Stuck Rubber Baby

Stuck Rubber Baby

Author: Howard Cruse

Publisher:

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781401227135

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A tale of Toland Polk, a young man caught in the maelstrom of the civil rights movement and the intrenched homophobia of small-town America


No Straight Lines

No Straight Lines

Author: Justin Hall

Publisher: Fantagraphics Books

Published: 2013-08-03

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1606997181

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No Straight Lines showcases major names such as Alison Bechdel, Howard Cruse, and Ralf Koenig (one of Europe’s most popular cartoonists), as well as high-profile, crossover creators who have dabbled in LGBT cartooning, like legendary NYC artist David Wojnarowicz and media darling and advice columnist Dan Savage. No Straight Lines also spotlights many talented creators who never made it out of the queer comics ghetto, but produced amazing work that deserves wider attention. Queer cartooning encompasses some of the best and most interesting comics of the last four decades, with creators tackling complex issues of identity and a changing society with intelligence, humor, and imagination. This book celebrates this vibrant artistic underground by gathering together a collection of excellent stories that can be enjoyed by all. Until recently, queer cartooning existed in a parallel universe to the rest of comics, appearing only in gay newspapers and gay bookstores and not in comic book stores, mainstream bookstores or newspapers. The insular nature of the world of queer cartooning, however, created a fascinating artistic scene. LGBT comics have been an uncensored, internal conversation within the queer community, and thus provide a unique window into the hopes, fears, and fantasies of queer people for the last four decades. These comics have forged their aesthetics from the influences of underground comix, gay erotic art, punk zines, and the biting commentaries of drag queens, bull dykes, and other marginalized queers. They have analyzed their own communities, and their relationship with the broader society. They are smart, funny, and profound. No Straight Lines has been heralded by people interested in comics history, and people invested in LGBT culture will embrace it as a unique and invaluable collection.


The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse

The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse

Author: Andrew J. Kunka

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2021-12-10

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 1978818874

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Nominated for the 2022 Eisner Award - Best Academic/Scholarly Work The Life and Comics of Howard Cruse tells the remarkable story of how a self-described “preacher’s kid” from Birmingham, Alabama, became the so-called “Godfather of Gay Comics.” This study showcases a remarkable fifty-year career that included working in the 1970s underground comics scene, becoming founding editor of the groundbreaking anthology series Gay Comix, and publishing the graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby, partially based on his own experience of coming of age in the Civil Rights era. Through his exploration of Cruse’s life and work, Andrew J. Kunka also chronicles the dramatic ways that gay culture changed over the course of Cruse’s lifetime, from Cold War-era homophobia to the gay liberation movement to the AIDS crisis to the legalization of gay marriage. Highlighting Cruse’s skills as a trenchant satirist and social commentator, Kunka explores how he cast a queer look at American politics, mainstream comics culture, and the gay community’s own norms. Lavishly illustrated with a broad selection of comics from Cruse’s career, this study serves as a perfect introduction to this pioneering cartoonist, as well as an insightful read for fans who already love how his work sketched a new vision of gay life.


Comics and the U.S. South

Comics and the U.S. South

Author: Brannon Costello

Publisher: Univ. Press of Mississippi

Published: 2012-01-20

Total Pages: 359

ISBN-13: 1617030198

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Comics and the U.S. South offers a wide-ranging and long overdue assessment of how life and culture in the United States South is represented in serial comics, graphic novels, newspaper comic strips, and webcomics. Diverting the lens of comics studies from the skyscrapers of Superman's Metropolis or Chris Ware's Chicago to the swamps, backroads, small towns, and cities of the U.S. South, this collection critically examines the pulp genres associated with mainstream comic books alongside independent and alternative comics. Some essays seek to discover what Captain America can reveal about southern regionalism and how slave narratives can help us reread Swamp Thing; others examine how creators such as Walt Kelly (Pogo), Howard Cruse (Stuck Rubber Baby), Kyle Baker (Nat Turner), and Josh Neufeld (A.D.: New Orleans after the Deluge) draw upon the unique formal properties of the comics to question and revise familiar narratives of race, class, and sexuality; and another considers how southern writer Randall Kenan adapted elements of comics form to prose fiction. With essays from an interdisciplinary group of scholars, Comics and the U.S. South contributes to and also productively reorients the most significant and compelling conversations in both comics scholarship and in southern studies.


Wendel All Together

Wendel All Together

Author: Howard Cruse

Publisher:

Published: 2001

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13:

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Join Wendel Trupstock and his significant other, Ollie Chalmers, as they navigate gay life in the '80s. Howard Cruse's Wendel ran in The Advocate during one of the most tumultuous periods in gay history, and the lives of his characters are a snapshot of that era -- from the bar scene to long term commitments, from AIDS to activism, from Reagan to right-wing homophobia. Big issues and everyday life mingle in this strip with hilarious results. And Cruse is a master with pen and ink! Wendel All Together brings readers this classic comic strip complete in one volume for the first time ever!


