Howard Cruse facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Howard Cruse |
|
|---|---|
Cruse in 2014
|
|
| Born | May 2, 1944 Birmingham, Alabama, U.S. |
| Died | November 26, 2019 (aged 75) Pittsfield, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Nationality | American |
| Area(s) | Cartoonist |
|
Notable works
|
Gay Comix Stuck Rubber Baby |
| Awards | Inkpot Award, 1989 United Kingdom Comic Art Award, Prix de la critique (France), 2002 |
Howard Cruse (born May 2, 1944 – died November 26, 2019) was an American cartoonist. He was known for creating comics that explored the lives and experiences of gay people. He first became well-known in the 1970s during a time when many independent comics were being made.
Cruse was the first editor of Gay Comix in 1980. He also created a comic strip called Wendel in the 1980s. In 1995, his graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby reached a wider audience.
Contents
Early Life and Beginnings
Howard Cruse was born on May 2, 1944, in Birmingham, Alabama. He grew up in a nearby town called Springville. His father was a preacher, and his mother was a homemaker.
He started drawing cartoons when he was in high school. His first published drawings appeared in a magazine called The Baptist Student. Later, his work was seen in other magazines like Fooey and Sick. He went to Indian Springs School and then studied drama at Birmingham-Southern College.
Cruse worked in television for about ten years. In 1977, he moved to New York City. There, he met Eddie Sedarbaum in 1979, who became his life partner. They later married after moving to North Adams, Massachusetts.
Career Highlights
Cruse's cartoons first gained attention across the country in the 1970s. He drew for many independent comic books. His most famous character from this time was Barefootz. This was a unique series about a kind, well-dressed young man with big bare feet. Some people thought it was too "cute," but others liked it because it was different from other comics.
Pioneering Gay Comics
Howard Cruse was open about being gay throughout the 1970s. However, his early comics did not directly show this, except for a gay character named Headrack in Barefootz. This changed in 1979 when a publisher asked him to edit Gay Comix. This was a new collection of comics by openly gay and lesbian cartoonists.
For much of the 1980s, Cruse created Wendel. This was a short comic strip about an energetic and hopeful gay man, his partner Ollie, and other people in the city. These strips were later collected into books.
Stuck Rubber Baby and Later Works
In the first half of the 1990s, Cruse worked on Stuck Rubber Baby. This was a 210-page graphic novel. It tells the story of a young man named Toland Polk growing up in the American South in the 1960s. The story shows him realizing his own identity and learning about the unfair treatment of Black people in society.
This book featured Cruse's most detailed and realistic artwork. It also had his most serious and complex storytelling. Stuck Rubber Baby won many awards and was highly praised.
Cruse also wrote a column for a comic book review magazine called Comics Scene. He contributed to other comic collections like Juicy Mother. In 2009, he published From Headrack to Claude. This book collected all his gay-themed comics and included his thoughts on his career and life.
In 2015, Howard Cruse was a main speaker at the first Queers & Comics conference.
Legacy
Howard Cruse passed away on November 26, 2019, in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, from lymphoma. Before his death, it was announced that a special 25th anniversary edition of Stuck Rubber Baby would be published.
Howard Cruse is one of five gay cartoonists featured in a documentary film. The film is called NO STRAIGHT LINES: The Rise of Queer Comics. It was released in 2021 and shown on national PBS in 2023.
See also
In Spanish: Howard Cruse para niños
