Celebrating 40 years of ‘Dykes to Watch Out For’

By KATHI WOLFE

“I like seeing queer people falling in love in Christmas movies,” a 70-something, hetero friend who’s a queer ally and a Hallmark movie aficionado told me recently. “We get to kiss, queers, should, too.”

Forty years ago, in June 1983, when Alison Bechdel’s iconic comic strip “Dykes to Watch Out For,” (DTWOF) was first published in the Pride issue of “Woman News,” this conversation would likely not have happened. Then, “Ellen” was only an ordinary person’s name. No one would have watched “The L Word” or have known what it was. And, electing a lesbian U.S. senator (such as Sen. Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.) would have been unthinkable.

“Dykes to Watch Out For” ran until 2008. The comic strip ran in the “Funny Times” and in many queer papers. Several book collections of DTWOF were published, including: “Dykes to Watch Out For” (1986), “New, Improved Dykes to Watch Out For” (1990) and “The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For” (2008).

It’s hard to convey how groundbreaking DTWOF was (especially in the 1980s and early 1990s) at a time when there was virtually no representation of queer life in pop culture.

Set in a small city (some think it might be Minneapolis), “Dykes” tells the story of a group of lesbians – their friendships, exes, love lives, struggles against the patriarchy, work lives – their cats.

DTWOF was diverse long before “diversity and inclusion” became buzzwords. The comic strip’s characters include people of color. There’s concern about disability accessibility. Other aspects of lesbian life aren’t neglected: there’s therapy and a vegan café.

The characters in DTWOF grew up and older in “real time” during the strip’s 25-year run. Bechdel, whose 2006 memoir “Fun Home” was adapted into the Tony Award-winning musical of the same name, has said DTWOF is “half-op-ed column and half endless, serialized Victorian novel.”

The protagonist of “Dykes To Watch Out For” is the lovable, neurotic kvetch Mo, who along with some of the other characters works (for a time) at Madwimmin Books. Some of the other characters include: Lois, a feminist “Casanova” and activist; Ginger, a professor; Sparrow a former women’s shelter director who identifies as a “bisexual lesbian;” Clarice, Mo’s ex and a lawyer; Toni, Clarice’s partner and a CPA; Harriet, a human rights lawyer; and Jezanna, the owner of Madwimmin Books.

To the delight of generations of readers (from Boomers to 20-somethings), neither Bechdel nor the DTWOF characters take themselves too seriously. They care deeply about the political (the cruelty of Ronald Reagan’s treatment of people with AIDS, unjust wars, etc.) and their personal dramas (from coming out to whether to embrace monogamy). But, they get how absurd — how overly earnest — they can be.

To commemorate DTWOF’s 40th anniversary, Audible has released a spectacular three-hour adaptation of “Dykes to Watch Out For” as an audio series.

You might wonder how well DTWOF, a comic strip combining indelible drawings with, by turns, funny, poignant, smart dialogue, could be performed in a sound-based medium. You needn’t worry. Through an alchemy of writing, direction, acting, narration and podcast production, DTWOF has been superbly translated into sound. Proving that while a picture may be worth a thousand words, there’s nothing more intimate than listening to a story you love.

Playwright Madeleine George (“Only Murders in the Building”) adapted DTWOF for the Audible series and Leigh Silverman (“Violet”) directed the adaptation. Alana Davis, Faith Soloway and Bitch scored the series.

The Audible adaptation of DTWOF combines stories from the first three years of the strip. One of the lovely things about it is that the cast is so queer – from Jane Lynch, the series’ narrator, to author Roxanne Gay, who plays Jezanna.

I don’t know if there’s an afterlife. If there is, I hope it’s narrated by Lynch. Listening to Lynch tie the story of the series together is like hearing the Voice of God. God as a combo of a lesbian (Vince Scully, sports announcer, and a dyke Edward Everett Horton (from the Bullwinkle cartoons).

Carrie Brownstein (“Portlandia”) nails Mo. You’re right in Mo’s head as she obsesses about whether to call Harriet and ask her out. Harriet has given Mo her phone number two months before. (This is in the 1980s, long before texting.)

Along with the cast, which is a stellar ensemble, the series is filled with memorable, moving, energizing soundscapes: from lesbian softball players batting to footage from the 1987 National March on Washington for Gay and Lesbian Rights.