This is one of my favorite collections! It tells the complete story of Midge’s first (and only) semester of college in the fateful year of 1970. That was the year before I spent 7 years working my way through college, so I was familiar with the era, and I did some additional research to give the story that humorous ring of “truth”-- if you were around in those days, you will probably laugh with recognition and embarrassment. AND if you were not born yet, it is a revealing look at the self-righteous cluelessness of the era! Wince as Midge continually humiliates herself thinking that she is “Liberated”--until she is confronted with that that really means. This contains the Bitchy stories from Issues 15-19, including sold-out #17. It is more of a graphic novel in that the College story is a longer one that ran through three issues of the comic book, and the shorter story ran for two issues. (Work and Play is similar.) Includes “Bitchy’s Boy Trouble” where she faces the sometimes dangerous attitudes men and women hold for each other-- in graphic detail. Not for the faint-hearted! Plus, “Roberta’s College Daze” created just for this collection.
Random pages from College Daze. Midge is caught up in the revolutionary fervor of 1970-- political and sexual. Midge seems oblivious to how much she is being “used” by men--and could care less about how she is using others (like Kyle). Welcome to adulthood-- coupled with cluelessness! (Click on pages to enlarge.)
Well, truth be told it is hard to say any of these collections are NOT “one of my favorites”--this one is just as hilarious. Many years ago, someone suggested I create an angry lesbian counterpart for Bitchy Bitch, and “Butchy” was born. The stories are quite different: Butchy reminisces about the “good old days” of in-your-face militancy and hates just about everything about today’s world, though she lives in a much more supportive community than Bitchy Bitch-- her friends look out for her well-being and the occasional Goddess even shows up to help her along--and of course, Butchy is completely unaware of this, only choosing to see the darker side of her failed expectations. But she does have the occasional glimmer of insight and proves to be, in her cranky way, quite politically astute, as can be seen in the longer story written for this collection, in which she has the “Last Word.” It’s not all snarling--there actually are some rather moving stories in here, about her child- and young-adult-hood, and another highly-acclaimed one about how someone can be a very positive role model (and literally save someone’s life) without knowing it.
Random pages from Bitchy Butch. Butchy seems to be completely unaware and unappreciative of how members of her ‘community’ keep an eye out for her and try to help her out. In the second page, even a Goddess comes out of the blue to provide a small island of calm that doesn’t last long. Butchy has a very short fuse for anything she finds annoying. The last page provides a bit of her political and historical insight. The problem is with irritatingly angry people is-- sometimes they’re RIGHT... (Click on pages to enlarge)
Bitchy, the queen of negative-thinking, finally wins something: a free vacation in a tropical--um, setting. Not quite a paradise, but she has hopes, as always of meeting a “nice guy” on vacation--and these expectations hound her for the entire trip (literally, in the guise of the obnoxious Kenney). It is not until she is in a situation to “let go” of this that we are treated to the rare spectacle of Bitchy actually, and sincerely enjoying herself. Not to be missed! However, we are still witness to her cluelessly critical and xenophobic (and sometimes frankly racist) point of view along the way--she personifies the Ugly EveryAmerican who lives in many of us. The other story in this book takes place back in the office, and Bitchy’s hilariously irritating co-workers take center stage in a story where Bitchy’s High School chum (who’s now a lesbian) comes to work with them, and rattles the cages of both New Age Sylvia and Born-Again Marcie. Parts of this book make me laugh out loud, so it has to be categorized as one of my favorites, as well.
This is a shorter collection, 72 pages, but packed with variety. Like the Bitchy Butch book, this is more of a collection of short stories, rather than one longer story and a slightly shorter one. It includes stories of Bitchy through the ages--literally! “Fallout” is about her grade-school life during the Kennedy Era. “Adult-erated” involves her young adulthood (and first apartment) in the Swinging Seventies, (her history following the College Daze story) and “Burn, Bitch, Burn” DOES go back through history to show her in the 14th Century, in a story I had a LOT of fun researching, writing, and drawing, depicting all the grittiness (and ignorance) of the era. “Sylvia’s Week” stars Bitchy’s co-workers during the week she spent on vacation (in At Work and Play) and is one of my favorites, a hilarious look at New Age Materialism colliding with Born-Again “val-yews,” with a little Wicca thrown into the mix.
This collection came out in 2005 and is the last Bitchy book from Fantagraphics. It was going to be the first of two volumes but did not sell so well--perhaps because most of the stories in it first ran in Naughty Bits and then in some of the collections above. It pretty much collects all of the reprinted material from At Work and Play and A Bitch is Born. Plus, it has the hilarious “Sylvia’s Week” story from Issue #20 (and from Burn, Bitchy Burn.)
Don’t worry if you are confused--this all confuses me, too! It also contains a substantial 13 page all-new story, one of my historical favorites, called “Daddy Deadest” about how Midge’s father died, all about her (so far) “lost” decade, the 1980s--the story takes place in 1983. Once you read this you will be glad those years are over with. You also get to see the ONE time she had a cat, and why it’s been her ONLY cat so far....
If you are not familiar with my Bitchy stories, and want to read something really funny, (and are not easily offended) this is a great collection for the money!
The following collection is in a smaller format but with many more pages (272). It contains almost all the material from At Work And Play with Bitchy Bitch, as well as the out-of-print A Bitch is Born.
For a limited time, I will be selling some of these collections myself. Each is about 100 pages and retails for $10. You can possibly get them cheaper elsewhere, on the Web, but if you order one from me, you will get it autographed with a sketch inside--how cool is THAT?
These books duplicate some of the stories in the comic books, although the comic books have many pages and short stories that are not in these books. BUT these books each have an original story that is seen nowhere else. Some people would rather read the Bitchy stories in a nice collection, with sturdy cover on good paper... and other people think comic books are way cool, and they love all the fun “extras.” So, that’s life: all about making choices!
