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Last Girl Standing
From dressing Mama Cass to being pelted with jelly babies as she helped photograph the Rolling Stones’s first US tour, from drunken New York nights spent with Jim Morrison to producing the very first all-woman comic book, the Lady of the Canyon takes no prisoners.
196 pages, Paperback
Published September 19, 2017
8 people are currently reading
480 people want to read
About the author
Trina Robbins
269 books85 followersTrina 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. Her first comics were printed in the East Village Other. She later joined the staff of a feminist underground newspaper It Ain't Me, Babe, with whom she produced the first all-woman comic book titled It Ain't Me Babe. She became increasingly involved in creating outlets for and promoting female comics artists, through projects such as the comics anthology Wimmen's Comix. She was also the penciller on Wonder Woman for a time in the '80s.
Trina has worked on an adaptation of Sax Rohmer's Dope for Eclipse Comics and GoGirl with artist Anne Timmons for Image Comics.
Trina designed Vampirella's costume for Forrest Ackerman and Jim Warren.
In addition to her comics work, Robbins is an author of non-fiction books, including several with an emphasis on the history of women in cartooning.
She is the first of the three "Ladies of the Canyon" in Joni Mitchell's classic song from the album of the same name.
Trina Robbins won a Special Achievement Award from the San Diego Comic Con in 1989 for her work on Strip AIDS U.S.A., a benefit book that she co-edited with Bill Sienkiewicz and Robert Triptow.
Trina has worked on an adaptation of Sax Rohmer's Dope for Eclipse Comics and GoGirl with artist Anne Timmons for Image Comics.
Trina designed Vampirella's costume for Forrest Ackerman and Jim Warren.
In addition to her comics work, Robbins is an author of non-fiction books, including several with an emphasis on the history of women in cartooning.
She is the first of the three "Ladies of the Canyon" in Joni Mitchell's classic song from the album of the same name.
Trina Robbins won a Special Achievement Award from the San Diego Comic Con in 1989 for her work on Strip AIDS U.S.A., a benefit book that she co-edited with Bill Sienkiewicz and Robert Triptow.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
February 15, 2018
This was so much fun to read, slowly, with appreciation. I've followed Trina's work since I discovered her underground comics in the mid 1970s. Now, she tells all! Trina made clothing for some great rock musicians, and tells about her boutique, as well as her great drawing, writing, and activism. These are great stories of such a great, fun life.
Thanks to the Emory University Library for ordering this from publisher Fantagraphics Books.
Highest recommendation.
Thanks to the Emory University Library for ordering this from publisher Fantagraphics Books.
Highest recommendation.
March 27, 2020
A delight of a memoir. Except for that ultra misogynist underground comics movement. May Fat Freddie’s cat claw your eyes out, Crumb.
Robbins is generous and unpretentious, but doesn’t fail to set the record straight on the “edgy” wankers and the snubs. The take away here is it’s always their loss.
Winning.
Robbins is generous and unpretentious, but doesn’t fail to set the record straight on the “edgy” wankers and the snubs. The take away here is it’s always their loss.
Winning.
October 7, 2019
I loved this book, which I came across in The Laughing Ogre comic book store in Columbus, Ohio (which I visited with my brother George: We were overwhelmed by the many treasures on the shelves in that store! I can't wait to go back!). In my early youth, I knew of Trina Robbins as the author of Wimmin's Comix (sp?), which I loved, so I had to have this. Until I read this book, I didn't know she was one of Joni Mitchell's "Ladies of the Canyon" (and in fact, Trina says she only lived there for a month or two, just long enough to be immortalized in the song). Even though I just read the book, I can't remember all the famous people she knew, but I can say for sure there were a lot of them. An interesting thing about memoirs: Everything that happened many years ago is remembered in great detail, and the closer you get to the present, you have the sense of the author skimming over the years faster and faster. Presumably because what sells the book is remembering the early years of being on the scene, or making the scene happen just by being there. Since her early years were so fascinating, in this case, it's fine with me. An enjoyable, quick read.
May 25, 2019
Very enjoyable memoir from this wonderful writer and cartoonist. The early chapters are the best, with more wide-eyed wonder and less gossip and score settling, but if you're a fan, there's much to love throughout. My only real complaint is that I wish the book contained more examples of Trina's fabulous cartooning and her other creative endeavors. Perhaps Fantagraphics can eventually give us some kind of oversized "Art of Trina" book. Until then, this will have to suffice.
February 16, 2018
Robbins is ultra cool, but there were some problematic moments of re-hashing drama that seemed petty and out of place. I loved reading about her experiences as a dressmaker in the 60s and a comic artist/writer after.
