30 CHICAGO READER | JULY 7, 2006 | SECTION ONE

Books

By Matt Zakosek

A lison Bechdel’s syndicatedcomic Dykes to Watch OutFor is that rare breed: a

cartoon that grows richer andmore emotionally satisfying overtime. Published in approximately50 queer weeklies nationwide,it’s an illustrated L Word withoutthe glossy theatrics. If there wereany justice, Jennifer Love Hewittwould be starring in a big-screenadaptation of Dykes and notGarfield: A Tail of Two Kitties.

Maybe Hollywood will finallyget the memo.Fun Home: AFamilyTragicomic,Bechdel’s firstgraphic memoir,lobs her onto thesame vauntedplane as HarveyPekar, ArtSpiegelman, and

Chris Ware. The tale of Bechdel’stortured relationship with herfather, Fun Home (the title isshort for “funeral home”) is toldin a nonlinear fashion, withBechdel providing an initial cur-sory look at her childhood, thenrevisiting critical events in subse-quent chapters. She can begrandiose at times—she equatesher coming-out process to theOdyssey—and she may not havethe tragic backstory needed tocreate a Maus or a Persepolis, but

apart from a few ill-conceiveddetours into minutiae, FunHome is well worth the sevenyears it took to complete.

When Fun Home beginsBechdel’s father is a high schoolEnglish teacher, part-time morti-cian, and closeted homosexual. Aperfectionist who treats “his fur-niture like children and his chil-dren like furniture,” he’s like across between Joan Crawford(the Mommie Dearest version)and Jane Wyman’s miserablehomemaker in All That HeavenAllows, two queer icons he wouldprobably fail to recognize. Andfor a while the work threatens tobecome a graphic version ofAugusten Burroughs’s RunningWith Scissors, with Bechdel andher brothers at the mercy of anunstable adult and his whims.But Bechdel’s scrupulous fair-ness sets her a cut above manycurrent memoirists (and herobsessive reliance on fact guar-antees she won’t be grilled onOprah anytime soon). When herfather isn’t flying into a rageover the condition of the fami-ly’s curtains, he’s witty, support-ive, and occasionally revealingabout his true nature. Of course,to the modern queer eye, hiscutoff shorts and velvet suitsreveal a lot more than theBechdel children have thecapacity to understand.

It spoils nothing to disclosethat Bechdel’s father died—apossible suicide—at 44, thesame age as his beloved F. ScottFitzgerald. But while Fitzgeraldsuccumbed to heart attacks andalcoholism, Bechdel believes herfather jumped in front of a truck(an incident that was officiallylabeled an accident). She attrib-utes his despair chiefly to hermother’s having asked him for adivorce, though Bechdel won-ders if her own announcementthat she was gay factored intohis decision.

Bechdel dismisses this hypoth-esis for its misguided self-impor-tance—but she occasionallyveers into solipsism anyway. “Ifmy father was a Fitzgerald char-acter, my mother stepped rightout of Henry James,” she writes,and one doubts that suchromantic figures could be foundin the same town, let alone thesame household. But Bechdelanticipates this criticism: “Iemploy these allusions to Jamesand Fitzgerald not only asdescriptive devices, but becausemy parents are most real to mein fictional terms. And perhapsmy cool aesthetic distance itselfdoes more to convey the arcticclimate of our family than anyparticular literary comparison.”Ultimately, what borders on theridiculous lends greater

poignancy to her story.That deft hand is missing,

however, in her portrayal of herbrothers John and Christian,who are treated for the most partas afterthoughts. After herfather’s death Bechdel comeshome from college and reportsthat “my little brother John and Igreeted each other with ghastly,uncontrollable grins.” But noth-ing before that point suggests thetwo were close, so the scenereads as a dramatic tease ratherthan a heartfelt homecoming.

Another important characterwho earns little time in the nar-rative is Roy—the family’s “yard-work assistant/babysitter” whomoonlights as boy toy toBechdel’s father. In this instance,though, the lack of specificityworks; the beautiful Roy func-tions as a stand-in for all unre-

quited love. While sortingthrough a box of family photos,Bechdel encounters a hazy shotof him taken on a family vaca-tion. So much about the snap-shot feels exploitative—the seedyhotel setting, Roy’s tight briefs,the beefcake pose. And yet thepredominant mood is one ofwistful melancholy. Evokingsympathy for a pederast is noeasy feat, but it’s one Bechdelaccomplishes in a few expertlydrawn panels. Of course, Royholds a special significance forhis lover’s daughter, too. Herselfan admirer of “masculinecharms,” Bechdel recalls hismanly beauty when she begins toexperiment with her own genderidentity.

