Dale Messick, creator of the long-running newspaper strip Brenda Starr has died, a few days before what would have been her 99th birthday. As I mentioned here, her strip "was drawn with great energy and humor, and the writing stands up far better than many strips of its era." It is also worth noting that her career represented a triumph over the inane notion that a woman's work has, by definition, less worth than a man's. She shouldn't have had to change her signature from Dalia Messick to the more ambiguous Dale to get her work accepted but by the time most folks found out Dale was a lady, she'd proven she could do a newspaper strip as well as the above-average male. Here's a link to one of several obits that are now available on the web with more info about this remarkable lady.