Suzy Varty is a noted British comics artist, writer, and editor. In the late 1970s, she compiled, contributed to and edited Heröine, the first anthology of comics by women to be published in the U.K. Throughout the 70s, she was part of the Birmingham Arts Lab, and she has participated in the Underground Comix and Wimmen's Comix movements in the U.S. Varty remains active in the British Comics scene, frequently appearing at such conventions as in Leeds and the in Newcastle.
Career
Suzy Varty's artistic career began as she found herself a part of Arts Lab, which is an alternative arts center that was created in 1967 and is located in Birmingham. After joining Arts Lab Press she then got published in Street Comix during 1976. Suzy Varty's work has appeared alongside that of such renowned Underground Comix creators as Trina Robbins, Phoebe Gloeckner, and Hunt Emerson. Varty's first comic was published in Birmingham Arts Lab's Street Comix in 1976. Varty was also a contributor and editor to the comic book Heröine, which was an underground comic book that became the first female anthology published in Britain. The comic was published in 1978 and was a feminist comic that gained praise for going against beliefs of what is considered feminine, Heröine was also praised as feminist art for challenging social stereotypes by being a form of anarchy against the otherwise strict depictions of political standpoints in Britain. After Heröine was published in 1978, the Birmingham Women's Liberation Movement conference praised the work for its contribution to feminist art. As the first anthology of comics by women to be published in the U.K., Heröine is credited with opening doors for the creation of the British Women's Comic Collective in 1991. While in Birmingham Varty published a fanzine during 1979 along with other artists named Connie Klassmen, and Syd Freake. The fanzine was called Brass Lip and contained interviews with the bands Kleenex, Mekons, Poison Girls, and The Raincoats. The zine focused on political narratives and feminist culture, another important focal point of the zine was the topic of sexism in the punk/rock n roll industry. Brass Lip was a representation of feminist ideologies that were forming in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In 2003, Varty discussed the lasting appeal of Wonder Woman on BBC Four, alongside comics expert Paul Gravett. In 2014, she was one of the judges for the British Comic Awards. She has garnered international success as well, as Varty has had comics get published in Finland, England, and America.
