January IB. 2002
BOOKS
W endel A ll T ogether
by H ow ard C ruse. O lm stead Press, 2001;
$ 1 7 .9 5 softcover.
Bunnin' down the house
Queer comic collections portray a history
of civil rights—and neuroticism
thanks to the global reach of the Web. Baldwin
has kept this audience by consistently deliver
ing a gorgeously rendered and witty saga of
young love, artistic aspiration, intellectual con
fusion and occasional slapstick.
T his latest collection (th e sixth) finds
Bruno frustrated with her Massachusetts
hometown. Discovering Portland
via a theatrical road trip, she falls
PROBABLY? IF
for our beautiful city and decides
NOT. I’LL CALL THEM
FROM THE WHITE
to live here.
HOUSE LOBBY? THERE’S
BOUND TO BE A PAY
Pretty soon she becomes roman
PHONE..
tically involved with two lovers
simultaneously, one male and one
female. Fortunately, they know of
each other and are cool with the sit
uation. Unfortunately, not so the
emotionally volatile Bruno.
Her ensuing trips to a variety of
therapists and her confessions to
sympathetic friends afford sophisti
cated laughs but also thoughtful
meditation on the ambiguities of
love and relationships. As the title
suggests, there is more on the plate;
Baldwin serves it up with tenderness
and class.
n the course of his 30-year career, cartoonist
Howard Cruse has lived two seemingly dis
parate struggles: the fight by sexual minorities
by K evin M oore
for civil and social rights on the one
hand, and the establishment of comics
as a unique artistic and literary medium
on the other.
t J 4 a / t s BETWEEN
sum e
Founding the underground G ay
NOW AND THEN
YOU’LL HAVE
C om ics anthology in 1980, he created
CONE OUT
TO YOUR
an outlet for future queer creators to
PARENT*..?
address themes of sexual identity.
Cruse received critical praise for his
1996 graphic novel Stuck Rubber
Baby, an autobiographically inspired
coming-out story set in Alabama dur
ing the height of the ’60s civil rights
movement.
In between, there was W endel.
Published in the back pages of the
Advocate from 1983 to 1989, the
comic strip portrayed the lives o f
Wendel Trupstock; his partner, Ollie
Chalmers; and a cast of funny, memo
rable characters caught up in the per
Ollie and Wendel plot revolution over cornflakes in a typical domestic scene from Wendel All Together
W endel A ll T ogether can be found
sonal and political problems o f the
at bookstores or w w w.how ardcruse.com . A new
cal? Not really— such is the transcendent
topics were fresh, not to mention frightening;
era— parental rejection, religious zealotry, Rea-
B runo appears six days a w eek at
power of good art.
for Cruse, they were obviously quite personal.
ganaut indifference/opportunism, infighting
www.brunostrip.com . Collections can be purchased
And Baldwin does not let his artistic fore
By training his sharp eye for humor on the oth
among gay liberationists and, of course, A ID S.
at Reading Frenzy or w w w .m oodycow .com .
parents down. His strip, the continuing story of
erwise tragic, he avoids the hackneyed and the
All disrupt the lives of Wendel et al. as they try
an intelligent, talented young woman wander
maudlin, finding novel and sometimes illumi
to maintain healthy relationships, pursue artistic
K evin M oore is a cartoonist-identified graphic
ing aimlessly (yet humorously) through life, has
nating
takes
on
subjects
that,
sadly,
find
ways
careers, work lousy jobs, do the laundry and
designer at Just Out.
attracted a dedicated international readership
to vex us still.
maybe have a little sex once in a while.
Cruse
draws
as
beautifully
as
he
writes.
After more than a decade, this long-overdue
^SO THE SUYS SAVE HE A
Carefully crafted, his artwork can still be
collection of everything W endel demonstrates
HARD TIME AFTER YoUUFT.
the strengths of Cruse’s writing, his attention to
lively and loose— silly at all the right
I EASILY HANDLED IT, BUT I
WAS SAD Too O IONT STAY.
m om ents, tender at others. Inspired by the
the nuances of dialogue and the seamless inter
Tow BEEN OKAY? I HAVEN'T
SCOI MUCH Of TOW LATELY
classic "big foot” style o f golden age com ics,
weaving of his characters’ complex back stories.
he renders his characters larger than life,
Consider O llie. A n amateur actor with big
with the long legs and thick arms o f figures
Hollywood dreams, he endures unrewarding
in a social realist painting.
low-wage work to support his hyper-imagina
Nonetheless, he displays a sensitive eye for
tive pubescent son, Farley, for whose custody
he must painstakingly negotiate with his neu
body type. Men and women can appear ideal,
sexy or dramatic one moment, then rubbery,
rotic ex-wife. No mean feat that, since Carol,
goofy and comic the next, all the while remain
still traumatized by his coming out, refuses to
ing in character and retaining a warm humanity.
be in the same room with Wendel.
YOU KNOW THAT MAKES
^*>,e«wuo, was rr a s
IT'S TRUE JULES, I WAS T R T V 6
iT EVEN W O R SE THAN IF
Such a circumstance could be the stuff of
fcooo FOR. YOU AS YOU TO THROW YOU A
BECAUSE
T o o s im p l y E X P R E S S E D
Ybu DESERTED SVEN MORE THAN
mCTtMOCD
B runo : PD X— L ove , G od , S ex
either melodrama or farce. But Cruse succeeds at
TO U R D IS IN T E R E S T .
THAT. UNFORTUNATELY, EVEN FAtQhlù
•IAS MOKE THAN I HAD iN
and C inema
plumbing humor from these situations by treating
iT HAD ITS DEFINITE
by C . Baldwin. M oody C ow Publishing, 2001;
his characters with sympathy and respect, deftly
FACTOR: I NEVER THoUfcHT
h e a r Y o u s a y , ‘TXM b a b y ?
$ 9 .9 5 softcover.
balancing the absurdity of their complications
YOU DIDN'T, AND
NopoDY NEVER HAS
with the sincerity of their love and aspirations.
TO KNOW,CAPISCE?^
s W endel inspired Dykes to W atch O ut For,
Equally impressive is how well Cruse’s inter
so in turn has Alison Bechdel’s work
play of the political and the personal remains
inspired Chris Baldwin’s Bruno. In other
relevant. Some satirical targets— Bible-thump
words, a gay man’s comic strip begat a lesbian
ing homophobes and social insensitivity toward
strip, which begat this daily online strip about
A ID S— are so familiar to us now, they risk
Bruno is blessed (or cursed?) with compassionate lovers in Bruno: P D X — Love, Qod, Sex and Cinema
a bisexual woman by a straight man. Paradoxi-
being read as clichés. But in the 1980s, these
in
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