The Fantagraphics trilogy Queen of Cosmos Comix collects over fifty years of psychedelic, womanist, and spiritually charged artwork

Transmission 350: Interview with Barbara Mendes

Looking at a Barbara Mendes painting, you get the sense that every color was a decision with consequences. Also well known as “Willy”, she is a talented multifaceted artist who has the gift and ability to touch themes that connect counterculture rebels and spiritual visionaries. She is a singular force in American art since her career spans over six decades of radical creativity. A pioneering figure in the late 1960s Underground Comix movement, she was a founding mother with Trina Robbins of the first all-female comic book, It Ain’t Me Babe, helping to shatter the glass ceiling of a male-dominated industry with her psychedelic female gaze aesthetic in 1970. She released Illuminations in 1971, which included further psychedelic art. After that, she moved away from the comic book world and into fine art and painting. In 1980, she graduated Phi Beta Kappa from the University of California at Riverside. In her early years, she developed her “Epic Paintings” style. Her large canvases are packed with vivid colors and narrative, hierarchical images intertwined into complex designs.

Since 1973, her paintings have been shown in many solo and group exhibitions in New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Florida. Up until 1992, when the artist created a mural in a Sephardic synagogue in Los Angeles and discovered her own magnificent history, multiculturalism and all facets of women’s experience were her favorite topics. Her life and art were ultimately propelled by the study, practice, and appreciation of Torah Judaism. She underwent a profound transformation as she embraced her Jewish heritage: massive, narrative murals and canvases reimagined biblical themes through a lens of vibrant color and intricate detail, a style often described as “illuminated maximalism.” Her work aims to bring people closer together and move humanity closer to the Day of Redemption. Her masterpiece Queen of Cosmos Comix, published by Fantagraphics, is an eclectic and psychedelic anthology trilogy of her artwork throughout her career, rich in interpersonal and autobiographical elements. This book spreads a profound understanding of joy, love, and compassion even in difficulty, through visual symbolism, philosophy, and legacy, accompanied by an interview by Brian Doherty that underlines the consistent and emotionally resonant artistic path of Barbara Mendes. Her recent work can be seen as multilayered since it is also a love letter to the universe, to planet ‘H’Earth, to life, to love, to sisterhood, to friendship, to motherhood, and to her daughter.

Instagram | Fantagraphics

How do you balance precision in your incredibly detailed artwork with spontaneity? How do you decide which moments and truth deserve a panel, and which deserve an entire page? 

The comix artwork is quite precise as it is worked out first in a pencil sketch of the whole story, then as a pencil version of the final page. The page is then inked, using rapidograph pens plus brushed ink. The color pages are done with acrylic inks and acrylic paints. Spontaneity happens (in comics) in the early thinking and sketching phases! 

The sketch version is when panels vs whole page is thought out; when there’s lots of info to cover, it’s panels; when it’s one epic statement: it’s the whole page.

Was there a moment when things looked like failure on the outside but felt like progress on the inside? What’s a risk you’re glad you took, even if it didn’t turn out exactly the way you hoped?

A moment that felt like failure on the outside but success on the inside was each time “Queen of Cosmos Comix” volume one was rejected by publishers! I knew I had created a jewel-like, epic book that would find its way to the public; thankfully miracles have made this come true. A risk I’m glad I took was going forward with “Queen of Cosmos Comix” volume 3, despite brain surgery to repair an aneurysm that year. The drawing quality is in my eyes different, but it continues the cosmic saga; I’m glad I finished the book and that it will appear in the Trilogy!

She is celebrated as a cultural landmark of L.A., with the intersection of Robertson and Hamilton officially designated as Barbara Mendes Square. 

You’ve described color as “the light of God.” In your artwork “Queen of Cosmos” series, how did you develop your “color theology”? How did you decide which panels expressed more the divine, so they deserve colors?

Yes, I use color as a metaphor for the light of G*d. Ha ha, I did not develop “color theology”, G*d did!

I merely have spent a lifetime playing with the effects of both complementary colors and Blended colors. Complementary colors are those on the direct opposite side of the color wheel. (The color wheel features the 3 primary colors of red, blue, and yellow, plus the colors made from their combinations, or secondary colors: RED, purple, BLUE, green, YELLOW orange); complimentary colors next to each other will POP! Blended colors follow the color wheel: yellow blends into orange, orange into red, red into purple, etc; blended colors are pleasing and juxtapose with the play of complementaries. (I did not make any of that up!)

Yes, whenever the Queen of Cosmos enters the stories directly, I indicate Divinity through intense color patterns using the above principles.

You frequently shift between illustrated panels, mandalas that look also like labyrinths with organically flowing images surrounded by floating text. What drives these formal shifts? Are they guided by the subject matter, or do they reflect your own psychological state at the time you were creating that part of the narrative?

Yes, I shift between panels and intricate mandala designs; but isn’t life like that? We live our daily narratives, punctuated by moments of cosmic awareness! When there’s narration, panels are story telling gems. For Cosmic awareness- the mandala is a round, mystical design which conveys and also embodies a heightened state.

