with cruising, fashion and body image, and humorous sexual scenarios of the –all signifiers of a commodified gay identity and lifestyle as it emerged in the urban enclaves of American cities in the 1970s and throughout the 1980s (Fig. 6) though as Mills – notes, even when parodying the gay scene, this is with affection, not malice’ (Mills ‘done 1986: 11). Mills’s own Poppers about three gay friends living in the West Hollywood scene – was among the funniest, most thoughtful, and well-crafted of the gay ghetto comics of – the early 1980s, and began appearing in In Touch in April 1982. Poppers focused on the hedonism of the West Hollywood gay scene of the late 70s and early 80s, which it lampooned and glorified in equal measure, capturing the aforementioned affectionate qualities of the gay ghetto strip noted by Mills himself (see Mills 1986). Like many ghetto strips, Poppers contained references to specific cultural products associated with the gay subculture most obviously, the strip’s title referred to the slang term for the – drug amyl nitrate, inhaled for recreational drug purposes and particularly in sexual encounters on the gay scene. In one of Jerry Mills’s Poppers stories, published in Gay Fig. 6 Gerard P. Donelan, Donelan Look at Men.’ Gay Comix no. 13 (1991), np. – ‘A Fig. 7 Jerry Mills, Gay Comix no. 6 (Winter 1985), np. – ‘Poppers.’ Comix no. 6 (1985), best friends Yves and André are shown sitting on the beach flicking through Vogue magazine and listening to Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer’s disco hit is Enough’ (Fig. 7); such references to stereotypically locations, slang, ‘Enough ‘gay’ and cultural products serve as signifiers for the gayness of the characters as well ‘types’ as indicating a specific kind of gay lifestyle and identity at a certain point in time. The other dominant genre the gay pornographic comics were also published – – in gay magazines since the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as collected in anthologies. The gay porno comics genre represents both gay sex and gay male bodies
with cruising, fashion and body image, and humorous sexual scenarios –all of the signifiers of a commodified gay identity and lifestyle as it emerged in the urban enclaves of American cities in the 1970s and throughout the 1980s (Fig. 6) – though as Mills notes, even when parodying the gay scene, this is ‘done with affection, not malice’ (Mills 1986: 11). Mills’s own Poppers – about three gay friends living in the West Hollywood scene – was among the funniest, most thoughtful, and well-crafted of the gay ghetto comics of the early 1980s, and began appearing in In Touch in April 1982. Poppers focused on the hedonism of the West Hollywood gay scene of the late 70s and early 80s, which it lampooned and glorified in equal measure, capturing the aforementioned affectionate qualities of the gay ghetto strip noted by Mills himself (see Mills 1986). Like many ghetto strips, Poppers contained references to specific cultural products associated with the gay subculture – most obviously, the strip’s title referred to the slang term for the drug amyl nitrate, inhaled for recreational drug purposes and particularly in sexual encounters on the gay scene. In one of Jerry Mills’s Poppers stories, published in Gay Fig. 6 – Gerard P. Donelan, ‘A Donelan Look at Men.’ Gay Comix no. 13 (1991), np. Fig. 7 – Jerry Mills, ‘Poppers.’ Gay Comix no. 6 (Winter 1985), np. Comix no. 6 (1985), best friends Yves and André are shown sitting on the beach flicking through Vogue magazine and listening to Barbra Streisand and Donna Summer’s disco hit ‘Enough is Enough’ (Fig. 7); such references to stereotypically ‘gay’ locations, slang, ‘types’ and cultural products serve as signifiers for the gayness of the characters as well as indicating a specific kind of gay lifestyle and identity at a certain point in time. The other dominant genre – the gay pornographic comics – were also published in gay magazines since the late 1960s and early 1970s, as well as collected in anthologies. The gay porno comics genre represents both gay sex and gay male bodies
The%20History%20of%20Gay%20Male%20Comics%20in%20America%20from%20Before%20Stonewall%20to%20the%2021st%20Century.docx