Young Bottoms In Love Closes With A Bang

Posted: Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Posted By: Kevin Noel Olson

Book of Shadows

Final strip at PopImage created by renowned underground artist Howard Cruse; Marks return of Cruse to gay comix

CALIFORNIA – After 6 volumes of daily gay romance comic strips, YOUNG BOTTOMS IN LOVE is coming to an end at PopImage. Just like in the anthology strip, this slice of bittersweet life has a silver lining to its cloud. Howard Cruse, renowned underground comix artist returns to gay comix with the final webisode of Young Bottoms in Love in a story entitled “My Hypnotist”, scheduled for February 13, 2006 running through the week of Valentine’s Day.

Created by cartoonist and Young Bottoms in Love editor Tim Fish in August 2002, Young Bottoms in Love is a daily web comic anthology of gay romance stories. Dozens of creators have contributed to the strip over the years; gay and straight, amateur and professional, in styles that range from the familiar to the abstract. “When we decided to end the run of the daily strip at PopImage, both Tim and I thought it would be amazing if we could convince Howard Cruse to contribute the final strip,” said Ed Mathews, Co-Editor in Chief of PopImage. “We wanted to do something very special for our loyal fans. To have Howard Cruse on board to do a brand new, original gay comix strip is a dream come true.” As with all the content at PopImage, it is 100% free to the reader with no registration process and no pop-up ads.

ABOUT:
POPIMAGE launched in 1999 and sought ever since to showcase the very best in comics and popular culture. Primarily a comics journalism site, PopImage has focused on the best and brightest talents in modern comics history, with interviews and contributions covering everyone from underground comix creators, novelists, professors, to the Editor in Chief of Marvel Comics. Updated every Wednesday, reviews, interviews, Op/Ed’s and previews featuring sneak peaks of future works are brought to the reader in magazine format on a weekly basis. This tradition extends to its PIComics section, which has seen contributions from some of the industry’s top talent and continuously brings new talent to the attention of our audience through the magic of webcomics.

HOWARD CRUSE’s comic strips and humorous illustrations have appeared in Playboy, The Village Voice, Artforum International, Harpoon, Heavy Metal, The Advocate, Starlog, and numerous other national magazines.

Five books have been published compiling Cruse’s own comic strips and stories from underground comic books and elsewhere: Wendel (1986); Dancin’ Nekkid With The Angels (1987); Wendel on the Rebound (1989); Early Barefootz (1990); and Wendel All Together (2001). Cruse’s critically acclaimed graphic novel Stuck Rubber Baby was published in 1995 by Paradox Press, a division of DC Comics, and has since appeared in German, Italian, and French editions, with a Spanish version currently in the works. Spanish translations of his collected Wendel strips have been published in two volumes by Ediciones La Cupula during 2005-06.

A finalist for both an American Library Association Gay/Lesbian Fiction Award and a Lambda Literary Award, Stuck Rubber Baby was the winner of Eisner and Harvey Awards as well as a United Kingdom Comic Art Award and a British Comics Creators Guild Award. Andreas Knigge’s translation won a Luchs literary award in Germany. The French translation was honored with the 2002 Prix de la critique award at the International Festival of Comic Books in Angouleme, France.

Cruse’s most recent book, his illustrated adaptation of a fable by Jeanne E. Shaffer entitled The Swimmer With a Rope In His Teeth, was published by Prometheus Books in April 2004.

TIM FISH launched Young Bottoms in Love in 2002 as a showcase for gay romance comics by himself and other contributors. His three volume bittersweet soap opera Cavalcade of Boys continues to gain critical acclaim and an avid fan base. Tim’s 2006 releases will be his two books, Meet Me in Saint Louie and Baby Makes Three, as well as projects with Marvel Comics.

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