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GAY PEOPLE'S CHRONICLE Pride Guide 2009
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no
eve
www.GayPeoplesChronicle.com
Cute, funny or profound?
A choice for graphic literature
by Anthony Glassman
In the magical world of comics, cartoons and graphic literature-which is what grown-ups who read comics call them nowa-
Am I A BITCH NOW?
#1
October 2008
ewal grass, a cigar it smells like shit.
wouldn't a t-shirt that says "i am a total deoche" be cheaper in the long run?,
GEEZ, MAYBE YOU'RE
A BITCH NOW...
no, because
i actually dedn't!
Say any of
that out loud.
i mean cigars are pretty much the least attractive fashion accessory
i guess you have to be realy Secure in your manhood to have what is essentially o smaking pesis in gaur mouth.
ON THAT'S JUST BECAUSE YOU'RE AFRAID...
quiet, you!
the end.
days there are a number of ways to deal with issues.
The first is to take something and make it cute and funny. It doesn't have to be the most intricate of artwork; it just has to be cute and funny.
The second is to try to go all trippy with it, which either requires magnificent writing or incredible artistic skills.
Joey Alison Sayers takes the first route in Just So You Know #1, a collection of strips about her transition to womandom.
With the plethora of gay male and lesbian comic-strippers out there, Sayers' take on transitioning from male to female is a welcome change.
She joins a fine tradition of truly funny, really engaging strips by queer writers and artists, although her voice is entirely her
own.
Living in Oakland, California, the strips in the collection range from a single page to one seven-page story covering 15 years, and they're all perfectly poignant and adorable.
She also does a web comic (which also sees prifft) called Thingapart, nominated for an Ignatz Award three years in a row. How can someone argue with that level of acclaim?
Her work can be found on www.jsayers.com.
Victoria Francés, a Spanish artist, goes the second route, taking readers on a bizarre fairy-tale journey in Arlene's Heart (NBM, hardcover, $24.95).
In her lushly-illustrated story, a young homeless woman unsuccessfully fights breast cancer, eventually succumbing.
However, her death is far from the end, as she wakes up in a doll's body, missing her heart, and down the rabbit hole, to use a Lewis Carroll reference.
An La Bitch Now? I
#3: november 2008
god, what is it with the way these hipsters dress? I mean, are they trying to loak ugly?
OR WHEN YOU WERE A CLOSETED CROSSDRESSER AND MOST OF he CLOTHES YOU FOUND ON THE STREET? but i didn't know any better.
(geez, who's being the itch now?
WM, DO I NEED TO REMIND YOU OF ALL THOSE OH-SO-FASHDAWALE YEARS YOU SPENT AS A GUY? that's
Bot fair.
OR WHER YOU PREFER TO CAR ABAUT WHEN YOU FIRST CAME OUT AND HADN'T LEARNED HOW TO US MAKES AND YOU HAD NO FASHION SENSE WHATSBEYER?
ibuti...
WEVER NICE THRIFT STORE CLATNES
wh what
As her doll-self travels through a labyrinthine purgatory, she goes through a virtual
("Man"? "Man"?!
• What the fuck is that?
I'm a woman. I look like a goddamn weman.
Sarah, I'm so pissed This fucked up thing just happened...
(Nothing about me communicates "male"
(Oh baby, don't let same jerk get to you You're a beautiful, autant, femining woman and no one can tell you any different.
laundry list of liberal causes, freeing people from their tormenters. She saves little gay boys, same-sex couples, baby seals, bulimics, everything.
Because it's a fairy tale, of course she eventually finds her heart and gets it back. It's an odd book, and it's difficult to really know what to say about it. On the one hand, the writing is mediocre at best. whether it is because of the conceit of writing a fairy tale for grown-ups, but keeping the story to that childlike form, or whether it has something to do with the fact that Francés is Spanish, there is something unspeakably enervating about her writing.
On the other hand, her artwork is incredible, albeit a little in the Hot Topic vein. Her pretty boys are breathtakingly beautiful, her baby seal is heartrendingly adorable, her doll-bodied Arlene is childlike and innocent and pure as the driven snow.
Yes, she is an incredible artist. This story does not necessarily display her full potential as a writer, however.
The book can be found at www.nbmpub.com, as well as bookstores.
Pencil Paintings
by Mary Hobbs 440.247.4275
E-mail: maryhobbsa sbcglobal.net Website: www.maryhobbs.net
Namaste be
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