Alison Bechdel Knows What Happened To Your Money — and your Sex Life
A little comic book for disintegrating democracy — you’ve got it!
Alison Bechdel came to my hometown this week to talk about her new graphic memoir, “SPENT”— a packed show at the Rio Theater. A wicked good time was had by all.
Alison’s talks are so thoughtful, so elegant, I learn something every time, even though I’ve known her for decades.
I’m glad I had the right evening gown to wear as I introduced her to the stage . . .
I’ve known Alison since our “Ramen Years” in our twenties, when being a feverish lesbian artist was not the scene of glamour and riches you hear about today.
;-)
Alison’s legend began when she published a weekly “alternative” comic strip, “Dykes to Watch Out For”, that appeared in every groovy gay and feminist newspaper in the country. In the 80s, that was dozens of periodicals! The strip was, at the time, like a queer “Doonesbury,” — and her fans, like me, knew Alison was destined for much bigger things. We all knew she was sui generis. In time, those accolades would come, like her bestselling memoir, FUN HOME, and her Eisner award.
In her new book, SPENT, Bechdel’s familiar tribe of dyke characters— a few of whom are the same commune they started out in— have stormed into middle age with all the well-intentioned misadventures you could hope for.
Alison’s story is set in small town Vermont where she lives with her wife, artist Holly Rae Taylor, just outside Burlington. The scene is so prescient to what’s happening politically at the moment, I couldn’t believe she finished the work before the recent election! The end-times humor is ripped from the headlines.
One fictional twist is a new character—Alison’s formerly-cool, now-Trump-voting younger sibling. Sister yearns for the fame and fortune too— making “bean and seed art” that proclaims MAGA love for all, and abortion for none.
I don’t know if you’ve seen right-wing bean and seed art, but it IS a thing.
Add that to Alison’s friends’ experiments in poly-sex, baby goat rescues, and the débâcle of baby goat sex, this tome has it all.
—Not to mention some sick burns about the book and entertainment history, which I can promise you are closer to the truth than satire.
There’s also astute Marxian digression. I tell ya, when Alison reads Das Kapital, she doesn’t put it down. (By the way, have you seen the Capital “Manga” version?)
The book night was a great homecoming, just as I returned from my last couple months back East.
I’ve since come down with a flu, no doubt from the plane ride. Or, maybe it’s some exotic new strain that RFJ Junior wants me to expire from without treatment; quien sabe?
Hope to recover soon. “Please bring chicken soup.”
Xoxox,
Susie
Did you ever see the 1 panel wonder of a reunion around a Thanksgiving dinner with everyone a little older and grayer? I met Alison about 43 years ago at Amazon Women's Book and Music in Minneapolis ( who Bezos took all that to SCOTUS and lost when he sued us for copyright infringement...and lost...and then beefed up his LGBTQIA books and drove them out of business) and I proudly own an Amazon Books poster staring rather familiar characters from DTWOF. I also own all the DTWOF books from Firebrand as well as everything else she's done.
She still looks like she did then even if I don't
Please tell me you fly wearing a respirator. Or that you will. Because Brainworm Jr. and his minions LOVE to see us sick from a pandemic they are pretending doesn't exist. And masks are an easy sign of resistance.