Dame Darcy

Dame Darcy
Dame Darcy swimming as a mermaid
Born (1971-06-19) June 19, 1971 (age 53)
Caldwell, Idaho, U.S.
Area(s)Cartoonist, designer of Dame Darcy Mermaid Tarot and Queen Alice Tarot decks, fine artist, musician, performer, animator, filmmaker
Notable works
Meat Cake
damedarcy.com

Dame Darcy Pleasant[1] (born June 19, 1971, Caldwell, Idaho),[2] better known by the pen name Dame Darcy, is an alternative cartoonist,[3] fine artist, musician, cabaret performer, and animator/filmmaker. Her "Neo-Victorian"[4] comic book series Meat Cake was published by Fantagraphics Books from 1993 to 2008. The Meat Cake Bible compilation was released in June 2016[5] and nominated for The Eisner Award July 2017.[6] Vegan Love: Dating and Partnering for the Cruelty-Free Gal, with Fashion, Makeup & Wedding Tips, written by Maya Gottfried and illustrated by Dame Darcy, was the Silver Medalist winners of the Independent Publisher Book Awards in 2018.[7]

Her self-published Tarot decks went viral world wide in 2012 with a second wave in 2018 for the Dame Darcy Mermaid Tarot Gold Edition deck and Queen Alice Tarot deck and were listed as Etsy Bestsellers in 2018.[8] Dame Darcy's autobiographical graphic novel, Hi Jax & Hi Jinx (Life's a Pitch and Then You Live Forever), was published by Feral House in 2019 [9] Other graphic novels include Handbook for Hot Witches, The Illustrated Jane Eyre,[10] Frightful Fairytales, Gasoline, and Dollerium.[10]

She worked with writer Alan Moore and for such publishers as America's Best Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, Kitchen Sink Press, Starhead Comix,[11] Penguin Putnam, PressPop Tokyo, Merrell, Henry Holt and Company, and Seven Stories Press. Dame Darcy published over 100 books internationally, with her comics being translated into Japanese, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, among others. Her films and animation won awards and have been shown internationally. Her fine art and dolls were exhibited and sold in art galleries globally for more than 20 years. In the late 1990s director Lisa Hammer and Dame Darcy produced a variety TV show titled Turn Of The Century profiling their short "silent film" style movies for Manhattan public access, which is now part of the Getty Museum Collection.[12] Turn Of The Century is currently streaming on Night Flight Plus as of 2024.

  1. ^ Sullivan, Darcy (September 1994). "The Dame Darcy Interview". The Comics Journal (171). Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics Books. Archived from the original on September 20, 2016.
  2. ^ Weaver, Damien (April 2004). "An Interview with Dame Darcy". Bookslut. Archived from the original on November 29, 2016.
  3. ^ Hundley, Jessica (November 21, 2002). "Artist's vision lives; Dame Darcy turns a new page with her stylized graphic novel, Frightful Fairytales". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on January 20, 2012. Retrieved November 22, 2010.
  4. ^ Kirchner, Lisa (July 30, 2010). "Books: Meatcake". Bust. New York, New York. Archived from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved June 10, 2016.
  5. ^ Darcy, Dame (2016). "Meat Cake Bible". Seattle, Washington: Fantagraphics Books. Archived from the original on December 12, 2018.
  6. ^ Brown, Tracy (May 3, 2017). "2017 Eisner Award nominees include The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye and Saga". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on August 19, 2018.
  7. ^ "2018 Independent Publisher Book Awards General Results". Independent Publisher Book Awards. 2018. Archived from the original on May 19, 2019.
  8. ^ "Dame Darcy". Etsy. n.d. Archived from the original on July 31, 2019.
  9. ^ Darcy, Dame (2019). Hi Jax & Hi Jinx: Life's a Pitch - and Then You Live Forever. Port Townsend, Washington: Feral House. p. 305. ISBN 978-1627310697.
  10. ^ a b Weiland, Jonah (August 15, 2006). "Dame Darcy on The Illustrated Jane Eyre". Comic Book Resources. Archived from the original on December 28, 2016.
  11. ^ Dame Darcy at the Grand Comics Database
  12. ^ Hammer, Lisa (March 14, 2008). "Empire of Ache - short film by Lisa Hammer". YouTube. Caught on the living celluloid for the first time- the hot-blooded mania of Dame Darcy conversing with dolls no bigger than Gods foot.