Diane DiMassa

In 2002, a candy bar named after Hothead Paisan — the "Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist" booster bar — sold out quickly in San Francisco, where DiMassa was living at the time.

DiMassa illustrated the Pussycat Fever chapbook by the late Kathy Acker, along with Freddie Baer (AK Press, 1995); My Gender Workbook by Kate Bornstein; and Sexing the Body by Anne-Fausto Sterling. DiMassa illustrated Jokes and the Unconscious, a graphic novel written by poet and writer Daphne Gottlieb, which was published by Cleis Press in 2006.

Hothead Paisan made its debut in 1991, and was initially published four times a year by Giant Ass Publishing (Stacy Sheehan and Diane DiMassa). The series was part of an underground 'zine explosion which happened in the early 1990s, and instantly snared a loyal cult following. DiMassa published Hothead Paisan from 1991–1996; the whole series has been collected into the anthology The Complete Hothead Paisan, published by Cleis Press. It contains all 21 issues, plus 20 extra pages. (The original issues are still available on the Hothead Paisan website.)

DiMassa has contributed to numerous comic/literary anthologies from the early 1990s to the present, the most recent being Live Through This (Seven Stories Press), which is a collection of prose and art by women describing the role that art has played in dealing with issues such as addiction.

Diane DiMassa (born 1959) is an American feminist artist, author and cartoonist. Her works include comics, illustrations, and a graphic novel. While she is best known for the character Hothead Paisan, Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist she is a prolific fine artist as well.