September 1, 2023
Trina Robbins is a talented writer and comics artist and a dynamic person, and with this book, she's now a memoirist. What a life she's had! The early part of the book, after her childhood, reads like a Who's Who of the '60s and '70s counterculture, mostly science fiction and comics nerds, but also many of the rock musicians. She had an affair with Jim Morrison! And dated Harlan Ellison (but gave no details about that). Was buddies with David Crosby, and on and on.
She is more than a decade older than me, but we intersected at several times and places, including LA and then SF in 1967-1970. I think I was in LA when she was one of the Ladies of the Canyon. I often saw Vito and his "girls," who she mentions. (In that, the book reminded me just a tiny bit of Pamela Des Barres's I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie.) Like her, I sewed clothes then, but she had a boutique named Broccoli in NYC and also made clothes for LA celebrities. Parts of the book set in those years could be considered non-stop name-dropping, but she hung out with all those people and absolutely should write about them.
Of course, Robbins was and is a comics/graphic artist, and the book is mainly about that. She was around all the well-known underground comix artists of the times, and the picture she paints is full of sexism and misogyny. Many or most of the guys in charge consistently disrespected and excluded her. In those early counterculture years, that was just how it was. It's always jarring to look at it in retrospect 50 years later and remember how normal it seemed; we just took it for granted. Robbins was an early feminist and got a lot of flak for it. Her contributions to both women's comix collections and in, can I say mainstream-alternative (!?) comix, have been substantial and high-quality.
The book skims through her later life, which is also interesting. She's a brilliant and complicated person and a very good writer (though the copy editing was not so good). It's interesting to see which people and events she chose to write about and how she presented her feelings about them and her actions. I was able to relate to a lot of it. She comes across as likable and vulnerable. A number of times, she talked about an old friend and then asked "Where are you now?" I hope she reconnected with some of them through the book.
The book is illustrated with a good selection of comix, covers, and drawings that are relevant to the text. I very much enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the author or the subject.
She is more than a decade older than me, but we intersected at several times and places, including LA and then SF in 1967-1970. I think I was in LA when she was one of the Ladies of the Canyon. I often saw Vito and his "girls," who she mentions. (In that, the book reminded me just a tiny bit of Pamela Des Barres's I'm with the Band: Confessions of a Groupie.) Like her, I sewed clothes then, but she had a boutique named Broccoli in NYC and also made clothes for LA celebrities. Parts of the book set in those years could be considered non-stop name-dropping, but she hung out with all those people and absolutely should write about them.
Of course, Robbins was and is a comics/graphic artist, and the book is mainly about that. She was around all the well-known underground comix artists of the times, and the picture she paints is full of sexism and misogyny. Many or most of the guys in charge consistently disrespected and excluded her. In those early counterculture years, that was just how it was. It's always jarring to look at it in retrospect 50 years later and remember how normal it seemed; we just took it for granted. Robbins was an early feminist and got a lot of flak for it. Her contributions to both women's comix collections and in, can I say mainstream-alternative (!?) comix, have been substantial and high-quality.
The book skims through her later life, which is also interesting. She's a brilliant and complicated person and a very good writer (though the copy editing was not so good). It's interesting to see which people and events she chose to write about and how she presented her feelings about them and her actions. I was able to relate to a lot of it. She comes across as likable and vulnerable. A number of times, she talked about an old friend and then asked "Where are you now?" I hope she reconnected with some of them through the book.
The book is illustrated with a good selection of comix, covers, and drawings that are relevant to the text. I very much enjoyed reading it, and would recommend it to anyone with an interest in the author or the subject.
October 25, 2018
I met Trina Robbins when I lived in San Francisco in the early 1990s, in a writing workshop. Our young teacher gave us writing prompts. Our goal was to become better writers with practice. Apparently, it has since paid off as I liked this autobiography a great deal, which was well-written and very interesting.
Throughout the years, I would see Trina at comic book and writers' conventions, until I moved out of California in 2009. I didn’t realize she had such a colorful past, although I know she had a lot of pride in her involvement with women’s comics. In this book, she describes the sixties and how she started drawing comics. When she moved to San Francisco, she was very interested in the underground world of comics, but often wasn’t allowed or invited to the boy’s club of comics. Underground comics are small press or self-published comics, often different from mainstream comics such as Marvel or DC Comics, because their content often does not oblige by the Comic Code.
