Gardening Sale!
 
 

Special Offers see all

Enter to WIN!

Weekly drawing for $100 credit. Subscribe to our Specials newsletter for a chance to win.
Privacy Policy

More at Powell's

Recently Viewed clear list

Guests | April 30, 2013

Roman Krznaric: IMG How to Write a Personal Job Ad

0 comments By Roman Krznaric

How are you supposed to discover your ideal job? The standard method is to fill out lots of questionnaires about your strengths and weaknesses, take... Continue »
spacer
Ships free on qualified orders.
$25.00
New Hardcover
Ships in 1 to 3 days
Add to Wishlist
Qty Store Section
1 Beaverton Graphic Novels- Alternative
2 Burnside Graphic Novels- General
16 Local Warehouse Humor- Cartoon Comics
25 Remote Warehouse Humor- Cartoon Comics

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For

by

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For Cover

 

Review-A-Day

"Before she made her name with the acclaimed graphic novel memoir Fun Home, Alison Bechdel spent two decades writing and drawing the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, which appears in several alt-weekly and gay newspapers....Dykes works on multiple levels. Like Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, it functions as both a time capsule and a chronicle of a community under siege." Chris A. Bolton, Powells.com (read the entire Powells.com review)

Synopses & Reviews

Publisher Comments:

From the author of Fun Home — the lives, loves, and politics of cult fav characters Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and others.

For twenty-five years, Alison Bechdel's path-breaking "Dykes to Watch Out For" strip has been collected in award-winning volumes (with a quarter of a million copies in print), syndicated in fifty alternative newspapers, and translated into many languages. Now, at last, The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For gathers a "rich, funny, deep and impossible to put down" (Publishers Weekly) selection from all eleven "Dykes" volumes.

Here too are sixty of the newest strips, never before published in book form. Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it "half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel") of the lives, loves, and politics of a cast of characters, most of them lesbian, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis.

Her brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends — academics, social workers, bookstore clerks — fall in and out of love, negotiate friendships, raise children, switch careers, and cope with aging parents. Bechdel fuses high and low culture — from foreign policy to domestic routine, hot sex to postmodern theory — in a serial graphic narrative suitable for humanists of all persuasions.

Review:

"This ongoing comic strip chronicles the lives of a tight-knit group of lesbian friends over an astounding 21 years of life, work, love, boredom, political activism and countless reversals of fortune. At its heart are six women: the promiscuous Lois, a feminist bookstore clerk with a penchant for gender-bending; her two roommates, the overworked academic Ginger and self-identified 'bisexual lesbian' Sparrow; their domestically partnered friends Clarice and Toni; and Mo, who despite (or perhaps because of) her frequent politically charged outbursts of neurosis is the hub of her circle. These characters, flawed but endearing, are brought to life by Bechdel's quirky artistic sensibility. Facial expressions are carefully nuanced, and she seems to take great joy in using small details to differentiate emotions. Late in the collection, when a character receives treatment for cancer, a tiny caret in her cheek is enough to transform her from a fresh-faced mischief-maker into a sallow and frightened chemo patient. What cannot be overemphasized is the sheer scope of the collection, which follows these women from idealistic young adulthood to contentedly disillusioned middle age and, for some, parenthood. All eventually end up a little more haggard than they began, but there isn't one whose Bechdel-illustrated bags under her eyes were not hard fought for and hard won." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Review:

"The greatest lesbian soap opera...[A] miraculously well-sustained chronicling of a circle of friends over the course of 20 years....Fun Home has brought her much greater general attention than 'Dykes' ever did, but make no mistake — the strip is her masterpiece." Booklist (Starred Review)

Review:

"[I]n some ways [these strips] offer greater consolations [than Fun Home] — they're looser, more funny, and they offer the chance to watch a group of very appealing women grow and change (and struggle to have better sex) over the course of more than two decades....It crackles with one-liners." Dwight Garner, The New York Times

Synopsis:

For 25 years Bechdel's path-breaking "Dykes to Watch Out For" strip has been collected in award-winning volumes, syndicated in alternative newspapers, and translated into many languages. This collection gathers 60 of the newest strips.
back to top

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."
back to top

What Our Readers Are Saying

Add a comment for a chance to win!
Average customer rating based on 2 comments:
BritMandelo, August 16, 2012 (view all comments by BritMandelo)
This comic was a treat to read. It's at times a drama, at times a social commentary, and at times a comedy, but it's always a story, about hundreds of things. It deals with getting older, with new generations of activists coming in where you used to be, with gender, with sexuality, with partnership, with roles, with affairs and with simple things like "partner has a debt problem just like her father." It's a comic that also deals with race and class.

