Bitchy Butch (World's Angriest Dyke)

Rating:
Summary: The "world's angriest dyke" is also one of the funniest!
Review: "Bitchy Butch: World's Angriest Dyke," by Roberta Gregory, collects both long and short comic strip stories about the outrageous title character. The book contains pieces published between 1991 and 1998, as well as new material. It opens with a preface (done in comic strip format!) in which author Gregory appears as a comic strip character to directly address the reader; the cartoon Gregory is also confronted by Bitchy Butch herself!

BB is a really over-the-top character. She's a short-tempered, acid-tongued, middle-aged lesbian who directs her frequent angry tirades against many targets: men, straight women, bisexual women, "femmey" lesbians, drag queens, promiscuous gay men, the religious right, and more. But BB does occasionally show her softer side (usually with her two cats). Annoyed at the heterosexist, male-dominated world she's stuck in, she longs for the good old days of emergent 1970's lesbian culture.

In two outrageous stories, BB meets Bitchy Bitch, her heavily-lipsticked hetersexual counterpart; the venom flies when these strong-willed women cross paths! We also see her encounters with the religious right, and flashbacks to her formative high school and college days. Along the way are some surprises.

One of the book's best sections is its conclusion, "Bitchy Butch Has the Last Word," in which the character directly addresses the reader (and takes time to criticize "Ms. Gregory's biased viewpoint"). BB tries to give the reader a little insight into why she is the world's angriest lesbian.

Bitchy Butch is a full-bodied, in-your-face character. Although BB is in one sense a parodic stereotype, Gregory ultimately makes her more than that. The black and white drawings perfectly complement the frequently outrageous dialogue. The art has a crude, sometimes explosive energy. Sometimes surreal, sometimes grotesque, Gregory's visual style is full of satiric bite. I recommend "Bitchy Butch" to fans of lesbian literature, women's studies, graphic novels, and cutting-edge political humor.

Rating:
Summary: Hilarious
Review: This is an excellent book. Anyone who has ever been politically active in any organization will appreciate this send-up of ideologues. What's shocking is how this book deals with the lesbian community of the early nineties but is still too timely today.