Stuck Rubber Baby [Paperback]

Howard Cruse (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1996

Art and story combine powerfully in this lyrical tale of a young man caught in the maelstrom of the civil rights movement and the systematic homophobia of small-town America. Told in flashback, this is the story of Toland Polk, the son of an uneducated white carpenter who has grown up in the Southern town of Clayfield. It is the 1960s, a time of passionate beliefs and violent emotions, and Clayfield's citizens are divided in the fight over segregation. As Toland fights on the side of the civil rights activists, he slowly begins to realize and try to deny that he is gay. With a subtle yet intricate plot, and distinctively evocative illustrations, Stuck Rubber Baby is an unflinchingly honest look at one man's world of fears, dreams and prejudice.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A truly eye-opening comic. The story is set in the South in the early '60s and deals with homophobia, racism and the gay subculture of that period. The art is absolutely beautiful; Cruse is a master of the cross-hatching technique, which gives a certain "texture" to his art work and brings his pages to life. Stuck Rubber Baby is easily the most important comic book since Art Spiegelman's Maus.

Review

"A strange and wonderful graphic coming-of-age novel. (The Village Voice)" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Perennial (September 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060977132
• ISBN-13: 978-0060977139
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6.6 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,248,771 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gay Pride and Prejudice, February 21, 2001

By 

Richard De Angelis (College Park, MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stuck Rubber Baby (Paperback)

The briefness of this review does not do justice to its importance in the history of graphic literature, but I find it difficult to talk about without divulging crucial plot elements. I will say however that it won the Eisner Award (the comic book equivalent of the Oscar) for best Graphic Album, and was nominated for both the American Library Association's Gay and Lesbian Book Award and the Lambda Literary Award.

This story is set in Alabama during the early Sixties, and follows the life of Toland Polk, a white gay man who "comes out" to himself and others at the same time that he is becoming involved in the civil rights movement. Although based on the real life experiences of creator Howard Cruse (and others), he has embellished it enough to classify it as a work of "fiction."

One of the greatest aspects of the book, for me, was the two words on the cover that described "Stuck Rubber Baby" as simply "a novel." Of all the "graphic" novels I have read, no matter how well they were crafted or how much I enjoyed them, none left me feeling so much as though I had just finished a "real" book as this one did. Besides the obvious factor of Cruse's artistic and literary talent, I think this was due to the fact that "Stuck Rubber Baby" was written as a novel instead of being released in installments which were later collected in a book, and that it was rendered in black and white, lending it the same air of authority as more highly regarded works that make use solely of the written word. Ultimately, however, the personal insights into a seldom seen aspect of the civil rights movement's history shared in this work are most effecting precisely because of their presentation through the unique and powerful medium of "comics."

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well done, Mr. Cruse., October 22, 2005

By 

JT "I may not have gone where I intended to g... (Tampa Bay, FL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Stuck Rubber Baby (Paperback)

I expected to enjoy this graphic novel; I am squarely in the middle of the intended reader demographic, a 40 year old gay man that enjoys comics.

I did NOT expect to find such real characters, real people, better developed and better realized than in any recent "regular" novel I have read.

The clincher that this is a five star story? I passed it to my (heterosexual) brother to read, and he enjoyed it immensely. I believe the measure of a story should be that an unintended audience finds it as interesting or entertaining as the intended one, and in this circumstance, that was certainly the case. Well done, Mr. Cruse.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific storytelling, August 6, 2001

By 

Michael Clarkson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Stuck Rubber Baby (Paperback)

The average snoot wouldn't come within a mile of this book, for reasons which seem perfectly reasonable to snoots and are therefore entirely stupid.

Some might react with horror to the curviness of the characters, which is in fact a strength of the story. The people who populate _Stuck Rubber Baby_ do not share the perfection (or carefully controlled imperfection) of characters from other graphic novels. They are pudgy, fat, even unattractive. This is not a defect of the artwork; it is an essential feature. Real people do not have perfect bodies or souls, and this story is, above all else, very real -- almost distressingly so.

Cruse does not fall into the too-easy trap of sanctifying his protagonists. The modern trend of antihero storytelling might make this sound less significant, but given the topics Cruse is handling, this is truly an accomplishment. All of them are ordinary people, who can (and do) make significant mistakes. Some of them recover from their errors, others do not... but everyone emerges significantly changed. _Stuck Rubber Baby_ puts a convincing human face on an era that transformed America, and deserves a place on any well-stocked shelf.