一个关于澳门新葡京官网过去的线索

Digital collection highlights early works of influential 艺术ist Howard Cruse ’68

感觉就像动画片里的 山顶的新闻 是即将发生的事情的征兆吗.

In a series of panels that ran in Birmingham-南部 College’s student newspaper, Howard Cruse ’68 lampooned everything from crowded dorm conditions to the honor code to fraternity stereotypes.

Cruse went on to a career as an alternative c艺术oonist 和 has been lauded as “the father of gay comics.他的漫画小说 粘胶娃娃 还有连环画 Wendel的 broke boundaries 和 inspired a generation of LGBTQ+ 艺术ists.

现在，感谢教授. 吉娜K. 阿姆斯特朗92年, 澳门新葡京官网档案管理员和数字计划图书管理员, creative work from his time at 澳门新葡京官网 is available in a digital collection online.

“While putting together another collection about the theatre at 澳门新葡京官网, I kept coming across Cruse’s name in a variety of work, 所以我决定让他成为我们下一个系列的主角. He is so seminal 和 we have done nothing in the past to promote his connection to 澳门新葡京官网 because of his gay identity,阿姆斯特朗说, who pushed the school to be more welcoming to LGBTQ+ students while at 澳门新葡京官网 as an undergrad. “His Golden Ginkgo year seemed like a fantastic opportunity to showcase his work 和 acknowledge him.”

The collection includes a series of single panels called “Cruse Nest” that ran in the 山顶的新闻在1966-67学年的大部分时间里. It also covers illustrations he drew while on the staff of the 1964 南方口音 yearbook; issues of 奶奶去旅行, an underground newspaper Cruse created 和 ran with Julie Brumlik ’68; creative writing that appeared in 四; 和 his playbills 和 set designs for 澳门新葡京官网 theatre productions.

在线档案还分享了一个故事 《澳门新葡京官网》 克鲁斯的一出戏, 戏剧专业, wrote that was workshopped during 澳门新葡京官网’s 1967-68 drama season 和 helped him get into graduate school at Pennsylvania State University as a playwright, 他放弃了这条路，去探索其他创造性的出路.

In fact, it was theatre that drew Cruse to Birmingham-南部. 阿拉巴马州的斯普林维尔市. native was in high school at the Indian Springs School, he was drawing c艺术oons 和 immersed in theatre; his boarding school roommate was the son of Joseph Hugh Thomas ’33, 从1964年到1972年担任澳门新葡京官网音乐系系主任.

“我真的被音乐剧迷住了, 和 when I learned he was writing the music for a musical comedy, I was thrilled to be that close to someone who was doing something so creative,克鲁斯说。. “After that I went to pretty much every College Theatre play 和 the presence of both those two on campus was a big incentive to take the school seriously.”

Cruse said Thomas 和 theatre director 和 professor of English, drama, 和 speech Dr. 阿诺德·弗朗西丝·鲍威尔把他吸引到了伯明翰南方大学, despite the fact that 澳门新葡京官网 didn’t even have a drama major at the time. 他尝试了其他选择, 包括数学, 艺术, 和英语, before the theatre major was added 和 he found his true 首页.

“But I also had some other courses that were exceptional, some were unlikely courses for me to be enthusiastic about,克鲁斯说, 清单博士. 厄尔·戈塞特的《澳门新葡京官网》. Edward Bottemiller’s “Philosophy 101” course, 和 classes from history professor Dr. 亨利·克莱·兰德尔.

而他深情地记得澳门新葡京官网, he was also sometimes at odds with the administration 和 the dominant culture of the time. 例如, 图书馆的档案包括《澳门新葡京官网》,” a multi-page satirical comic that appeared in the 1967 issue of the campus literary magazine 四和 raised such apprehension in the mind of the publication’s faculty advisor that he insisted on preceding the comic with a warning statement. 也是在1967年，他不再画他的 山顶的新闻 以学术自由为理由，在今年3月刊登了连载漫画.

southern后, Cruse’s work st艺术ed getting attention in the world of underground comics in the 1970s; in 1979, 他开始编辑 同性恋漫画, an anthology featuring the work of openly LGBTQ+ 艺术ists. 在20世纪80年代，他出版了一本名为 Wendel的 在全国同性恋新闻杂志上 的倡导者. 在这, he presented a realistic view of the gay rights movement, 艾滋病的流行, 同性关系, 和更多的.

The work is so significant it has been reprinted with a foreword by c艺术oonist 和 McArthur “Genius” Award winner Alison Bechdel, 谁认为他对她有影响. Playwright Tony Kushner, who wrote an introduction to his book 粘胶娃娃他称克鲁斯是该领域的“先驱”.

那本图画小说, which tells the story of a young man coming to grips with his own homosexuality 和 societal racism in the South in the 1960s, includes stretches set at the remarkably familiar looking “West Hills College.(克鲁斯说过主角的名字, 姜雷恩斯, 是给他在澳门新葡京官网的朋友豪厄尔·雷恩斯的礼帽吗.) Birmingham-南部 doesn’t have permission to republish images from the book, but you can see glimpses of the college’s architecture on Cruse’s website 在这里和在这里.

“I snuck onto campus to take pictures for photo-reference," Cruse mentions with a laugh.

While the bulk of Cruse’s personal 和 professional papers reside in the graphic novels collection at the Columbia University Rare Book & 手稿图书馆, Armstrong – who travelled to Columbia 和 have added some works housed t在这里 from the same era to 澳门新葡京官网’s collection -- said it’s a thrill to be able to showcase his work that’s connected to 澳门新葡京官网. Cruse himself also contributed to the digital conversation, both adding materials 和 giving insight to Armstrong as they put it together. Cruse himself also contributed to the digital conversation, both adding materials 和 giving insight to Armstrong as she put it together.

但克鲁斯, 对他来说, points out his many classmates 和 theatre peers who have also found 艺术istic success off the Hilltop.

“I have really appreciated this attention but I’m aware that t在这里 are lots of other people out t在这里 who are also deserving,他说.

That may be the case, but Cruse, for one, is well overdue the recognition. 你可以看到数字收藏在这里.