Bechdel did a good job with this book. I enjoyed it. Having such a large cast means getting to take on so many different themes and issues through each character. I was especially interested in, as the years went by, the growing representation/visibility of trans characters in the strip, including Jasmine's teenager. There's just so much going on in "Dykes to Watch Out For."
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
report this comment
Alyssa Pasquale, January 26, 2010 (view all comments by Alyssa Pasquale)
This is easily the best book I read in the 2000s. It's one of those books that I simultaneously wanted to tear through and also to take my time and savor. I was sad when it ended, and look forward to reading it again and again and again in the future. The characters are lovable, the plot lines are always funny, interesting, sad or happy but always captivating. What's not to love about this wonderfully written and illustrated graphic novel?
Was this comment helpful? | Yes | No
(1 of 2 readers found this comment helpful)
report this comment
View all 2 comments
back to top

Product Details

ISBN:
9780618968800
Author:
Bechdel, Alison
Publisher:
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH)
Subject:
Non-Classifiable
Subject:
Form - Comic Strips & Cartoons
Subject:
Topic - Relationships
Subject:
Comic books, strips, etc.
Subject:
CGN002000
Subject:
Humor-Cartoon Comics
Copyright:
2008
Edition Description:
Trade Cloth
Publication Date:
20081131
Binding:
HARDCOVER
Grade Level:
General/trade
Language:
English
Illustrations:
Y
Pages:
416
Dimensions:
9.25 x 8 x 0.94 in 2.32 lb
back to top

Other books you might like

  1. Palestine: The Special Edition
    Used Hardcover $22.00
  2. But I Like It Used Hardcover $17.95
  3. What It Is
    Used Hardcover $19.95
  4. Notes from a Defeatist Used Trade Paper $11.00
  5. Breakdowns: Portrait of the Artist... Sale Hardcover $6.97
  6. The Complete Persepolis
    Used Trade Paper $17.50
back to top

Related Subjects

Arts and Entertainment » Humor » Cartoons » Comics
Arts and Entertainment » Humor » General
Arts and Entertainment » Humor » Relationships
Fiction and Poetry » Graphic Novels » Alternative
Fiction and Poetry » Graphic Novels » Featured Titles
Fiction and Poetry » Graphic Novels » General
Fiction and Poetry » Literature » A to Z
Gay and Lesbian » Arts and Entertainment » Humor
Gay and Lesbian » Fiction and Poetry » General

The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For New Hardcover
0 stars - 0 reviews
$25.00 In Stock
Product details 416 pages Houghton Mifflin Company - English 9780618968800 Reviews:
"Publishers Weekly Review" by , "This ongoing comic strip chronicles the lives of a tight-knit group of lesbian friends over an astounding 21 years of life, work, love, boredom, political activism and countless reversals of fortune. At its heart are six women: the promiscuous Lois, a feminist bookstore clerk with a penchant for gender-bending; her two roommates, the overworked academic Ginger and self-identified 'bisexual lesbian' Sparrow; their domestically partnered friends Clarice and Toni; and Mo, who despite (or perhaps because of) her frequent politically charged outbursts of neurosis is the hub of her circle. These characters, flawed but endearing, are brought to life by Bechdel's quirky artistic sensibility. Facial expressions are carefully nuanced, and she seems to take great joy in using small details to differentiate emotions. Late in the collection, when a character receives treatment for cancer, a tiny caret in her cheek is enough to transform her from a fresh-faced mischief-maker into a sallow and frightened chemo patient. What cannot be overemphasized is the sheer scope of the collection, which follows these women from idealistic young adulthood to contentedly disillusioned middle age and, for some, parenthood. All eventually end up a little more haggard than they began, but there isn't one whose Bechdel-illustrated bags under her eyes were not hard fought for and hard won." Publishers Weekly (Starred Review) (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)
"Review A Day" by , "Before she made her name with the acclaimed graphic novel memoir Fun Home, Alison Bechdel spent two decades writing and drawing the comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For, which appears in several alt-weekly and gay newspapers....Dykes works on multiple levels. Like Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City, it functions as both a time capsule and a chronicle of a community under siege." (read the entire Powells.com review)
"Review" by , "The greatest lesbian soap opera...[A] miraculously well-sustained chronicling of a circle of friends over the course of 20 years....Fun Home has brought her much greater general attention than 'Dykes' ever did, but make no mistake — the strip is her masterpiece."
"Review" by , "[I]n some ways [these strips] offer greater consolations [than Fun Home] — they're looser, more funny, and they offer the chance to watch a group of very appealing women grow and change (and struggle to have better sex) over the course of more than two decades....It crackles with one-liners."
"Synopsis" by , For 25 years Bechdel's path-breaking "Dykes to Watch Out For" strip has been collected in award-winning volumes, syndicated in alternative newspapers, and translated into many languages. This collection gathers 60 of the newest strips.
spacer
spacer
  • back to top
Follow us on...




Powell's City of Books is an independent bookstore in Portland, Oregon, that fills a whole city block with more than a million new, used, and out of print books. Shop those shelves — plus literally millions more books, DVDs, and eBooks — here at Powells.com.