Barbara Fiske Calhoun

ABOUT BARBARA FISKE CALHOUN

Remembered for her Second World War era comic strip Girl Commandos, Calhoun is equally notable for helping to establish a Vermont commune known as the Quarry Hill Creative Center.

She studied art in Los Angeles before relocating to New York City in the early 1940s. She began drawing her first New York comic, Black Cat, in 1941.

She spent her last days at the Brookside Nursing Home in Vermont.

Born Isabelle Daniel Hall in Tucson, Arizona, she later married writer Irving Fiske and changed her name to Barbara Hall Fiske. Prior to her divorce from Fiske and her marriage to professor Donald Calhoun, she gave birth to children named Isabella and William Fiske.

She was a contemporary of fellow artist and Harvey Comics employee Jack Kirby .