Dykes To Hang Out With
Alison Bechdel's "Dykes to Watch Out For" (Firebrand editions) were about 5.25 x 7 x 0.25 inches.
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THIS IS AN UNUSUAL PURSE BOOK, AS I RECOMMEND NOT A PURSE BOOK PER SE—INSTEAD, I SIMPLY RECOMMEND MYSELF* (*AN ARTICLE I WROTE ABOUT A PURSE BOOK, SORTA)
Last week, I published a story in the New York Times about the new Audible-translation of Alison Bechdel’s long-running comic Dykes to Watch Out For. I talked to all sorts of queers about the series, by adorably sauntering up to friend groups at dyke bars and DM-ing strangers and calling a best friend’s aunt (unquoted, but appreciated). And I found out something that cut to my most voracious, greedy core as a reader: my version of Dykes to Watch Out For was heartbreakingly incomplete.
A few years ago I read The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For, a honking 400-page volume the size of a medical school textbook (I assume). I’ve always been allergic to abridged versions, but essential. Essential. Essential beguiled me. Essential worked on me. But, talking to a woman who read Dykes to Watch Out For as it was published in the paper, told me that the Firebrand volumes (like the one photographed above, perfectly Purse Book-sized) not only gathered the weekly strips, but had bonus storylines.
The heart did plummet.
I remember being at a used bookstore and deciding between an old Firebrand version and The Essential collection. As usual, by falling for the seductive false promise of completeness and essentiality, I made the wrong decision. I’d probably repeat it, but I wish I wouldn’t.
Anyway, below are some of my favorite things that people I interviewed for the NYT piece said, out of context.
