmen's Comix. The success of that book led to Kitchen Sink Press publishing a four-issue Twisted Sisters Comix limited series in 1994, also edited by Noomin, with each issue featuring 44 pages of new comics by a number of female contributors. The limited series was subsequently collected in 1995 as Twisted Sisters, vol. 2: Drawing the Line.

Personal life and death

Noomin's first, marriage, was to photographer Alan Newman; it lasted four years. Her pen name, "Noomin", was derived from her original married name. Noomin was long involved with cartoonist Bill Griffith, whom she first met at a New Year's Eve party in San Francisco in 1972. She and Griffith lived together in San Francisco from 1972 to 1998, first in an apartment on Fair Oaks Street, and then their own house on 25th Street in Diamond Heights. They were married in Las Vegas in 1980. They lived together in Hadlyme, Connecticut, where they moved in 1998 after many years in San Francisco. She died from uterine cancer on September 1, 2022 at the age of 75. A memorial service, hosted by the School of Visual Arts, was held for Noomin on November 10; speakers included Griffith, Art Spiegelman, Phoebe Gloeckner, Hillary Chute, Jennifer Camper, and others. In July 2023, she was posthumously inducted into the Will Eisner Hall of Fame for her body of work.

Awards

Noomin was presented with an Inkpot Award in 1992. The Twisted Sisters anthologies were nominated for Eisner Awards for Best Anthology in 1992 and 1995.

Books and solo works

Comics stories

DiDi Glitz

Other stories

Editor

Citations

Sources