No Straight Lines: Four Decades Of Queer Comics
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.93 (912 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 1606997181 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 304 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2014-03-12 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
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. The insular nature of the world of queer cartooning, however, created a fascinating artistic scene. 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. The wildly successful queer comics anthology is being re-released in softcover: with contributions from cartoonists such as Alison Bechdel (
Well done! I could not put down Justin Hall's collection of LGBTQ comics until I had read it cover to cover. As someone who is somewhat familiar with the queer comics scene, but not an expert by any means (i.e., I keep up with a few writers/artists from the 80s-present), it was enlightening to read a collection of comics made by a diverse list of creators that was organized chronologically by era (moving from comics you had to order out of the back of a magazine or buy from a specialty bookstore to national recognition and the instant access available with web. "Long overdue, this is a must-have" according to rndkr. I'm in this book, so yes, I am biased, but hear me out anyway.In 1989 Robert Triptow published Gay Comics, a trade paperback with New American Library that featured Triptow along with Tim Barela, Alison Bechdel, Jennifer Camper, Howard Cruse, Gerard Donelan, Kurt Erichsen, Roberta Gregory, Jeffrey Krell, and all the other major LGBT cartoonists from the underground comic book series Gay Comix as well as the gay and lesbian newsweeklies of the day, etc. Gay Comics was an excellent book, one I'd read and reread many times. It also won the Lambda Liter. K. Clarke said Cool Book. It's the American competition publication to Markus Pfalzgraf's STRIPPED: A STORY OF GAY COMICS ("Cool Book" according to K. Clarke. It's the American competition publication to Markus Pfalzgraf's STRIPPED: A STORY OF GAY COMICS (2012) which is a much 'heavier' book with a lot more text in it - and very different comic authors. Still, I found Justin Hall's NO STRAIGHT LINES in its paper back version the more elegant book, visually. And, truth be told, I really enjoyed reading his intro, short and compact as it is. It basically only deals with the comic scene in San Francisco, at least that was my impression, whereas Pfalzgraf has a much more international approach. But as a book . 01"Cool Book" according to K. Clarke. It's the American competition publication to Markus Pfalzgraf's STRIPPED: A STORY OF GAY COMICS (2012) which is a much 'heavier' book with a lot more text in it - and very different comic authors. Still, I found Justin Hall's NO STRAIGHT LINES in its paper back version the more elegant book, visually. And, truth be told, I really enjoyed reading his intro, short and compact as it is. It basically only deals with the comic scene in San Francisco, at least that was my impression, whereas Pfalzgraf has a much more international approach. But as a book . ) which is a much 'heavier' book with a lot more text in it - and very different comic authors. Still, I found Justin Hall's NO STRAIGHT LINES in its paper back version the more elegant book, visually. And, truth be told, I really enjoyed reading his intro, short and compact as it is. It basically only deals with the comic scene in San Francisco, at least that was my impression, whereas Pfalzgraf has a much more international approach. But as a book
. He teaches comics at the California College of Art. Justin Hall is an award-winning cartoonist and sits on the board of Prism Comics, a non-profit supporting LGBT comics
“Hall plumbs the queer comics scene, which existed alongside mainstream comics since the '70s, for an anthology that offers a wide array of stories about LGBT lifestyles in a variety of formats and tones.” (Matt White - Publishers Weekly)