Dale Messick, 98; Her 'Brenda Starr' Reporter Provided a Role Model

Dale Messick, a comic book artist who created the glamorous, red-haired Brenda Starr, has died. She was 98.

Messick, whose "Brenda Starr, Star Reporter" strip ran in 250 newspapers at its peak in the 1950s, died Tuesday, said her daughter, Starr Rohrman, who had been caring for her mother in Sonoma County. Messick suffered a stroke in 1998.

Brenda had everything: brains, beauty and brashness. She was pursued by droves of millionaires, from Cash Wallstreet to the mysterious Basil St. John. She got the best stories at the Globe (later the Flash) newspaper.

She wore the most fabulous clothes, often with hats and matching open-toe shoes. And she didn't put up with anybody's nonsense, even her managing editor's.

The strip, which began its run in 1940, was one of the first created by a woman. Its feisty leading lady provided a role model for ambitious women years before the women's movement was a glint in Gloria Steinem's eye.

Brenda was a hero especially for female journalists, such as CNN's Charlayne Hunter-Gault, who once said that as a teenager she had wanted nothing more than for her life to have the "mystery and romance" she associated with Brenda's big-time, big-city journalism.

Brenda's creator was born April 11, 1906, the oldest of five children and the only daughter of a teacher/sign painter and a milliner in South Bend, Ind. Her parents named her Dalia.

Because of her mother's occupation, "we always had great gobs of hats and hatboxes around the house," Messick once said. "Together, we used to design and wear hats."

The sickly child, bored with school as well, was held back twice and did not graduated from high school until age 21. But she always had a fanciful imagination and was good at drawing -- a combination of talents that led to her career.

After studying at the Art Institute of Chicago, Messick began her professional life as a greeting-card designer. In 1933, she quit when her employer lowered her salary.

"I just got mad," she said later. "I didn't realize what I had done, because it was right in the heart of the Depression."

She freelanced card designs for a while, and that led to a job in New York City. Showing Brenda-like adventurism, Messick refused to take a train to New York, insisting on flying in a single-engine plane. It was a bumpy eight-hour trip she called thrilling.

New York was where Messick became intent on creating a comic strip, at first around the idea of a pirate girl.