Event
Diane DiMassa Hothead Paisan Book Launch & Conversation
“Diane DiMassa can thrill the female soul … fulfilling an untold number of rush-hour fantasies.” – The New York Times
“Hothead is a one-woman revolution…a far-out, hilarious reminder of how your own rage could drive you insane.” – Out Magazine
“The bible of man-hating ball busters driven over the edge of insanity.” – Sarah Schulman
“[DiMassa’s] cartooning style is electric.” – Howard Cruse
“I first met Hothead in the anthology No Straight Lines, a 40-year survey of queer comics. She stands out even among decades of cartoonists’ takes on the pressures of fitting in with heterosexual America…But DiMassa’s creation has been woefully hard to find in recent years. Thankfully, New York Review Books will publish a Hothead collection this August. The sweltering, lingering days of summer feel like the perfect time for the title character to burst back out onto the sidewalk, bat in tow.” – Emma Sarappo, The Atlantic
—
This fall, the New York Review of Books imprint is publishing a collection of Diane DiMassa’s 1990s comic Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. It’s a book that sits at the intersection of riot grrl culture, the zine explosion, underground comics and queer culture.
Hothead Paisan is an icon of the ’90s lesbian DIY scene, a patron saint of those who wonder if going off the deep end is the only sane response to life in modern America. Hothead begins in a murderous frenzy—taking out a variety of chauvinists and creeps—but soon deepens into a reflection on oppression, self-destruction, and living it up outside the conservative norms of the ’90s. Hothead’s rage is stoked by her inner demon, Personality #2, but sometimes tempered with the help of Roz, her friend who offers Zen wisdom and tough love, and Chicken, her cat and constant companion.
You’re invited to join us Thursday, September 25, for a conversation with Diane, led by Alex Dueben, a freelance writer specializing in comics, poetry, books and art.
—
Diane DiMassia is an artist and cartoonist best known for her contributions to feminist alternative comics. She debuted her comic-zine Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist in 1991 and has illustrated several books, including Kathy Acker’s Pussycat Fever, Kate Bornstein’s My Gender Workbook, Anne Fausto-Sterling’s Sexing the Body, and Daphne Gottlieb’s Jokes and the Unconscious. Her artwork has been featured in numerous group and solo shows across North America. She is currently based in Bridgeport.
