Hothead Paisan
Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist is an alternative comic written and drawn by Diane DiMassa published 1991–1998. It features the title character generally wreaking violent vengeance on male oppressors. Recurring characters include Hothead's cat Chicken, her wise mystical friend Roz, a talking lamp, and her lover Daphne (whose gender was never specified).[1][2]
Hothead Paisan | |
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cover of Hothead Paisan #8 | |
Genre | humor |
Publication date | 1991 |
Creative team | |
Created by | Diane DiMassa |
Publication
The series began in 1991, published under the imprint Giant Ass Publishing, run by DiMassa's partner. The series ran for 21 issues, ending in 1998, and were collected and published as two volumes: Hothead Paisan and The Revenge of Hothead Paisan. These volumes were later combined and republished with a 10-page introduction to the main character as a 428-page trade paperback The Complete Hothead Paisan.[3]
Hothead
According to Gabrielle Dean, the character of Hothead represents a "phallicized dyke" who is "at the mercy of her own rage against society, which she expresses by castrating men who are exaggerated stand-ins for the patriarchal order".[4] Hothead has changed into a wolf and her hands have become chainsaws. Kim Hall states that Hothead "is an image of feminist resistance that does not rest on purity."[5]
In 2004, a version was staged as a musical, produced by Animal Prufrock at the Michigan Womyn's Music Festival.[6] The cast included Ani DiFranco, Susan Powter, Ubaka Hill, Toshi Reagon, Julie Wolf, Kate Wolf, and Allyson Palmer of BETTY.[7]
References
- "Fiction Book Review: The Revenge of Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist by Diane DiMassa, Author Cleis Press $16.95 (0p) ISBN 978-1-57344-016-5". PublishersWeekly.com. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
- "Bring back Hothead Paisan, homicidal lesbian terrorist". DangerousMinds. 2014-06-09. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
- Dimassa, Diane (1999). The Complete Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. San Francisco: Cleis Press. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-57344-084-4.
- Dean, Gabrielle (1997). "The "Phallacies" of Dyke Comic Strips". In Foster, Thomas; Siegel, Carol; Berry, Ellen E. (eds.). The gay '90s : disciplinary and interdisciplinary formations in queer studies. New York, N.Y.: New York University Press. p. 208. ISBN 978-0-8147-2673-0.
- Hall, Kim (1999). "Sister Woman Chainsaw II: Reading Chris Cuomo's Feminism and Ecological Communities: An Ethic of Flourishing". Ethics and the Environment. Indiana University Press. 4 (1): 79–84. doi:10.1016/S1085-6633(99)80008-4. JSTOR 40338962. S2CID 144014736. p. 83.
- Coble, Margaret (August 2004). "Hothead Paisan (the musical) will debut at the Michigan Women's Music Festival" (PDF). The Empty Closet. No. 371. p. B1. Archived (PDF) from the original on March 3, 2015. Retrieved April 23, 2019.
- Coble, Margaret (2004). "Lesbian News" (29). p. 38. Retrieved July 7, 2016 – via LGBT Life with Full Text, Ipswich, MA.
Further reading
- Bernstein, Robin (Summer 1994). "Where Women Rule: The World of Lesbian Cartoons". The Harvard Gay & Lesbian Review. 1 (3): 20–23. ISSN 1077-6591. LCCN sn94005292.
- Dimassa, Diane (1999). The Complete Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. San Francisco, CA.: Cleis Press. ISBN 978-1573440844.
- Frueh, Joanna and Fierstein, Laurie. "Comments on the Comics", in Frueh, Joanna; Fierstein, Laurie; Stein, Judith, eds. (2000). Picturing the Modern Amazon. New York: Rizzoli: New Museum Books. ISBN 978-0847822478.
- Heller, Dana A. (1993). "Hothead Paisan: Clearing a Space for Lesbian Feminist Folklore". New York Folklore. 19 (1–2): 27–44.
- Medd, Jodie, ed. (2015). "14. Comics, Graphic Narratives, and Lesbian Lives, by Heike Bauer". The Cambridge Companion to Lesbian Literature (PDF). Cambridge University Press. pp. 219–235. ISBN 978-1107054004.
- Queen, Robin M. "'I Don't Speak Spritch': Locating Lesbian Language", in Livia, Anna; Hall, Kira, eds. (1997). Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0195104707.
- Scalettar, Liana. "Resistance, Representation and the Subject of Violence: Reading Hothead Paisan", in Boone, Joseph A.; Dupuis, Martin; Meeker, Martin; Quimby, Karin; Sarver, Cindy; Silverman, Debra; Weatherston, Rosemary, eds. (2000). "11". Queer Frontiers: Millennial Geographies, Genders, and Generations. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 261–277. ISBN 978-0299160906.
- Shaw, Adrienne (2009). "Women on Women: Lesbian Identity, Lesbian Community, and Lesbian Comics". Journal of Lesbian Studies. 13 (1): 88–97. doi:10.1080/07380560802314227. ISSN 1089-4160. LCCN 97660031. PMID 19197667. S2CID 44618909.
- Warren, Roz, ed. (1995). Dyke Strippers: Lesbian Cartoonists A to Z. Cleis Press. ISBN 1573440086.
External links
- Official website (Archive)