| Book Contents |
|
| Stuck Rubber Baby |
| Howard Cruse New York : Paradox Press 210 pages Copyright 1995 |
| MCMLS Call No. YA F – Cru GRAPHIC NOVEL |
| Library Catalog Summary: No description |
|
| Library Catalog Subjects: |
| Gay men- Comic books, strips, etc. |
| Civil rights- Fiction |
| United States- Race relations – Fiction |
|
| THIS BOOK WAS DONATED TO THE MONTGOMERY COUNTY LIBRARY BY THE FRIENDS OF THE LIBRARY |
|
| Introduction – by Tony Kushner |
| “…Comic
books paved the path up to the portals of adulthood, offering sexy and
dangerous fantasies in which the sex was present but still subliminal
(muscular men in BVDs), the danger grand and improbable enough to be
intensely gratifying and yet manageable for a neurotic, rather cowardly
gay boy entering early adolescence”. |
| …“Howard
Cruse is a pioneer in the field of lesbian and gay comics, an important
participant in the underground comics movement, and in my opinion on of
the most talented artists ever to work in the form”. |
| …“Howard
was a body-and-soul participant in the ‘60s revolution, which made him
an anarchist, or left-libertarian. His politics are the antithesis of
doctrinaire; I find his opinions, as expressed in his work,
irresistibly attractive, even when I disagree.” |
| …“Its
readers will surely find in STUCK RUBBER BABY all manner of richness
and depth and value, only one aspect of which is political.” |
| …Our
political leaders these days seem more and more like the caricatures
political cartoonists draw. Even a supremely gifted political
cartoonist will have trouble exaggerating the malevolence of Gingrich,
the manifest instability of Dole, the dithering and waffling of
Clinton, the satanic flatulent eructations of Limbaugh.” |
| “Tony Kushner is the author of Angels in America: A Gay Fantasia on National Themes, among other plays”. |
|
| The Book |
| p.2 - “ I found a nigger magazine in a trash can downtown. Look at this picture…” |
| p.2 -
“If anything, Negro bones are probably tougher, since colored folks are
closer to the animal state than we are and have gotten stronger from
havin’ to get by in the wild.” |
| p. 3 -
“Now as far as brains are concerned, its another matter. White peoples
brains are more developed, it’s been scientifically proven. Not that
Negroes aren’t smart! They’re plenty smart! They’re slow. But the
brains they’ve got serve ‘em very well.” |
| p. 3 -
“And I don’t ever want to hear you use the word ‘nigger,’ the way some
folks around here do. It’s a hateful term, and no creature of God
deserves it.” |
| p. 5 - “I went through a period of looking back and wondering if all that wrestling with Ben was what made me a homo!” |
| p. 6 - “…that got my a** out to the Lincoln Memorial…” |
| p.6 - “And
by the way, if you’re confused by the fact that I was courting a girl
even though I was a faggot~Well, you’re no more confused than I was
while I was doing it.” |
| p. 6 - “Tsk, Tsk! Be a good boy and say ‘gay’, Toland, not ‘faggot.’” |
| p. 6 -
“I didn’t feel ‘gay’ back then. I felt like a faggot! You’ve gotta be
at least a little bit un-screwed-up to be ‘gay’! Anyway, my intention
for quite some time was to turn myself around and not be gay…which I
kidded myself into viewing as an option. I subscribed to Playboy and
had an absolute rule that I wouldn’t let myself masturbate unless I was
looking at one of the Centerfold Playmates at the time. I held to that
rule for over three years with only a couple of lapses. Wet dreams
didn’t count.” |
 |
| p. 7 - “There was a lot about that time that was fun, especially early on – before the s**t hit the fan.” |
 |
| p. 8 - “…whereupon, the kid sitting next to me, for reasons known only to him, got a hard-on.” |
| p. 9 - “Oh, s**t.” |
| p. 9 -
“…and a troublesome memory got triggered of some summer camp horseplay
I had engaged in with a cabin mate named Alec back when I was twelve.” |
| p. 9 -
[The camp counselor advises Toland.] “Most boys experiment with their
bodies and maybe with their friends’ bodies too – when they’re your
age. It’s natural curiosity at work…you guys were just letting off
steam.” |
| p. 11 - “Riley’s told me how you men get all frustrated when your cum gets backed up in your balls.” |