Al Capp

Al Capp

Author: Michael Schumacher

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA

Published: 2013-02-26

Total Pages: 322

ISBN-13: 1608197859

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More than thirty years have passed since Al Capp's death, and he may no longer be a household name. But at the height of his career, his groundbreaking comic strip, Li'l Abner, reached ninety million readers. The strip ran for forty-three years, spawned two movies and a Broadway musical, and originated such expressions as "hogwash" and "double-whammy." Capp himself was a familiar personality on TV and radio; as a satirist, he was frequently compared to Mark Twain. Though Li'l Abner brought millions joy, the man behind the strip was a complicated and often unpleasant person. A childhood accident cost him a leg-leading him to art as a means of distinguishing himself. His apprenticeship with Ham Fisher, creator of Joe Palooka, started a twenty-year feud that ended in Fisher's suicide. Capp enjoyed outsized publicity for a cartoonist, but his status abetted sexual misconduct and protected him from the severest repercussions. Late in life, his politics became extremely conservative; he counted Richard Nixon as a friend, and his gift for satire was redirected at targets like John Lennon, Joan Baez, and anti-war protesters on campuses across the country. With unprecedented access to Capp's archives and a wealth of new material, Michael Schumacher and Denis Kitchen have written a probing biography. Capp's story is one of incredible highs and lows, of popularity and villainy, of success and failure-told here with authority and heart.


The Best of Comix Book

The Best of Comix Book

Author: Denis Kitchen

Publisher: Dark Horse Comics

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1616552581

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In 1974, legendary Marvel Comics publisher Stan Lee approached underground pioneer Denis Kitchen and offered a way for them to collaborate. Their resulting series was called Comix Book and featured work by many of the top underground cartoonists including Joel Beck, Kim Deitch, Justin Green, Harvey Pekar, Trina Robbins, Art Spiegelman (first national appearance of Maus), Skip Williamson, and S. Clay Wilson. The Best of Comix Book showcases 150-pages of classic underground comix (printed on newsprint, as they originally appeared), many never before reprinted.


Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes

Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes

Author: Jeffrey A. Brown

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2021-11-19

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1978825285

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Impossibly muscular men and voluptuous women parade around in revealing, skintight outfits, and their romantic and sexual entanglements are a key part of the ongoing drama. Such is the state of superhero comics and movies, a genre that has become one of our leading mythologies, conveying influential messages about gender, sexuality, and relationships. Love, Sex, Gender, and Superheroes examines a full range of superhero media, from comics to films to television to merchandising. With a keen eye for the genre’s complex and internally contradictory mythology, comics scholar Jeffrey A. Brown considers its mixed messages. Superhero comics may reinforce sex roles with their litany of phallic musclemen and slinky femme fatales, but they also blur gender binaries with their emphasis on transformation and body swaps. Similarly, while most heroes have heterosexual love interests, the genre prioritizes homosocial bonding, and it both celebrates and condemns gendered and sexualized violence. With examples spanning from the Golden Ages of DC and Marvel comics up to recent works like the TV series The Boys, this study provides a comprehensive look at how superhero media shapes our perceptions of love, sex, and gender.


Underground Classics

Underground Classics

Author: Denis Kitchen

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Published: 2009-05-01

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780810905986

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"Underground Classics" provides the first serious survey of underground comix as art, turning the spotlight on influential and largely under-appreciated artists, including Gilbert Shelton, Kim Deitch, and Trina Robbins. Illustrations throughout.


Young Bottoms in Love

Young Bottoms in Love

Author: Tim Fish

Publisher: Northwest Press

Published: 2012-01-01

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 1938720059

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Young Bottoms in Love compiles a sampling of the acclaimed webcomic anthology and includes more than 40 creators, from award-winning comics professionals to top amateur talent. Featuring comics by Abby Denson, Adam Dekraker, Adam Leveille, Andy Swist, Ariel Guzman, Bill Roundy, Craig Bostick, Dave Ortega, Dave Roman, David Kelly, Decker, Fábian Álvarez López, François Peneaud, Frank Muse, Gregory Lockard, Howard Cruse, J. Brett Hopkins, Jack Lawrence, Jay Laird, Jeff Krell, Jen Van Meter, Jim Gladstone Jr, Justin Hall, Kyle Cummings, Lynx Delirium, Martin Schneebalg, Melody Nadia Shickley, Michael J. DiMotta, Monica Gallagher, Nate and Mike K., Noel Miciano, Paige Braddock, Phil Good, Rachel Millar, Randall Kirby, Richard Ruane, Robert Kirby, Roger Zanni, Stephen Sadowksi, Steven Walters, Ted Manning, Theo Bain, Tim Fish, and Tim Piotrowski. Proceeds from the sale of this digital book benefit Prism Comics, a nonprofit organization supporting LGBT comics, creators and readers. "Amazing! I love Young Bottoms in Love." — Alison Bechdel (Fun Home, Are You My Mother) Released digitally by Northwest Press, which has been publishing quality LGBT-inclusive comics and graphic novels since 2010.