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Running from 1983 to 2008, the comic Dykes to Watch Out For was a seminal graphic representing the real experiences of lesbians and the lesbian community. Now, the series is getting an added dimension from a case of well-known queer women.
From the mind of Alison Bechdel, Dykes to Watch Out For arrived before Ellen DeGeneres’s coming out, before The L Word, and way before Lesbian TikTok. LGBTQ+ papers ran the comic strip for 25 years.
The stories follow Mo, described as “every dyke’s dream — or so she’s been told by her kind and supportive friends. She’s shy but passionate, politically aware, as committed to her egalitarian all-womyn’s softball team as she is to her volunteer work at the Gay and Lesbian Community Center,” as she finds her place in the world. And maybe find a girlfriend, too.
Other characters include Mo’s best friend Lois; her ex, Clarice; and a host of other women.
The new Audible version of the beloved comics includes the voices of Carrie Brownstein (Portlandia), Roberta Colindrez (A League of Their Own), Roxane Gay (New York Times-bestselling author of Bad Feminist) Jenn Colella (Broadway’s Come from Away), and Jane Lynch (Glee).
“I am blown away by this Audible Original based off my graphic work, Dykes to Watch Out For,” Bechdel, who also wrote Fun Home and Are You My Mother?, said. “It’s such a great gift to hear the characters and their world come to life on audio, talking and kvetching and playing softball and going to marches. Often when I was drawing the comic strip I would wish it could have the extra dimension of a sound track—and now it does.”
The Audible version of the comics was adapted by playwright and Pulitzer-Prize finalist Madeleine George (Only Murders in the Building), directed by Tony nominee Leigh Silverman (Violet), and features original music by Alana Davis, Faith Soloway, and Bitch. Its soundtrack includes hits by Ferron, Holly Near, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Cris Williamson, and Joan Jett.
Bechdel said the project was the brainchild of Audible’s editor-at-large Susie Bright.
“I’m forever indebted to Susie Bright — the project is her brainchild, and her world class team made up of playwright Madeleine George, director Leigh Silverman, and the incredible cast of Jane Lynch, Carrie Brownstein, Roberta Colindrez and Roxane Gay,” Bechdel shared. “I’m absolutely speechless. Fortunately, these actors have plenty to say, and they do so with dykely aplomb.”
George said that when she was just coming out, Dykes to Watch Out For gave her comfort.
“When I was young and freshly out, I pored over my paperback copies of Dykes to Watch Out For, dreaming that I would one day get to live in a world as progressive, funny, sexy, and frankly dykey as the incredible community Alison Bechdel created,” the show writer said. “Spending time immersed in this world has been like getting to move into my dream world. To hear the beloved characters — Mo, Clarice, Toni, and Lois — brought to life by this gang of superstars has been too good to be true.”
She added, “Alison Bechdel’s Dykes to Watch Out For is smart and political and just great storytelling — like Charles Dickens meets Audre Lorde, with a dash of lesbian pulp fiction thrown in. I can't wait for the world to hear it.”
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