| p. 14 -
“My job as police commissioner is to defend our city’s fine, taxpaying
businessmen against the irresponsible actions of a bunch of unruly,
malodorous, communist-inspired nigger agitators.” |
| p. 17 - “The fact is, Sammy scared the s**t out of me.” |
 |
| p.18 -
“If that cop had shown up any later, he’d have had to pry yer poker out
of Vicki with a crowbar! S**t, Stony, it was embarrassin’.” |
| p. 19 - “It’s Mama and Daddy, I’m sure. They float near the ceiling an’ watch to see if Orley an’ I are doin’ it right.” |
| p. 21 -
“Orley an’ I have sex morning; noon an’ night, it seems like. And I
won’t let a rubber in the house. …look at that! Sigh! My baby brother
with a rubber at the ready.” |
| p. 21 -
“I didn’t tell Melanie that the very condom I was showing her had been
tucked away unused in my billfold for what must’ve been years by that
time…” |
| p. 23 - “Bull**it! There aren’t any beatniks in Clayfield!” |
| p. 25 - “S**t! Is it still nice?” |
| p. 25 -
“Take a look at Les an’ Sammy over there. I’d never seen two men doin’
a slow dance together before…much less one of ‘em white and one of ‘em
black. How can Les be a Homo when his Daddy’s a prominent preacher and
all?” |
| p. 26 - “All of the Dykes an’ Queens from the Rhombus haul a** out to the Alleysax most Saturday’s after closin’ time.” |
| p. 26 - “If the choppers bulb wasn’t so f**kin’ dim, he wouldn’t get us nearly as much good press as he does.” |
| p. 29 - “D**n! Everybody thinks that!” |
| p. 31 - “It’s
true I’d f**ked up our first encounter, but I started mending fences a
day or two later by offering to drive her to some auditions that Sammy
told me were coming up soon in Atlanta.” |
| p. 34 - “Hot D**n! It’s a f**kin’ art gallery! This beats the Lovre!” |
 |
| p. 39 - “The Rhombus? Y’mean the fag bar? S**t! |
| p. 41 - “Mr. Tanner? D**n! You’re jokin’!” |
| p. 42 - “My f**kin’ boss! Holy S**t!!” |
| p. 43 - “Didn’t
Toland ever tell you how he was brought up by a heavy-duty religious
mama who kept him from dancin’ in his formative years and left him
inhibited for life? S**t, Riley…That’s the last time I’ll share
complaints about my upbringing with you!” |
| p.43 - “Well. Hell! Look at those two! They don’t give a d**n what anybody thinks!” |
| p. 43 - “This place has sure gone downhill since they started lettin’ so many niggers in.” |
| p. 44 -“My first thought was: who wants to hear bullshit like that?” |
| p. 45 - “Ain’t no point to it at all, except to keep the queers nervous.” |
| p. 47 - “She claims not to miss it, but Les thinks she’s bull**tting.” |
| p. 47 - “Snicker! It’s your d**n underbelly he’d like a tour of probably!” |
| p. 48 - “Papa’s the preacher in the family an’ I’m the faggot.” |
| p. 50 - “Oh, S**t!” |
| p. 52 - “Some go**am jerks followed Ginger an’ her friend all the way from Frank’s Bend.” |
| p. 52 - “All
I could think of was how stupid we were – a ‘nigger agitator’ from up
north an’ a white southern female, drivin’ mile after mile through
dixie farmland at night with the Klan on our tails.” |
| p. 52 - “Guns! D**n!” |
| p. 53 - “This
here is our initiation for the Klan. We’re just joinin’ up. We gotta
chop off some nigger’s balls ‘fore they’ll let us be members. |
| p. 54 - “I
ain’t doin’ any o’ your s**t for you. Say, fellas- did the committee
say it had to be a grown nigger’s balls or would some little teeny-tiny
one’s do as well…?” |
| p. 55 - “Churches!! There’s no go***mn escape from them down south!” |
| p. 56 - “Sure! That photograph scared the s**t out of me!” |
| p. 57 - “The guy who had turned the mike over to Ginger looked like he was about to pee in his chinos.” |
 |
| p. 60 -
“D**n! …Nobody had ever warned me that if you kept a rubber in your
wallet for years on end, it could dry up and stick together so tight
that a damn herd of elephants couldn’t unroll it!” |
| p. 61 - “From the way I blew my cool, you’d have thought I was the first poor f**ker who ever lost his boner under fire.” |
 |
| p. 61 - “I poured everything out to Ginger, explaining how – in all probability and despite my best intentions – I was a queer.” |
| p. 62 - “…Like
it was so f**kin’ wonderful that the plan of nature was bein’ fulfilled
