Dyer was born in Louisiana, went to college in Gainesville, Florida and then moved to New York City. She showed an early interest in self-publishing and the DIY philosophy by self-publishing her own zines and making her own clothes. At the age of 10, she published the "family newspaper" with comics in it.
Career
Zines
Dyer's first work was a small publication called The Silhouette. While in school in Gainesville, Florida in 1988, she worked on the No Idea fanzine with Var Thelin. Unsatisfied with not getting credit for her work to date, Dyer created Mad Planet as her first solo work, and started collecting female zine work. This collection grew into a project in 1992, when Dyer created and began distributing the Action Girl Newsletter. This was a review zine, listing zines and mini-comics created by female writers and artists. In an interview, Dyer described the ideal audience of works such as Xena as "post-feminist women and girls." Dyer donated these zines, accumulated from reviewing for the Action Girl Newsletter, to Duke University, where it formed the core of their Zine Collections at the Sallie Bingham Center for Women's History and Culture.
Graphic novels
Her first comic book credit was for coloring the cover for Pirate Corp$ #5. In October 1994, Dyer launched the all-female comics anthology Action Girl Comics, which ran for a total of 19 issues and showcased comics and mini-comics by female artists and writers, as well as Dyer's own Action Girl series, which featured all-female characters and depicted the world from the viewpoint of a woman. This anthology has black and white contents, while also has colorful covers. In addition to her work with comics, Dyer has self-published manuals and articles on topics ranging from zine publishing to cooking to making clothing, all firmly rooted in DIY philosophy. Dyer has also colored Evan Dorkin's work including the cover art for several skacompilation albums in the 1990s. Dyer wrote for Space GhostCoast to Coast, Superman Adventures, and Batman Beyond.
Animation
Dyer worked with her husband, Evan Dorkin, on the pilot episode for Welcome to Eltingville in 2002. The couple also wrote some episodes of the , such as the episode "Live Wire", which introduced a new character of the same name. The pair contributed to the script of the 2006 English-language version of the anime Shin Chan, which ran for six episodes.
Personal life
Dyer is married to fellow comics writer/artist Evan Dorkin with whom she has a daughter named Emily.
Awards and nominations
Sarah Dyer was nominated for a Lulu Award in the category "Lulu of the Year" in 1997 and won in 1998 for her Action Girl series. Also in 1998, she was nominated for Best Colorist for Amy Racecar Color Special #1 by the Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards. In 1999 she and her husband Evan Dorkin were nominated for the Annie Award for Best Writing for the Space Ghost Coast to Coast episode "Lawsuit".
