Dalia Messick (April 11, 1906 – April 5, 2005) was an American comic strip artist who used the pseudonym Dale Messick. She was the creator of Brenda Starr, Reporter, which at its peak during the 1950s ran in 250 newspapers.
Early life
Messick was born in South Bend, Indiana, on April 11, 1906. Her father, Cephas Messick, was a sign painter and vocational arts teacher. Her mother Bertha was a milliner and seamstress; her work inspired some of the glamorous hats used in the Brenda Starr strip. earning her diploma at age 20.
Greeting cards
Messick began working for a Chicago greeting card company She created a variety of comic strips (Weegee, Mimi the Mermaid, Peg and Pudy, the Struglettes, Streamline Babies), but none was selected for publication.
Her break came when she came to the attention of another woman, Mollie Slott, By 1945, the strip was syndicated nationally and published daily. She had art assistants over the years, notably including Mike Grell, who worked with her in 1972 before beginning his career in comic books.
Messick stopped drawing the strip in 1980 and ended her role writing the script two years later. Ramona Fradon (artist) and Linda Sutter (writer) took over production of the strip. Mary Schmich, herself a Pulitzer-prize-winning "girl reporter", took over as writer in 1985, and June Brigman as artist in 1995. The final strip was published on January 2, 2011. Messick was not impressed with her successors' versions of Starr, according to a 1998 quote in the Sonoma County Independent: "Now it doesn't look like Brenda at all. She looks more like she works at a bank. No glamour, no curves, no fashion — but it's still going pretty good.".
Other endeavors
Messick worked on other comic strips, but none achieved the success of Brenda Starr, Reporter. The only other strip which she worked on which is generally remembered was Perry Mason, which she illustrated.
On April 24, 1955, Messick appeared on What's My Line? After Dorothy Kilgallen correctly identified her as a comic strip artist, the panel was given a full description of her real name, professional name and job as "illustrator" of Brenda Starr, Reporter.
On May 5, 1960, Messick appeared as a contestant on To Tell the Truth. None of the panelists correctly identified her.
Accolades
In 1995, Brenda Starr, Reporter was one of 20 comic strips honored by a series of United States postage stamps; Messick was the only living creator. She received the National Cartoonists Society's Story Comic Book Award for 1975 and their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997 for her work on Brenda Starr, Reporter. She was inducted into the Will Eisner Award Hall of Fame in 2001; she and Marie Severin were the first women to be so inducted.
Personal life
Messick was married twice. With first husband, Everette George Soltmann, who she married in 1940, she had one child, a daughter named Starr. Messick married Indiana attorney Oscar Strom in 1952. At the time of her death, she was being cared for by her daughter in Penngrove, Sonoma County, California.