She studied art throughout her childhood, graduating from NYC’s High School of Music and Art in 1966, then published stories and covers in Underground Comix under the name Willy Mendes.

The “Queen of Cosmos” explores a female-centered vision of creation. In Judaism, identity is traditionally passed through the matrilineal line, yet Orthodox structures remain largely patriarchal. As both a lifelong feminist activist, how do you navigate or hold this tension? Would your art act more as a bridge between these perspectives, or as a challenge to the tradition itself?

I struggle mightily with the dichotomy of the  depth, beauty, and Holiness of Orthodox Judaism vs. its firmly patriarchal nature. 

So I stopped attending public worship, though I deeply miss the exquisite Sephardic singing of the prayers and psalms, because I could no longer tolerate the men’s rule. Philosophically I don’t believe the Bible’s patriarchal view of Divinity; G*d has no body and thus no gender; G*d being our Father in Heaven (Avinu b’ Shamiyam in Hebrew) is a METAPHOR! Thus I feel women are free to pray to a METAPHOR in their own image; thus instead of the King of the Universe, I invented the Queen of Cosmos.

The art gallery in Los Angeles, which I run with my landlords, gives a live platform to interact daily with real people. I definitely provide an approachable bridge to visitors; they enter the world of the Bible through my Biblical paintings. 

As for the comics, my parodies of the Bible in the first two “Books” of each volume of  “Queen of Cosmos Comix Trilogy” are so far-fetched I can only hope they provide a bridge for readers. Let’s just say those familiar with the first six “Torah Portions” will be in on all the jokes.

Your early work focused on “hippies saving the world through spirituality.” You underline in the trilogy that some “Men ruled with fury and crimes” How important is compassion for spreading cosmos consciousness to the world?

I’m glad you picked up on my theme of hippies saving the world through Spirituality. My later work hands this task off to my offspring, as parodied in the later “Books” of each volume of “Queen of Cosmos Comix Trilogy”. I absolutely believe that compassion is key to spreading Cosmic Consciousness. 

The Trilogy contains the saga (in different stories) of my late (elder) daughter Oma “ANNIE” Kunstler: how she was given a one year prognosis but lived 33 more years. The books are replete with references to Kerby Kunstler Caudill, my younger daughter, who is the most compassionate soul I know; maybe even the Bodhisattva I hint at in the story “Holy Parents” from the 70’s (included in the Trilogy!). She is definitely present as  “Ma Kerbee”, the wisest choice of the Queen of Cosmos,  in later “Books” of each volume of the Trilogy.

What I’m getting at is that our 33 long years with a dying child entangled both Kerby and myself in compassion. Also, I believe Women are hard-wired for compassion, as I say in the Trilogy and in the TikTok poem that came first. Compassion overrides many distinctions. It’s our differences and how we solve them that can generate the violent Conflict so prized by males! Give me a break. May Compassion accompany the Rise of Women and may we end Violence as an option.

Power, identity, and transformation run strongly through “Queen of Cosmos”. Which of these felt most personal to explore?

Wow: Power, Identity, and Transformation are big concepts. Thinking over the vast expanse of the Trilogy, (the creation of which spanned 10 years), I pick Transformation as the most personal one. Each story seems to involve transformation, even when the Angels complain about a lack of Conflict and Drama. The Queen creates the world to spread Cosmic Consciousness, but the rise of the Males to supremacy changes things; The Miracle Girl is treated to an idyllic childhood, only to be hit by Plagues later; a young couple (the girl strikingly resembles my Granddaughter Melody!) fall in love in the Pleiades Galaxy, then “Ma Kerbee” teaches  Time-Travel pioneers; etc: ha ha,  read the book and find out!

How did you decide when to let the Queen speak—and when to let silence or imagery carry meaning? Did you always know how the Queen’s journey would end—or did the ending come as a revelation?

Deciding when to let the Queen speak, and when to let silence and imagery carry meaning, was wholly intuitive. Before even the sketch phase I mentioned above, there is a phase of bursts of inspiration jotted down on memory pads or whatever is handy. Oh yeah, some of the early dialogue came to me while waiting in line at the LA Department of Social Services. The point is, the material bursts forth and at that time it becomes clear when it’s time for the Queen to speak, and when pure imagery is required to convey  meaning. 

What? The Queen’s journey Ended?! “Has Ve Shalom!” (Heaven Forbid!) I guess the Trilogy ends at some point, but many of the stories “end” with a nod to the future, or to “not ending”. The Trilogy ends with the Queen of Cosmos happily ensconced in the Utopian Pleiades Galaxy, yet available to all through imagination and prayer. I’m sure I didn’t see that coming when I began Volume One, but on the other hand it now seems clear as day for the Trilogy to end thus.

“Baby It’s You” brings to mind hippie iconography but also the Christian Madonna, two very different ways of sacralizing women. Can you share the story behind this piece?