by these sweet, straight teenagers, all moon-eyed an’ horny…An’ I felt
like s**t, ‘cause I knew in my gut – as much as I worked at not puttin’
anything into words – that I never be part of that picture.” |
| p. 64 - “D**n, I woke up tired! Glad I’ve got today an’ tomorrow off.” |
| p. 66 - “Traitors! White niggers!” |
| p. 67 - “It don’t pay to try an’ make this s**t up as you go along.” |
| p. 68 - “Now don’t tell me Sammy’s aimin’ to waltz over an’ shoot the s**t with that cop!” |
| p. 69 - “Go back to Africa, niggahs! …An’ don’t you go spreadin’ lies about me either, faggot!” |
| p. 70 - “The
ba**ard hit my hand! An’ he knows how I earn my livin! D**n cop better
not swing at me or I’ll knock his butt clear to Biloxi!” …Come
mid-afternoon our a**es were still right there on the grass. It was a
hell of a way to spend a Saturday. …Aw, hell, Riley… I can’t just do my
eyes at the drop of a hat. I’ve gotta be in the mood. C’mon, you can do
it. I want ‘em to hear your ‘crazy nigger’ story.” |
| p. 72 - “all
the other niggers’d be in the back like anybody with good sense woulda’
been…Hey, driver! How come yo’re lettin’ that nigger sit up there in
the front like that? …Jus’ keep quite an’ leave ‘er be, mister. That
there’s a crazy nigger. A ‘crazy nigger’! That’s what I was.” |
| p. 77 - “Hey! Whatcha doin’ I Niggertown, sonnyboy?” |
| p. 79 - “It
was my first time to set foot in the Rhombus all by myself. Frankly,
I’d forgotten how dead a d**n bar could be that early in the evening.
…I was just enjoyin’ talkin’ to you. S**t. I’m sorry for leadin’ you
on!” |
| p. 80 - “Hell,
I’ll be goin’ to Alleysax for sure. You can ride with m – Oh, Look,
it’s Ire-e-ene! My favorite dyke in the wor-r-rld! I was desperate to
marry this woman until I found out her dowry was for s**t! Yep, I got
no dowry an’ Bernard’s got no c**t!” |
| p. 82 - “Irene
and I roared into the middle of things making as much noise as two
queers and a car horn could manage. Scumbags! C**ksuckers! A**holes!
Sunzab**ches! …S**t, Claude – there’s only two of ‘em. …What the hell’s
happenin’, Nat?” |
| p. 83 - “D**n!!
There’s a sh**load of niggers comin’! …The fun o’ poppin’ their nuts
off wouldn’t be worth the aggravation afterwards. Irene, you hussy!
Stop gropin’ my privates while I’m at death’s door! |
 |
| p. 84 - “You
oughta sic the cops on those f**kers that jumped you, hon. …They’d just
make fun of me like they always do. Cops are worse to queers than
bashers are. …Go**ammit, Toland! – we left the phone off the hook on
purpose!” |
| p. 85 - “S**t!
…I’m not a fag! S**t, guys, I only just met the fella a few hours ago.
…Now from what I hear, ol’ Bernard’s part of the queer crowd that goes
out to the colored nightclub on Saturdays.” |
| p. 86 - “There was no help to be had from the Wheelery. A busy signal told me that Riley had left the d**n phone off the hook again.” |
 |
| p. 91 - “You’re actin’ awfully frisky today, considerin’ that twenty-four hours ago you looked d**n near suicidal.” |
 |
| p. 93 - “Any chance the relief you’re feelin’ comes from sheddin’ s boyfriend that’s gone queer on you. Go**amn it, Toland!” |
| p. 96 - “Sometimes I wonder what the fu**in’ point is, Stony.” |
| p. 97 - “Soon I’ll be tantalizing her ti**ies with shimmering trill-l-l-ls! |
| p. 99 - “Orley,
that’s bulls**t! The woman is trapped!” …”We’re all of us stuck in a
go**am cracker box!” “…we were raised to be crackers! There’s no
f**kin’ way not to be a cracker around here!” |
| p. 102 - “Who knows how many of ‘em are confused or f**ked up inside?” |
| p. 104 - “She’d s**t a brick if she knew Esmereldus!” |
| p. 105 - “D**n,
Esmo! I swear I felt the bar shake earlier but I thought it was just my
imagination. ..That was one roomful of stunned queers the preacher left
behind. …Riley was adamant that we should haul a** back to the
Wheelery. …I’m tellin’ ya, there’s gonna be a lot of pi**ed-off negroes
runnin’ ‘round town.” |
| p. 107 - “And when I considered how d**n typical it was of me…I didn’t know a d**n one of those freedom chorus kids…” |
| p. 112 - “Holy
S**t, Esmo! …It’s you an’ every white bigot in this town that ever used
the word ‘nigger’!” “Y’don’t even have to strike a match, you ba**ard!”
