The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2008) It's hard to describe the effect Alison Bechdel's comic strip has had on popular culture, and not just LBGT culture. It is, first of all, a great introduction to a world unknown to most straight people, dealing, as it does, in characters, not stereotypes.
You don't need to be gay to enjoy the sometimes hysterical tension and chaos of daily life, and you don't need knowledge of politics to follow the details of her observations. After 25 years, Bechdel suspended her comic, which gave her more room to work on her two great graphic novels, Fun Home and Are You My Mother. As it is, her legacy thus far has three-dimensional lesbians -- and all sorts of people, really -- with real problems, blended with insightful philosophy and a nuanced, multifaceted narrative that encompasses complex political analysis and human drama by the bucketfuls. Bechdel is in the same league with Doonesbury, Bloom County and For Better or for Worse, all long-running comics whose characters age and grow and whose real-life experiences make you revisit your own beliefs. ![]() |
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