I’m happy to share the story of my back cover of “It Ain’t Me Babe”,  “Baby it’s You”: I was nine months pregnant! I was imagining having the baby. I didn’t know I would have a girl and name her “Oma” after my story in the book. The quote from Laura Nyro- “little girl of all the daughters you were born a woman not a slave!” remains my wish for every female baby. The Rise of Women has come so far, (Yay!) that folks may not realize that in 1970 this sentiment reeked of the dreaded (to so many men!) “Women’s Lib”!

How has your need to make human understanding of feminism evolved throughout your career? Is there a difference between making art as a woman and making art about womanhood? What structural challenges still exist for women artists in 2026? 

I guess my desire to glorify and uplift Women has been present throughout my career. That’s why I’m a mystic: a higher power led my brush to create monumental female figures. Even during the 30 year phase when I drew my subjects from the Bible, I always included and enlarged the presence of women in the material- in every crowd scene for example. I also painted the major Women of the Bible. In my earliest comix I stressed the young family life I was living, but exaltation of and revelation about women were present as well from pretty early on. By the way I don’t use the term “feminism” I prefer author Alice Walker’s “womanism”. Alice Walker writes: “Feminism is to Womanism, as Lavender is to the color Purple”.

Well, men are not known for creating art about manhood- their work says it speaks for humanity. I hope my work does as well. But as I’ve said, in my art I often extol Women!

You shared a photo from “It Ain’t Me, Babe”, featuring women with whom you shared something extraordinary. Was there a moment during that collaboration when you felt that helping each other was more than just an art project—almost an act of love?

Ha ha, I only met the women in the photo on the day it was taken, with the huge exception of Trina Robbins, with whom I shared a 50+ year friendship and great collaborations; a friendship that definitely became Love, and I miss Trina dearly. We shared a house in San Francisco when we were both pregnant (together with her bf, underground cartoonist Kim Deitch and my husband, musician Rick Kunstler) just before Trina tapped me for the first story (“OMA”) and back cover of “It Ain’t Me Babe”. (The first all-woman comic book)

Then together, we edited “All Girl Thrills” and again I did the Back Cover and the first story: “Realm of Karma Comix”, the first page of which is included in “The History of Illustration, a college textbook, on the page opposite Robert Crumb.

Later, Trina asked me to do the cover of her anthology of her father’s stories, “A Minyen Yidn”. That was a labor of love; I incorporated vignettes from each story and a depiction of the girlhood Trina and her father.

She was honored with an Inkpot Award for her achievements in comics and art in 2022 while attending San Diego Comic-Con as a special guest.

We are, scientifically, “stardust.” Your work moves from Biblical tableaux to a fantastical, interstellar future. Is humanity’s future more deeply rooted in our ancient past, or in the technologies that may carry us to the stars? Your images carry a strong sense of vitality and a search for identity and respect. What have we lost along the way that has led to climate change and a growing sense of indifference?

The human brain is more close  in complexity and in being unfathomable, to the Cosmos itself than to anything else. We can THINK about Bible times, our own lifetimes, and future times, all at once, as in this sentence. I think technology is less than the most interesting subject in the natural development of our species. For example, in your busy day today, did you stop and appreciate the invention of the automobile or the telephone? Amazing technologies become routine. Thoughts on the other hand, can catch fire. I want the idea of Womanism to catch fire. Deep in the past, before the rise of three enormous Patriarchal religions, Goddess cultures prevailed in the Holy Land and in the Fertile Crescent! So it is not the Natural and Only system for men to rule, and make no mistake, they still do. The unrelenting Male Gaze grips the “culture” of the world- we are assaulted by so-called “entertainment” which rams male values down our throats. Don’t get me started.

I have no wish to revisit the past and I don’t see our solutions coming from that direction. I envision a Utopian future, where a beautiful idea, namely that Males have no business claiming Spiritual superiority over Females, will catch on and prevail. I await a world where female values are extolled and seen to be the earth-saving qualities our planet desperately needs. 

I think that Climate change is not because we’ve lost our way, it’s because male-driven profit-mania has governed our choices. I see Hope in our youth! Hopelessness is not the vibe I get from the diverse students of nearby Hamilton HS in Los Angeles; I’m picking up exuberance, freedom and imagination, which multiplied and magnified will find solutions for the planet; and I’m including the post-college kids of my granddaughter’s age in my vision of Hope.

Photos and images courtesy o Barbara Mendes

Dominique Musorrafiti

Ciao! My name is Dominique. I’m Italian and I’m proud to be a mix. My father was an Italian chemical engineer and high school teacher, with Greek and Polish heritage. My mother is Haitian, she was high school language teacher, with Dominican, Spanish, French, Portuguese, African and Native American heritage. Being a mix makes me appreciate to want to understand different cultures and lifestyles. I grew up in Italy, lived few years in Haiti, travel around main European capitals, lived many years in China, in Spain and UK. Traveling makes me feel that we can learn something from every situation in every part of the world.