|
| p. 113 - “S**t!” |
| p. 114 - “Y’might
say I underestimated my boss’s talent for bulls**t detection.” “Like
hell it is! Ain’t a d**n thing wrong with your jaw…” “A degenerate
queer on the public airwaves …” |
| p. 116 - “It must’ve been a helluva funeral procession, thought.” |
| p. 117 - “We’re fu**ed, guys.” |
| p. 118 - “I haven’t helped anybody ‘overcome’ a f**kin’ thing!” …”I admire you an’ love you an’ wish to hell I was more like you.” |
 |
| p. 119 - “Somewhere
along the line I had gotten hard. When you’re hard, complicated things
can seem simple. And the simple message I was getting from down below
was that it would be terrific to spend time inside of Ginger. And
Ginger’s hands and movements were telling me unmistakably that I’d be
welcome inside. So I nudged, then slid inside and left my worries to
fend for themselves. It was a moonlit hour of desire and denial…with
neither of us of a mind to get sidetracked by thoughts about condoms…or
consequences. …Let it blow away annoying memories of the stuck rubber
that had sabotaged us before.” |
| p. 120 - “D**n! Holy S**t!” …”F**k you an’ yer inbred progeny!” |
| p. 121 - “Yes,
go**ammit! An’ that was a perfectly good ol’ beat-up used car that I
paid perfectly good f**kin’ money for!” “S**t! Here comes the preacher
man!” |
| p. 123 - “You’re really being a chickens**t, Edgar.” |
| p. 124 - “Save yer marshmallows for the crosses we might find burnin’ in the front yard before this s**t’s over!” |
| p. 125 - “So
what good’s all that money to Daddy now? There’s nothin’ left he can do
with it but p**s on it just to watch it dry.” “He hates the fact that
once upon some enchanted evening he was screwing my lovely Mom an’ a
silly little fairy sperm came wiggling out of his big, butch d**k.” |
| p. 127 - “It
seemed like everybody in the building was a f**king whiz at doing
something.” “Any second I expected to get asked what the hell I was
doing in a building like that!” |
| p.134 - “C’mon. Let’s get the hell outa here.” |
| p. 136 - “My mother ain’t said a f**kin’ word about you.” |
 |
| p. 139 - “Y’know one of the good things about queer sex, Les…? Nobody gets pregnant.” |
 |
| p. 140 - “Toland’s wearin’ nigger clothes!” |
| p. 142 - “But
it didn’t seem to have bothered Les, so I figured, what the hell!” …No
more tomfoolery, now. It’s time to haul our decadent a**es out into the
cold cruel world!” |
 |
| p. 143 - “He pulled a reefer out of his pocket an’ we spent ten minutes havin’ the sexiest time two men ever had with their pants on.” |
| p. 144 - “D**n!” |
| p. 145 - “Or
maybe the paradoxical other news about my having knocked up Ginger was
jamming her circuits. …But you should’ve seen Melanie freak out the
first time the word abortion crossed my lips! Toland Polk – I won’t
hear of you killin’ that baby.” |
| p. 147 - “But you’d wanna be able to sleep with men once in a while…? Well… that’s where bein’ experimental comes in.” |
| p. 152 - “Noone,
kick the rest of yer used clothes behind my chair if ya gotta, but not
yer fu**in’ underwear. ..Even Clayfield had its social circles where a
good music teachers prowess could outweigh his status as a queer.” |
| p. 157 - “I
guess you find that a real quaint notion: a flamin’ faggot like me
thinkin’ he could be a good father! …S**t! ..I’m not! I’m not! He’s a
ba**ard!” |
| p. 158 - “They can’t have my d**n dog, too! |
| p. 159 - “Sh**fire, Riley! You ain’t exactly a walkin’ advertisement for the institution of marriage!” |
| p. 163 - “I’m a ‘nigger-loving queer!” |
| p. 164 - “So look at me, d**mit!” |
| p. 166 - “They
like what Cuthel Noone’s queer son has to offer! …Those people over
there by the door think your faggot firstborn is loveable! …Now’s your
chance not to be a ba**ard anymore.” |
| p. 167 - “But
