Review: Joys and Fears of Childhood

Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics by David Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Long time acquaintance and cartoonist David Kelly collects his self-published works in a new publication by Northwest Press. Steven's Comics, serialized in several gay newspapers during the nineties was written for all-ages in mind. Kelly explores the trials of growing up gay in a single-parent divorced family. Seeking strong role models within Wonder Woman comics and discovering the joys and fears of a childhood crush, David mines similar childhood emotional territory explored by his friend and fellow comics creator Lynda Barry, while remaining true to the unique story he has to tell. I am pleased to see this collection. But that is not all as he will include new material, and if that is not enough Dan Savage provides a forward. If you don't buy it for yourself, then give it as a gift to your favorite baby-gay. They will thank you for years to come.



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Jimmy Dean

There is another look outside of the leather jacket that I've noticed gay men sometimes adopt.  Penny loafers, pegged jeans, wind breaker and white t-shirt was a look that James Dean popularized after his appearance in Rebel without a Cause.  Perhaps the most celebrated person to adopt this look is the former Michael Jackson, although he added his own effected touches. 

The clothes evoke the nineteen fifties, but since then seem timeless.  Add something unique like Mr. Jackson did and you are evoking a subsequent era.  It is a post-war, pret-a'-porter masculine look that can transform even the most willowy lesbian into a dyke.

I prefer it on men and wore it like a uniform for years.  I always wanted to be Dean in Rebel without a Cause if only because Sal Mineo looked up to him and set him on a pedestal.  I didn't care for the story though and always imagined that Sal Mineo inherits a ton of money, rebuilds the burned out mansion they play house in and lives with Dean, while Natalie Wood goes on to New York and becomes famous.  She could come back and try to mess up the relationship, but Dean would set her straight and she'd have to leave for Paris.  Hmm, I wonder...

Shoes

I'm always amazed when an artist confesses to being afraid of drawing feet or hands.  It seems that because we use these appendages so unconsciously that drawing them, for some people, is nearly impossible.  I never had that problem, but I was never very interested either.  

Feet often fall outside the frame. HR advisors often suggest that you consider the condition of someone's shoes before hiring them.  Shoes do take on a variety of shapes from different angles, so depicting them accurately can be a challenge.  Thankfully I don't have a lot of shoe practice pages in my sketchbooks.