A male artist told her that her drawings were too sweet and not repulsive or offensive enough to be in their comic books. So what she did was co-produce with artist, Barbara “Willy” Mendes, the first comic book written and drawn by women only, called “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which was published by Last Gasp in the summer of 1970. The Women’s Liberation Movement was a growing movement, and tired of how women were treated, Trina got involved. She became very prolific by expressing her views in the underground comic book world and influencing other women artists by initiating the anthology comic book “Wimmen’s Comix.” Seventeen issues were published from 1972 to 1992, with Last Gasp publishing the first ten issues.
Trina’s involvement in underground comics was an interesting read. I had also met her daughter Casey in San Francisco, and I think the only one thing Trina loves more than drawing and writing is her daughter. I always found it fascinating that Trina made a living as an artist and writer. She would contribute art for magazines and comics, and she wrote and also co-authored several books. She says that when she was young and living in New York in the sixties, she had her own clothing store called “Broccoli,” wherein she designed and made clothes for others, including some famous musicians, such as for Mama Cass and David Crosby.
Trina has met many famous musicians and artists throughout her career. This very forthright autobiography is worth a read for some comic history and to get to know Trina.
Throughout the years, I would see Trina at comic book and writers' conventions, until I moved out of California in 2009. I didn’t realize she had such a colorful past, although I know she had a lot of pride in her involvement with women’s comics. In this book, she describes the sixties and how she started drawing comics. When she moved to San Francisco, she was very interested in the underground world of comics, but often wasn’t allowed or invited to the boy’s club of comics. Underground comics are small press or self-published comics, often different from mainstream comics such as Marvel or DC Comics, because their content often does not oblige by the Comic Code.
A male artist told her that her drawings were too sweet and not repulsive or offensive enough to be in their comic books. So what she did was co-produce with artist, Barbara “Willy” Mendes, the first comic book written and drawn by women only, called “It Ain’t Me Babe,” which was published by Last Gasp in the summer of 1970. The Women’s Liberation Movement was a growing movement, and tired of how women were treated, Trina got involved. She became very prolific by expressing her views in the underground comic book world and influencing other women artists by initiating the anthology comic book “Wimmen’s Comix.” Seventeen issues were published from 1972 to 1992, with Last Gasp publishing the first ten issues.
Trina’s involvement in underground comics was an interesting read. I had also met her daughter Casey in San Francisco, and I think the only one thing Trina loves more than drawing and writing is her daughter. I always found it fascinating that Trina made a living as an artist and writer. She would contribute art for magazines and comics, and she wrote and also co-authored several books. She says that when she was young and living in New York in the sixties, she had her own clothing store called “Broccoli,” wherein she designed and made clothes for others, including some famous musicians, such as for Mama Cass and David Crosby.
Trina has met many famous musicians and artists throughout her career. This very forthright autobiography is worth a read for some comic history and to get to know Trina.
February 1, 2018
If Trina Robbins chose the title "Last Girl Standing" to play on the trope of the one remaining female at the end of a horror movie that survives to tell her tale, she is definitely more like reliable if plain Laurie Strode from "Halloween" than intense Ellen Ripley from "Aliens." While I did not need Trina to open a vein to find her voice believable or her story interesting, too little variance in the sort of superficial storyline and in the tone of her writer's voice ended up flattening the impact of her memoir.
I did initially enjoy the lightness of her voice at the beginning of the book as she tells about her early years as an avid reader of girls comics and her growing interest in and entry into the world of science fiction and fantasy fandom. But as she enters adulthood, I wish her expression had grown with her. Instead the book seems to lose some of its more personal focus as she moves to dropping names and giving little vignettes that are meant to portray the lighthearted hippie lifestyle she lives in the East Village in the early sixties. She gets a little more confrontational as she later relocates to San Francisco and struggles to be recognized by her male peers as a comics artist, but again, too little personal insight really robs the writing of any real weight or depth.
My biggest disappointment came in how little she really described her development as an artist and how her work changed as she became a part of the women's liberation movement. She was at the center of an amazing group of female underground comics artists just as they were working collectively to be published and while they were developing very distinct voices and too little time and attention is spent here. I was also wishing for more insight into the disagreement that opened up between Robbins, Aline Komninsky and Diane Noomin. It is not that I wanted more gossipy details, rather I would have liked some honest reflection on how their different contributions in style, focus, and voice ended up creating more space for and interest in the wide variety of contributions by women cartoonist who followed them.
There are some genuinely enjoyable parts of the book for those interested in a light and admittedly charming treatment of the early sixties, and for those who are specifically interested in Ms. Robbins herself. Still I was wishing for a much more in-depth insight into her art, her feminism, and her part in the development of underground women's comics.