no way was Cuthel Noone gonna fork over dough on the spot to a queer
son who’d just called him a bastard! …That was kid stuff compared to
the glimpse I could have given the old bastard of his faggot offspring
from hell!” |
| p. 168 - “The
only thing that would’ve made me prouder would be if I’d dribbled the
ol’ ba**ard around the room like a basketball an’ drop-kicked him out
the window!” |
| p. 169 - “You
could see that Riley was getting more and more pissed. …The man is
paralyzed! That ain’t no f**kin’ joke. …B**tard or not, it sounds like
the guy’s bein’ put through a pretty hefty wringer for his sins! …An’
here comes some wild man stormin’ into your house, screamin’ ‘bout what
a sh**head you are! Y’got no way to say you’re sorry! Y’got no way to
give him the finger! You’re way past bein’ able to make amends for past
failings! D**n if I can’t muster some sympathy for a man in that fix.” |
| p. 171 - “Suppose he’s not willin? Can you just accept that, leave the f**ker behind, an’ go on with your life?” |
| p. 174 - “D**ned if I know! …It’s the fag from Trinity. ..We’re leavin’ folks! Don’t give this crazy son of a b**ch a second thought!” |
| p. 175 - “Off
the property, faggot! ..Go**amn it, man! Shut the f**k up! You’re a
lunatic, Sammy! S**t! Tryin’ to yell out our f**kin’ address!” |
| p. 178 - “Nigger Loving Queer” |
| p. 180 - “…Like a carcass on a go**amn meat hook…” |
| p. 181 - “Nigger Loving Queer” |
| p. 185 - “Yes. God Da**it! I’m furious at you! |
| p. 186 - “An’ I’ve let you down by bein’ a faggot, an’…” |
| p. 187 - “She’d sure as hell dislodged that log from her throat!” |
| p. 188 - “An’
Sammy, don’t think I can’t feel you up there fidgetin’ an’ twiddlin’
your fluffy new wings an’ wonderin’ when the hell this queen is gonna
get on with her act!” |
| p. 192 - “Nigger Loving Queer. …while Toland Polk, though reputedly a ‘Nigger Lover’ as well, didn’t appear to be a ‘queer’ one?” |
| p. 193 - “And I’ll be da**ed if I can recall what any of them were in particular – except for these four:” |
| p. 194 - “But
when we got there, she was such an emotional basketcase that we d**n
near forgot to eat.” “…Then all hell broke loose…” “If a queer’s baby
don’t qualify as some kinda devil’s spawn, I don’t know what does!” |
| p. 196 - “But da**ed if our paths didn’t cross five years later, in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park.” “Far fu**in’ out!” |
| p. 198 - “I
told whoever came on the l-line that the race-mixer who’d just b-been
on tv was as queer as a three-dollar bill…” “But with me puttin’ out
the w-word that he was a queer an’ a local ch-church organist to boot…”
|
| p. 199 - “He’d
just behaved like a garden-variety bigot asshole.” “Looking at it in
retrospect, it’s plain that I wasn’t giving the ba**ard any quarter
because what he’d said to me had hit way too close to home!” “If I
hadn’t been too chickens**t to let him know that I was as gay as he
was…” “…whether or not either of our d**ks got hard…” “…without being
reminded of the faggot who’d once popped up on the six o’clock news…” |
| p. 201 - “Y’bet yer a** I am.” |
| p. 206 - “Did Ivy ever go on f**kin’ red alert when I pulled my Kodak out!” “…Enough already with the d**ned snow and ice!” |
|
| ABOUT THE AUTHOR |
| “Howard
Cruse, creator of Barefootz and Wendel and the founding editor of Gay
Comix, is an Alabama preacher’s kid who counted The Baptist Student
among his cartoon markets while still in high school. Since then his
comic strips and cartoon illustrations have appeared in dozens of
national magazines, underground comic books, and anthologies as well as
in four book collections of his own. Since 1979 he has shared his life
in New York City with book editor and political activist Ed Sedarbaum.” |
