Top 25 Female Comic Book Artists #25-21

The countdown begins now!!!

Here are the first five artists that you voted as your favorites of all-time. Click here for the master list of all of the creators listed so far.

25. Trina Robbins

Even before she began making a name for herself with her own work, Trina Robbins made an impact on comic book history by designing the original iconic Vampirella costume (which was then drawn by Frank Frazzeta for the first issue of Vampirella in 1969). Robbins was at the forefront of the underground comix movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and she helped bring more women into said movement. She famously created the one-shot It Ain't Me, Babe Comix, which was the first underground comic completely written and drawn by female comic creators.

Throughout the 1970s, Robbins was not just a fixture of the indie scene, but she dedicated herself to opening up avenues for female cartoonists to have their own space, like in the classic anthology Wimmen's Comix,

Her early work had a striking balance between the off-kilter "standard' comix style and a more traditional comic book style, like this classic tale from 1977...

As Robbins began doing more and more mainstream work, her unique sensibilities continued to permeate her work. She is an art history expert, and as such, she can adapt her style to evoke any sort of style, like her take on classic Chinese artwork in this Epic Illustrated tale...

Check out her chameleon-like ability to evoke the work of H.G. Peter in this Wonder Woman mini-series she did with Kurt Busiek right before the George Perez reboot...

Or see her kids-oriented work on her mid-80s Marvel comic, Misty (which somehow manages to evoke the feel of Dan DeCarlo without simply riffing on his style)...

An excellent storyteller, Robbins' art is also striking for how well-rounded and strong her female characters are. Sex is often present in Robbins' work, particularly her 1970s work, but it is never just a crass titillation.

As the years have gone by, Robbins has become perhaps even more important as one of the best comic book historians there is, with her tireless work to preserve the memory of the great female comic creators of the past. She is by far the most well-respected historians when it comes to female comics in the whole world.

24. Rumiko Takahashi

Perhaps the most successful female comic book creator of all-time (selling well over 100 million copies of her various books over the years), what makes Rumiko Takahashi stand out in particular is her ability to excel at very different types of stories. She has a distinctive rounded figure style, but that distinct style has been adapted into a variety of different genres. Her breakout work was the romantic comedy, Urusei Yatsura...

She followed that up with her smash hit series, Ranma 1/2, about a martial artist who frequently changes sexes...

Her longest work was the fantasy epic Inuyasha...

As you can see, while all of her work is distinctly her own, the genre establishes the mood for each work. Takahashi has been working in comics since the late 1970s and she is showing no signs of slowing down. Few creators quite so defined the popular culture vision of what "manga" was than Rumiko Takahashi.

23. Jo Chen

Jo Chen got her big break in the Japanese comic book industry when she was just a teenager in the 1990s. She came to great fame in America, though, in the 21st century with her stunning painted comic book covers. She has had long runs on a number of titles, including Buffy the Vampire Slayer...

and Runaways...

Like all master cover artists, Chen has an almost unique ability to beautifully frame sequences for her covers. She knows how to make her covers "pop," and that makes her one of the most in-demand comic book cover artists out there.

However, she is not a stranger to sequential work, either. Check out this short Buffy story she did with writer Joss Whedon...

Chen is one of those rare artists who can paint realistic characters while also preventing those characters from appearing too stiff.

Go to the next page for #22-21!

22. Emily Carroll

Back in 2010 it seemed like everyone was talking about Emily Carroll's webcomic His Face All Red, and with good reason, it's exceptional (and you can actually read it in full here). It was smart and terrifying, beautifully illustrated, and perhaps most interestingly, Carroll used the way people read on the web to her advantage. The way the comic (and all her webcomics) lay out pay great attention to the empty space, moving along the page and using negative space in smart ways that pace the comic beautifully and raise the tension magnificently.

A lesser artist might have peaked with His Face All Red, but Carroll just kept on going, creating fantastic comic after fantastic comic, many all of them available to read in full for free. She also contributed stories to a series of anthologies like Anthology Project V2, Explorer: The Mystery Boxes, kuš! #9, Little Heart, Creepy #9 (Dark Horse), Fairy Tale Comics (First Second), and The Witching Hour (Vertigo). Her story is Creepy #9 is a personal favorite--at once utterly terrifying and weirdly feminist.

Carroll, a Canadian who nabbed an animation degree from Sheridan College in Ontario, continues to produce exceptional short works for the web and anthologies. Her first book, Through The Woods published by Margaret K McElderry Books, is an absolutely stunning collection of her horror comics. In addition to new material joining her classic His Face All Red, Carroll really thought about how she needed to change her layouts to address the new print format. I'm happy to report that her pacing and layout skills are just as adept in print as they are on the web and the result is a perfectly paced volume. I highly recommend the hardcover as a it's a beautiful book you'll want on your shelf and take down year after year to read again and again.

Here's the first "page" from His Face All Red:

And in case you worry that Carroll's brand of horror is too subtle for your tastes...here's a panel from one of the other stories in her collection, sure to keep you up at night:

21. Colleen Coover

Coleen Coover got her start in comics on the lesbian erotic comic, Small Favors, which I like to refer to as "the most adorable porn ever." It is about a young woman who is given her own fairy named Nibbil and they go on various sexual adventures...

That page was one of the very, very pages that doesn't involve sex or one of the characters being nude (Nibbil is just about to rub the spaghetti strand on herself in the next panel, but that's a whole other page!)

Coover then did the excellent series Banana Sunday with writer Paul Tobin (her future husband).

Her expert sense of page design and her wonderful storytelling skills quickly drew her some charming assignments for Marvel on a series of back-ups in a bunch of different titles.