# Angela Bocage

Angela Bocage (b. 1959) is a bisexual comics creator who published mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. Bocage was active in the queer comics community during these decades, publishing in collections like Gay Comix, Strip AIDS USA, and Wimmen's Comix. Bocage also created, edited, and contributed comics to Real Girl, a comics anthology published by Fantagraphics.

## Biography

Bocage was born in Fayetteville, Arkansas. She attended the University of California, Santa Cruz as an art major in the 1970s where she was part of the Graphic Stories Guild with Mark Clegg, another comics artist. The Graphic Stories Guild was a student-run comics club that published issues of student comics for distribution both on an off campus. She published a comic strip called The Worm in the Guild's publication. While at Santa Cruz, Bocage also participated in the creation of fanzines Slug Tesserae and Amoeba Earhart Flyer. Also in college, Bocage created a women's section in the university newspaper.
Bocage worked at a headhunting firm but left in the 1980s to create comics. She also worked as a graphics editor for AIDS News Service, the organization that also published her comic (Nice Girls Don't Talk About) Sex, Religion, and Politics.
Bocage was a key contributor to the feminist comics anthology Wimmen's Comix, contributing stories to every issue from #11 to #17 (1987–1992), and serving as co-editor of issues #12 and #15.
In addition to creating her own comics, Bocage lettered several other comics, including The Trouble with Girls and related titles like Lester Girls and Lizard Lady.
In 1991, Bocage contributed an essay to The Comics Journal titled, "Define the Terms, Dismiss the Dregs, and Enjoy the Results: A Feminist's Case for Pornography."
Bocage eventually went back to school for law and became an immigration attorney based in Boston. She has two children named Robin and Jasmine. She is an activist for reproductive freedom.

## Real Girl

Real Girl is a comics anthology published by Fantagraphics that published nine issues in the period 1990 to 1997, all edited by Bocage. Comics in Real Girl highlight themes of gender, sexual orientation, and sex. Along with Bocage's own comics, Real Girl featured works from other comic artists.
Artists featured in Real Girl:
* Issue #1 (Oct. 1990): Donna Barr, Mary Fleener, Robert Triptow, Trina Robbins, Diane Noomin, Terry LaBan, Rebecka Wright, Mario Hernandez, Steve Lafler
* Issue #2 (Aug. 1991): Mario Hernandez, Garret Gaston, Gerard Jones, Marvin Mann, Phoebe Gloeckner, Robert Triptow, Roxxie, Trina Robbins, Michael Botkin, Kate Worley, Reed Waller, Joan Hilty
* Issue #3 (Mar. 1992): Colin Upton, Diane Noomin, Alison Bechdel, Roxxie, Garret Gaston, Kris Kovick, Mario Hernandez, Cheela Smith, Judy Becker
* Issue #4 (Sept. 1992): Peter Kuper, Sabrina Jones, Garret Gaston, Joan Hilty, Julie Frankie, Roxxie, Pete Friedrich, Judy Becker, Cheela Smith
* Issue #5 (Apr. 1993): Joan Hilty, Robert Kirby, Fish, Trina Robbins, Roberta Gregory, Roxxie, Angela Bocage, Cheela Smith, Jennifer Camper, Jaime Hernandez
* Issue #6 (1993): Anne Bernstein, Steve Lafler, Robert Triptow, M.C. Betz, Trina, Leanne Franson, Julie Frankie, Angela Bocage, E. Fitz-Smith, Tom Tomorrow
* Issue #7 (Aug. 1994): Josie Porter, Jayne Lazzeri, Roxxie, Pete Friedrich, Angela Bocage
* Issue #8 (July 1995): Angela Bocage, Seth Tobocman, Roxxie, Trina Robbins
* Issue #9 (1997): Fiona Smyth, Seth Tobocman, Lawrence Van Abbema, Angela Bocage, Trina Robbins, Sandy Spreitz
Issue #7 (Aug. 1994) of Real Girl was a "flip book" that introduced RealTalk, a four-issue comic book series co-edited by Isabella Bannerman, Ann Decker, and Sabrina Jones that was published by Fantagraphics in 1995–1996.