I did initially enjoy the lightness of her voice at the beginning of the book as she tells about her early years as an avid reader of girls comics and her growing interest in and entry into the world of science fiction and fantasy fandom. But as she enters adulthood, I wish her expression had grown with her. Instead the book seems to lose some of its more personal focus as she moves to dropping names and giving little vignettes that are meant to portray the lighthearted hippie lifestyle she lives in the East Village in the early sixties. She gets a little more confrontational as she later relocates to San Francisco and struggles to be recognized by her male peers as a comics artist, but again, too little personal insight really robs the writing of any real weight or depth.
My biggest disappointment came in how little she really described her development as an artist and how her work changed as she became a part of the women's liberation movement. She was at the center of an amazing group of female underground comics artists just as they were working collectively to be published and while they were developing very distinct voices and too little time and attention is spent here. I was also wishing for more insight into the disagreement that opened up between Robbins, Aline Komninsky and Diane Noomin. It is not that I wanted more gossipy details, rather I would have liked some honest reflection on how their different contributions in style, focus, and voice ended up creating more space for and interest in the wide variety of contributions by women cartoonist who followed them.
There are some genuinely enjoyable parts of the book for those interested in a light and admittedly charming treatment of the early sixties, and for those who are specifically interested in Ms. Robbins herself. Still I was wishing for a much more in-depth insight into her art, her feminism, and her part in the development of underground women's comics.
September 3, 2021
Honestly, I was a bit disappointed by this, at least in part because of my expectations. Trina Robbins is one of the most significant underground cartoonists, not to mention one of the most significant historian of women in comics. However, her live in/involvement with comics gets very little attention until the book is half over, and then it feels to me like she glosses over a lot of what was most significant about her work. She has surprisingly little to say about Wimmen's Comix, for instance, as well as little to say about her work in the undergrounds (and elsewhere) in general. She does touch on these things, but she doesn't provide the sort of delving into them that I was expecting/hoping for. Not that the other aspects of her life (e.g. her work as a clothing designer, her involvement with various 1960s rock bands) are not interesting, but I never felt, reading this, as if I was really getting to the heart of Trina Robbins. Her style is breezy, so perhaps that makes the content seem more superficial than it is, but what she has to say often just seems to me to skim the surface. Copious illustrations (photos and comics images) do add a fair bit of value. However, if you are looking for an in-depth exploration of the nitty gritty of Robbins's work as a cartoonist, you're not going to find it here.
August 5, 2021
What can I say. Trina Robbins has had an amazing life and this memoir is a testament to that in the biggest way. From her roots in New York out to California during one of the most auspicious times in American cultural history and back again to the East coast, if any of us had led half the life that Trina Robbins has we'd probably have burned out pretty soon. I have long admired Trina as a feminist Icon ( yeah, I'm putting that in) as well as for her outstanding drawing. Now I admire her even more. I do have one quibble and that was the back and forth along the timeline which confused me a little at times but tat may just have been the whiskey I was drinking. This is a life turned up to eleven.
May 5, 2019
I was bound to love this, but then Trina Robbins has had an incredibly creative life. She is someone who supports her fellow women and keeps women's history alive. I'm so thankful for the books of hers I've read so far. Love her.
April 11, 2020
Really enjoyed this book & the look it gives into a time that so many of us are super interested in. Lots of name dropping & googling of various references that are before my time but really enjoyed the anecdotes and experiences that Trina shares.
March 27, 2025
I felt like Trina was sitting in an arm chair next to me telling me all about her life. So refreshing to read a memoir in someone’s authentic voice and not the dramatic novel style of the common memoirs of note. It’s a winding walk through a time and place worth visiting.
September 18, 2025
Charming veered into boring… observations on misogyny veered into curious observations of her black neighbors (white girl shit)… wish she would’ve talked more about her drawing&design processes and inspirations… or simply drawn her story! rather than write out every slight, every bit of gossip…
October 23, 2017
via NYPL - A strong autobiography of one of the most valuable figures in the comics underground. Trina is a treasure and I'm glad she shared her story with us.
November 8, 2017
One of my favorite figures in comics. This book is so cool. Why hasn't DC collected her Legend of Wonder Woman series as a graphic novel???
February 27, 2018
This book has good gossip and def makes you know even more than you expected that everyone you think is an asshole is indeed an asshole.
July 10, 2020
A great autobiography by Trina about her life in underground comics and as a comic book historian.
November 2, 2023
Hung out a lot, drew a bit, The End. One of the more boring books about the '60s that I've read.
July 19, 2025
Extraordinary life
August 3, 2025
A bit scattershot as autobiographies go - Robbins led a pretty remarkable life, and met so many notable people that it can be overwhelming at times - but it's a fun read. Recommended.
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews