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<--David Weber Terry Pratchett's "Discworld"-->
WARNING!
The material recommended on this page contains material of sexual and/or political nature that may offend some readers.
Recommended for mature audiences.

Click here for my comments.
Dykes To Watch Out For The first collection of Alison Bechdel's lesbian feminist comic strip; not yet the established series.
More Dykes To Watch Out For Introducing Mo and the rest of the gang at Madwimmin Books. Pic Not Currently Available
New! Improved! Dykes To Watch Out For Mo in therapy.
Among other things.
Dykes To Watch Out For: The Sequel Includes "Serial Monogamy", an essay/reflection on lesbian interpersonal issues; funny, touching, and,to a great extent, gender-transcendant. Pic Not Currently Available
Spawn of Dykes To Watch Out For Clarice and Toni's bundle from heaven finally arrives. Pic Not Currently Available
Unnatural Dykes To Watch Out For This is the one with the "extra added story" section at the end that details how everybody met everybody and how they all wound up where they are... Pic Not Currently Available
Hot Throbbing Dykes To Watch Out For Wicked Sydney hits town;
Ginger {gasp} finishes her dissertation;
A financial crisis at Madwimmin Books leads to an erotica sale.
Split Level Dykes To Watch Out For Everybody's on the move --
Ginger buys the house;
Clarice & Toni move to suburbia
and Jezanna's father needs a place to stay;
And Sydney moves in with Mo.
((And guess who's got a boy-friend?))
The Indelible Alison Bechdel Autobiography, background and glimpses behind the scenes.
((Includes the illustrations from all of  the "Dykes to Watch out For" calendars, which is just about enough reason to buy it right there..))
Why
is a
Straight White Male
recommending that you purchase
"PG" or even "R"-rated
collections of
lesbian feminist cartoons?


There are two answers to that:

(1) They are Very Very Funny.

That's one reason, and ought to be sufficient, really.

But, if you need more:

I first encountered Alison Bechdel and "Dykes To Watch Out For" in the pages of a gift subscription to "The Funny Times" given to me by a friend.

In particular, i remember that the first strip i read involved Ginger, Lois and Sparrow and a bouquet that Ginger had received from a woman she had met at a gender-issues conference in another state. I didn't know who any of these women were, but, given the title, their interplay, and my own familiarity with the roommate phenomenon, i had little trouble figuring out enough to get the joke.

And what was important was that, despite the lesbian/feminist setting and setup for the joke, the joke -- as so many of Bechdel's -- transcended the relatively narrow bounds of its setting and soared into a perceptive comment on The Entire Human Condition ((if i may be so pompous)). I could easily imagine any of a number of combinations of myself and/or my friends (male and female, straight or gay) who could be slotted into that storyline and that dialog with only minimal changes (if any) and produce a result that would ring absolutely true to anyone who knew us/them.

I began looking forward to DTWOF monthly in "Funny Times", and passing them on to my friends. Some of them "got it", some did not. I recall one [male] friend who asked me "As a [male reproductive organ]-posessing human being, why do you like this lesbian comic strip so much?"

"Because, Dennis," i replied, "It speaks to me of things i have felt and thought and seen and wondered. It tells me that humanity is something that all humans share -- and that the problems and the joys that go with that humanity are things we all share, too." And then i thought for a moment and said "And because it's funnier than 'Doonesbury', which is the next-nearest contender for whatever this strip is the best at."

Eventually i chanced on the collection "DTWOF: The Sequel", which contains the graphic essay "Serial Monogamy" as well as many brilliant reprinted strips. And i was hooked. Even today, several years later, whenever i enter any decent-sized ((and open-minded)) book store for the first time or the first time in a while, i tend to gravitate to the "Gay/Lesbian/Gender Studies" shelves and to look under "B" to see if another volume has sneaked out when i wasn't looking.

They speak to me; they make me happy, they make me sad -- they make me proud, they make me ashamed -- they make me serene, they make me angry.

So the second reason is:
(2) They speak to me.
And they are very, very funny.
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