The sordid nature of the narra-tive—suicide, pedophilia, the“bearded and fleshy” corpse on amortician’s prep table—is tem-pered by Bechdel’s cheerful,spunky drawings. Her friendsand family look startlingly simi-lar to earlier creations—collegegirlfriend Joan could be a proto-type for Dykes’s Lois, andBechdel’s depiction of herself asa child suggests Clarice andToni’s son, Raffi, from the samestrip. But this signals a confi-dence of style, not conformity.She renders a self-containedworld that feels as detailed as aphotograph.

Cartoonist to Watch Out ForWith her new graphic memoir, Dykes to Watch Out For creator Alison Bechdelputs herself in a league with Chris Ware and Harvey Pekar.

FUN HOME: A FAMILY TRAGICOMIC ALISON BECHDEL (HOUGHTON MIFFLIN)

Need an expert?

See Services, in Classifieds

AlisonBechdelWHEN Sun 7/9,4:30 PMWHERE Women & Children First,5233 N. ClarkINFO 773-769-9299

Sometimes, in fact, it’s a littletoo detailed. Fun Home stumblesnear its conclusion, whenBechdel widens her scope toinclude her first lesbian relation-ship, her mother’s failed ambi-tions, and a college course onUlysses. While it’s funny to seeher new lover read James andthe Giant Peach as an ode to cun-nilingus, scenes like this serious-ly slow the momentum. Andthough she tries to incorporatethen-current events likeWatergate, she fails to do so inany meaningful way—which isdisappointing considering howeffortlessly she weaves politicsinto Dykes.

But Bechdel’s frustrated, frac-tured relationship with herfather gives this story resonance.The parent-child dynamic is rec-ognizable to any reader, queer orstraight. Fun Home’s subtitle—“AFamily Tragicomic”—couldn’t bemore apt. In her bleakestmoments, Bechdel channels theresilience that made her father’sdouble life bearable, even beauti-ful. Standing over his coffin, stillprocessing his death, she recallsthat “the sole emotion [she]could muster was irritation.”Sounds heartless, but her workcourses with a rich humanity. v

Ink Well by Ben Tausig

A SubstitutionACROSS 1. Geoff Ogilvy’s org.4 ______-Town7. Rocky player, in tabloids

10. Proof ender13. Lobsterback15. Limey’s 65-Across16. 180, slangily17. Down at the casino18. Sushi go-with20. Ardent fan of stir-fried noodles?22. They’re at odds with odds23. Dinner and a Movie channel24. Discount theater letters in NYC27. Encl. with an RSVP28. Boxer’s doc30. Alternate title for this puzzle31. Aloha and luau, e.g.?35. Torah spot38. Nintendo console slated for fall 200639. Poetic contraction40. Casual affirmation41. Great, as Mr. Miyagi?45. Topples (over)

46. Big bang creator47. Plot element?51. ______-ball52. Where to find sweaters54. Instruments played by Yusef Lateef

and Sufjan Stevens55. Deposit spot for I.M.’s crony?59. Thingy61. Capitol feature62. Coal scuttle63. Green-lights64. On guard65. Landlubber’s 15-Across66. Susan of L.A. Law67. Cub’s club68. Sellout sign

DOWN 1. Prepares to paint2. Conventions concerned with

wartime conduct3. Saws4. Sits on a sill, say5. Circle of heaven6. Tabloid tidbit7. Hindi “master”8. City in Beaujolais country9. Nepalese terrorist

10. Penis enlargement products, e.g.11. It’s a scream12. Blacken or redden, often14. No. 5 company19. French avant-garde composer21. Singer James25. You might make it for a friend in

need26. Beauty pageant accessory28. Roman 2x4?29. Give off30. 2005 eruptor32. Fold females

LAST WEEK: THAT’S AN ORDER

49. Melt down, as fat50. Sao Paulo, for one52. Sharp rise53. Fall guy54. Ska band, perhaps56. Tennis wear brand57. Emirate resident58. Soft quaff59. Kid’s inquiry60. Weed

33. Gas at a diner34. En route35. Charges, as a retailer36. Stench37. Rollerblader’s safety precaution42. Hazardous forecast43. The U.S. tied them in the first round

of the 2006 World Cup: Abbr.44. Party in London48. Goes from 0 to 60?

CHICAGO READER | JULY 7, 2006 | SECTION ONE 31