Post-Dykes to Watch Out For [Paperback]

Alison Bechdel (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The further adventures of Mo, her tenure-bound girlfriend, Sydney, and their much-loved friends unfold against a shifting gender landscape: lesbians sleeping with men, lesbians becoming men, Ginger sleeping with lesbians who've become men. As with her eight previous collections, Alison Bechdel covers a host of pressing issues, from the Monica Lewinsky scandal to the decline of the independent bookstore, and pauses to consider whether an online affair qualifies as cheating. "Of course it's cheating!" says Mo, "It would be a diversion of emotional energy." Sydney demurs: "It's more like remote, interactive masturbation." True love survives the gender wars, but monogamy may be on the wane. Don't miss the thrilling details, in the last volume of Bechdel's work to be published by the now-defunct Firebrand Press. --Regina Marler

From Publishers Weekly

In the years since Bechdel published her eighth cartoon collection (Split-Level Dykes to Watch Out For), confusion has arisen in the sanguine world of the series' setting, the Madwimmin bookstore--resounding, as always, most strongly with the perpetually striped-shirt-wearing Mo. The beleaguered protagonist rebounds from attacks on Madwimmin's solvency from the likes of Bunns & Noodle and medusa.com, and copes with the sudden urge of maternal instinct and her lover's constant academic pleadings in favor of polyamory. Other topics include online affairs, the hazardous world of suburbia, Y2K, Bosnia, school shootings and the right of every little boy to wear nail polish. Bechdel's mercurial wit flashes from the "sado-monicaism" of watching Clinton's impeachment hearings to the meaning of gender as liquefied by an encounter between a transsexual gay man and a cross-dressing lesbian as Bechdel calls attention to the hypocrisies, idiocies and hysterics of modern society. She never misses an opportunity to poke fun at any institution, ranging from a clothing store called "baby gag" to news voice-overs. Each page is filled with jokes, yet the clear and nuanced drawings are never crowded out. Even readers put off by the title and the occasional sex scene will be left chuckling. (Aug.)

Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 144 pages
• Publisher: Firebrand Books; 1st edition (May 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1563411229
• ISBN-13: 978-1563411229
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,125,954 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

ALISON BECHDEL has been a careful archivist of her own life and kept a journal since she was ten. Since 1983 she has been chronicling the lives of various characters in the fictionalized "Dykes to Watch Out For" strip, "one of the preeminent oeuvres in the comics genre, period" (Ms.). The strip is syndicated in 50 alternative newspapers, translated into multiple languages, and collected into a book series with a quarter of a million copies in print. Utne magazine has listed DTWOF as "one of the greatest hits of the twentieth century."

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More of Bechdel's Observations of the Human Condition, June 8, 2000

By 

Michael Weber "fairportfan" (Atlanta) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Post-Dykes to Watch Out For (Paperback)

The mixture continues as before -- take one acutely-observed slice of life, garnish with some tart satire that spares no-one and takes no prisoners, and serve on wry.

Though it is primarily a comic about, by and for gay women, DTWOF has some lessons and some rather pointed humour that anyone, of any and all genders and inclinations can profit from.

I suppose that a reference point, for those who recall it, would be Gil Shelton's "Fabulous Furry Freak Brothers" strip -- while drawn by a member of the counterculture, and featuring members of that counterculture as protagonists, it was as likely to zap the hippies as the straights -- often times both in the same strip.

Bechdel seems to proceed under similar intentions. She sees both sides of many issues, and, while making her own positions clear, does not necessarily demonise those who hold other views. Pity them, sometimes, but not demonise them.

This book picks up immediately after virtually the entire cast have moved to the suburbs, bought houses, or acquired new roommates. (In the case of Ginger and Sparrow, it's "Bought a house *and* acquired a new roommate" -- and a guy at that.)

Mo and Sydney are trying to fit as housemates as well as lovers; a situation not helped by indications that Sydney may already be cheating on her. The reality and the resolution of *that* situation are hilarious.

Clarice and Toni are having troubles of their own -- partly in their relationship and partly trying to fit themselves and their son Raffi into the suburban lifestyle. Their interactions with their corporate-attorney neighbour, his uptight wife and their son, who is Raffi's age and curious, make for some amusing and frustrating moments...

And so on.

In this collection, tha author deals with jealousy, unfaithfulness, a daughter's hurt that her widowed father is beginning to date, a formerly all-female, all-lesbian household's difficult adjustment to one of its members having a live-in boyfriend(!), financial irresponsibility, many social issues, crabgrass and many many more topics. And the looming need to decide whether a faithful and loving but Very Old dog should be kept going by heroic means, or helped gracefully and quietly onward on the wheel of life. And every one is investigated and portrayed with both precision and sympathy.

As usual, Bechdel continues the storyline beyond the end of the collected weekly strips here, going on to give us about another sixty pages of story material that carries us onward and ties up some loose ends while leaving others dangling for future exploration.

This is a great book about what it means to be human -- not just female and/or gay, no matter what the author intended, and also a very funny and at times very touching visit with a cast of characters we've come to know well over the course of the strip and the series of book-length collections like this one.

I devoured this book within an hour of opening the package; i'm already looking forward to the next.

A wonderful book. You should buy it.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars impressive -- major talent, June 14, 2000

By 

ltp1 "ltp1" (Manchester, NH USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Post-Dykes to Watch Out For (Paperback)

Another infusion of Mo and the gang, for those of us who don't get it daily.

(If you're new to DTWOF, I recommend reading all the books -- in chrono order.)

Just maybe the best one yet, as the characters and the issues they face become more mature and multi-faceted.

Terrific artwork.

Among the many impressive, and funny, installments is one ("leadership vacuum", p. 20) in which Mo has to slap Bechdel around a little.

And the long story that closes the book, following all the dailies, is *brilliantly* orchestrated. I think it's the best one of those yet.

Way to go, Alison Bechdel. I was sorry to finish the book -- I want more!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bechdel's out of the box!, July 27, 2000

By 

Rochelle M. Myers - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Post-Dykes to Watch Out For (Paperback)

Alison Bechdel's characters go beyond binary thinking in this latest DTWOF collection. Transgenderism, bisexuality, and polyamory are all explored...honestly, believably, and as thoroughly as possible in a slim volume like this one.

I've read all of Bechdel's collections (in order no less), and this one is far and away the most impressive. As Mo, Clarice, Lois, Sparrow, Toni, Ginger, Jezanna, and others grow in their relationships, they realize that life is not always as clear-cut as it seems, and they learn to look beyond the surface level to the meaning of words like "lesbian," "woman," "partner." It's delightful to see the explorations and reactions of characters to stimuli such as a male housemate in the Lois-Ginger-Sparrow household, or the struggling-to-understand conservative neighbors in Toni and Clarice's new suburban neighborhood.

As always, the artwork is fantastic, and the stories are compelling. These are simply some of the finest comics being drawn today.