The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For

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Meaningful Name: A few minor characters have meaningful names of varying levels of obscurity. Harriet's girlfriend after Mo, for whom Mo entertains a major hate-on and who later cheats on Harriet, is called Ellen Tufel, "Teufel" being German for "devil" (at one point Mo calls her "that she-devil"). Toni and Clarice had hoped to have their adoption case heard by sympathetic Judge Fairchild, but are instead heard by strict, conservative Judge Booker. Sydney's oncologist, whom Mo finds rather militaristic, is Dr. Rommel. And the creepy joined-at-the-hip perfect couple are named Liz and Beth - complete with daughter Elspeth. Also, Sydney's long-standing bit-on-the-side is a Comp. Lit. professor named Madeleine Zeugma. A zeugma is a figure of speech. It Runs in the Family: Clarice visits her parents to tell them of Toni's pregnancy, only to be upstaged when her brother, Clarence, pipes in "It's OK, Mama. I'm gay, too."

Acme Products: Apparently the Acme Corporation exists in the DTWOF universe, as the occasional Acme product/company is seen. Acme Floral appears in an early strip, and there's also Acme Imaging Solutions (makers of the "iMRItronic" MRI machine).

Erotic Eating: It's been known to occur in the bonus story sections of the collections, which could devote more space to such things than the regular installments. For instance in Hot, Throbbing Dykes To Watch Out For Sydney prepares a tiramisù to entice Mo on one of their early dates (once Mo overcomes her misgivings against dairy, sugar and chocolate, things take off quite satisfyingly), and in Post-Dykes To Watch Out For Clarice and Toni can be seen cavorting in bed with vanilla ice cream and maple syrup. For twenty-five years Bechdel’s path-breaking Dykes to Watch Out For strip has been collected in award-winning volumes (with a quarter of a million copies in print), syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers, and translated into many languages. Now, at last, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For gathers a “rich, funny, deep and impossible to put down” (Publishers Weekly) selection from all eleven Dykes volumes. Here too are sixty of the newest strips, never before published in book form. Thea, a Jewish lesbian with multiple sclerosis who was Sydney's lover in college. Thea worked at Madwimmin Books, and afterwards taught art to kids. From the author of Fun Home -- the lives, loves, and politics of cult fav characters Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and others But despite queer inclusion of Waithe and Peirce in this discussion, the proposals for new Bechdel-esque Tests leaves out any notion of LGBTQ-ness, a bizarre oversight considering the test’s origins.

As I listened to this new take on classic queer characters, I found myself laughing, tearing up, and even getting chills at the emotional depth of the performances. And, to me, that was all that my comic strip was about. It was like I was showing the lives of people like me and my friends to people like me and my friends. It never occurred to me that it would go further than that. Maybe I had a dim little hope of that, but it was not part of my agenda. I just wanted to help people like me to see themselves as whole human beings, citizens, members of the community. Aborted Arc: In one of the book-exclusive strips, Toni and Clarice decide to try polyamory. It is only mentioned a couple times more when nothing comes of the idea. When brought up in couples therapy, Toni says that ever since becoming depressed after the 2000 election, Clarice lost interest in anything sexual. So, when I moved here a few years ago, I was surprised to see the tight-knit queer community that you depicted was very real.

Harriet

Dykes to Watch Out For is a must-listen for anyone interested queer history, found family, and lesbian culture. Lois Mac GiverRomantic foil to Mo, Lois is the strip's resident Lothario (Lotharia?). Housemates with Ginger and Sparrow (and later Stuart & Jiao Raizel). Body to Ginger's Mind and Sparrow's Spirit. Formerly of Madwimmin, currently at Bounders Books’n’Muzak. Art Evolution: Very noticeable if you get the The Essential Dykes To Watch Out For compilation, especially Lois and Clarice. No, I was not thinking that at all. It was a really different world then and it's hard to explain it to younger people now because they just weren’t there. We weren't part of the mainstream, we were really, really sidelined. And that was fine with us at that time. I mean, we were starting to think about wanting more access and wanting people to see us and wanting to have more visibility, but for the time being, we were building up our strength in this parallel subculture. Classes taught: Women’s Studies 101, Post-Everything Feminist Theory, and Gender, Class and Miniature Golf: The Social Construction of Leisure.

I didn’t know what was going to happen. How do you turn a visual thing into an audio thing? But a wonderful playwright, Madeleine George, did the adaptation. I’m still amazed at how she managed to take so much of my original language. Your first memoir, Fun Home , describes how your closeted father died by suspected suicide shortly after you came out at the age of 19. How big have the cultural changes in gay culture been since that time?

Lois Mac Giver

Ginger: Cynthia, if you really want more Republicans on the faculty, try getting our salaries quadrupled. Thinking about DTWOF, it’s easy to focus on the content. Character and theme are so central, some might put the strip in a class with its artistically unambitious forebear, Doonesbury. People always mention its politics, particularly its treatment of different races and genders. But look deeper, and you can see the depth, complexity and ambition of Bechdel’s graphical achievement. Her unique line is curvaceous and fleshy, with much more physical impact than most comic creators’. The linework of the mid-’90s strips often tops that of Fun Home. With the latter, Bechdel was clearly pouring out scenes she had firmly established in her mind. In DTWOF, her line is more exploratory — she’s following wherever her nib leads her.” (Source: NPR) Everyone Is Jesus in Purgatory: An in-universe example occurs when Mo falls in love with a poet whose poems she insists have clever hidden meanings (they don't really).