Donna Barr (born Donna Colbert on August 13, 1952) is an American comic book author and cartoonist, best known for her series Stinz and The Desert Peach.
Life and Career[]
Barr was born in Everett, Washington, the second child in a family of six siblings. From 1970 to 1973, she served in the Women's Army Corps, which later informed her comics work.
One of her best known series is Stinz, about a society of centaur-like people in a setting reminiscent of pre-industrial Germany. Originally published in 1986 as a short story in a hand-bound book, it was then serialized in the Eclipse Comics series The Dreamery, edited by Lex Nakashima. It was picked up by Albedo creator Steve Gallacci under his Thoughts & Images label, moving on to MU Press and its imprint Aeon Press. It was then self-published under A Fine Line Press.
Her other long-running series, The Desert Peach is about Pfirsich Rommel, the fictional homosexual younger brother of Erwin "The Desert Fox" Rommel. Beginning in 1987, it was set in North Africa during World War II). The first three issues were published by Thoughts & Images. Additional issues were published by Fantagraphics Books, Aeon Press, and then self-published.
Both Stinz and The Desert Peach are now largely serialized online, and The Desert Peach is available in two volumes from Lulu print-on-demand. Other works include Hader and the Colonel, The Barr Girls, and Bosom Enemies. Barr has also recently published a number of novels, including Permanent Party, An Insupportable Light, Ringcat, and Bread and Swans. The last two of these feature Stinz and The Desert Peach, respectively. Her novels are also self-published through Lulu.
Barr has illustrated several GURPS roleplaying books, including GURPS Ice Age and GURPS Callahan's Crosstime Saloon. Barr also produced illustrations for the Traveller role-playing books, including Alien Module 8: Darrians, the MegaTraveller Player's Manual and several issues of both the Journal of the Travellers Aid Society and Challenge magazine.
Her influences include Mayan and Egyptian tomb paintings, Japanese woodblock art, European illuminated manuscripts, and Holling C. Holling. [1]
Awards and recognition[]
Barr has won the Inkpot Award, the Cartoonists Northwest's "Toonie", and the Washington Press Association's Communicator of Excellence for Fiction.[2]
Bibliography[]
- Stinz (1987)
- The Desert Peach (1988)
- Hader And the Colonel
- Bosom Enemies
- The Barr Girls
- "Rosalind Franklin" in Dignifying Science
External Links[]
- Official Website
- Stinz online
- The Desert Peach online
- Lulu.com store
- Donna Barr Collection, 1963-2006, in the San Diego State University Special Collections
Sources[]
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