{"product_id":"howard-cruse-paperback","title":"Howard Cruse - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eJanine Utell\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003eHoward Cruse\u003c\/i\u003e tells the life story of one of the most important figures in LGBTQ+ comics. A preacher's kid from Alabama who became \"the godfather of queer comics,\" Cruse (1944-2019) was a groundbreaking underground cartoonist, a wicked satirist, an LGBTQ+ activist, and a mentor to a vast network of queer comics artists. His comic strip \u003ci\u003eWendel\u003c\/i\u003e, published in \u003ci\u003eThe Advocate\u003c\/i\u003e throughout the 1980s, is considered a revolutionary moment in the development of LGBTQ+ comics, as is his inaugurating the editorship of \u003ci\u003eGay Comix\u003c\/i\u003e with Kitchen Sink Press in 1979, which furthered the careers of important artists like Jennifer Camper and Alison Bechdel. Cruse's graphic novel \u003ci\u003eStuck Rubber Baby\u003c\/i\u003e, published in 1995, fictionalizes his own coming out in the context of the civil rights movement in 1960s Birmingham and was a significant forerunner to contemporary graphic novels and memoirs. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e \u003ci\u003eHoward Cruse \u003c\/i\u003edraws on extensive archival research and interviews and covers Cruse's entire body of work: the cute and zany \u003ci\u003eBarefootz\u003c\/i\u003e, the unexpected innovations of the \u003ci\u003eGay Comix\u003c\/i\u003e stories, the domestic intimacies of \u003ci\u003eWendel\u003c\/i\u003e, and the complexity and power of \u003ci\u003eStuck Rubber Baby\u003c\/i\u003e. The book places Cruse's art in the context of his life and his times, including the historic movements for gay rights and against the AIDS crisis, and it celebrates this extraordinary and essential figure of LGBTQ+ comics and American comics art more broadly.\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eJanine Utell\u003c\/b\u003e is author of several books, most recently \u003ci\u003eLiterary Couples and 20th-Century Life Writing: Narrative and Intimacy\u003c\/i\u003e, and editor of \u003ci\u003eThe Comics of Alison Bechdel: From the Outside In\u003c\/i\u003e, published by University Press of Mississippi, and \u003ci\u003eTeaching Modernist Women's Writing in English\u003c\/i\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 252\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.53 x 8.5 x 5.5 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 02, 2023\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42731266605119,"sku":"9781496843500","price":54.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0105\/8226\/1823\/files\/5f0873c42eee1a57ebb5aa2a87fca0ef_dadf80c6-6f4d-44cb-a483-6729afdb17e2.webp?v=1765128291","url":"https:\/\/dhlswag.com\/products\/howard-cruse-paperback","provider":"BBB","version":"1.0","type":"link"}