White Like She

by Bob Fingerman

The creator of the critically-acclaimed Minimum Wage series, Bob Fingerman has written and drawn an uneasy satirical portrait of life in the 90's. The story has to do with a middle-aged African-American getting his brain transplanted in the body of a radical-left Jewish teenager.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics

96 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1998

About the author

Recent releases are From the Ashes, a satirical "speculative memoir" set in post-apocalyptic New York (IDW, March 2010) of which The Onion wrote, “As a blitz of astringent satire, an unabashed love letter to his wife, and a love-hate manifesto aimed at the whole human race, From The Ashes is a gem; as an addition to the often-staid canon of post-apocalyptic pop culture, it’s a revelation… A“

In August 2010 my second novel, Pariah (Tor Books), a Pinteresque zombie tale, was released. It rec'd a starred review from Publishers Weekly and an A- from Entertainment Weekly and was Fangoria's Book of the Month selection. The mass market pocket edition came out in 2011.

My most recent release is the deluxe oversized hardcover collection Maximum Minimum Wage, from Image Comics (April 2013), which made Entertainment Weekly's Must List and received a starred review from Publishers Weekly.

Reviews

[XenofoneX · Rating 1 out of 5]

'White Like She' was one of the worst things Dark Horse ever published. Then it was one of the worst things Fantagraphics ever published. Now it's one of the worst books Image has ever published. That's really saying something, because Image used to be the place where bad comics went to die. Now that they've rehabilitated their reputation and claimed a larger share of the comics market, they're apparently feeling all magnanimous and whatnot… resuscitating great indie titles like 'Stray Bullets', and resurrecting the occasional atrocity that deserved to stay dead -- i.e. 'White Like She'. I hate to be so negative about all this glorious rehabilitating, resuscitating and resurrecting, but saying nice things about 'WLS' would be a great disservice to, umm... humanity? Sure.

HEY! Remember the NINETIES?

Okay, Image has published comics far worse than 'White Like She'; I'd need to give out negative star ratings for this Rob Liefeld shit:

"Gasp! He's got a perfectly flat crotch! I'm staring directly at it and I'm telling you, 'Supreme' has no penis!" * "My god, you're right! Wait, why are you looking at his crotch?"

The chance to see the world through different eyes is part of the appeal of comics, but not every POV is appealing. Or interesting. Despite his obvious talent, I've found Bob Fingerman's perspective to be reliably nauseating. This is probably the best example of Fingerman at his worst: an idiotic plot about a middle-aged black janitor who has his brain transplanted into the body of a young white woman... supposedly, this is a device for fearlessly exploring issues of race AND gender. Unfortunately, Fingerman has fuck-all to say of relevance on either subject.





In case my diplomatic equivocating has left things unclear... I'll clarify: 'White Like She' is utter shit. It's clumsy handling of fragile and potentially toxic material, and citing the 60's shock-comix of Crumb or S. Clay Wilson as precedent doesn't work. They're no justification for this unfunny, superficial nonsense from the 90's. It's not interesting, the comedy is DOA, and examining his artwork feels like having old coffee grounds tossed into my eyes. My retinal fluid has been irrevocably contaminated. Maybe I'll give Fingerman's comics yet another try, but only after he's swapped brains with a young black woman.

(After considering... that was harsh. I hated 'White Like She', but it's unfair to dismiss all his work. It's not my thing, obviously, and the book annoyed me. I'll leave it at that.)

[Sooraya Evans · Rating 2 out of 5]

At the end, I loved how it all came full circle.
But I was somewhat surprised by how quickly both of the gender-swapped characters accepted their new identity as the opposite sex. I was expecting more conflict as they go through adjustments, etc...
Overall, this felt like one of those lousy Rob Schneider movies.

[Titas · Rating 1 out of 5]

A failed attempt to handle gender and race issues with a over the top plot and ridiculous characters. A middle-aged black janitor's brain gets transplanted in a young white woman's body. It sounds already horrible and the too big to comprehend speech bubbles did not help.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Ange Louise · Rating 1 out of 5]

Yikes... Bought this many many _many_ years ago, never got around to reading it. I was scared it would be awful, and unfortunately I was right. Created and written by a white man, we read from the perspectives of lesbian teenagers and a middle aged black man. I mean.. Where could this go wrong?😅 This was an accident waiting to happen and i am very very happy this book was written in the nineties and not in the last 10 years. Because the world did become a better place, thank fuck!😊 And this would never be published anymore.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bob Fingerman's 'White Like She' is a comic from another time. Specifically the 1990s and that shows a litte in the zany, over the top story.

I'm not sure how to give a synopsis without wrecking this, so bare with me and my slight spoilers. When middle-aged black man Luther Joyce finds himself in a workplace accident that leaves him deformed, his job just wants to do away with him and cover up his death. Luther wants to explore other options, so he finds a way to transfer his brain into a Jewish teenage white girl's body. I think that's all you get, which is about what the publisher's synopsis might give.

The humor and violence are over the top. I liked the garish and ugly art, but I had a hard time seeing the remade Luther as a teenage girl. The character looked quite a bit older, but I think that's the style of the art. Maybe it's a reflection of the original character or her lifestyle. Poor Luther finds himself in a strange new world trying to figure out how best to survive. The humor at times is pretty juvenile, and the story is absurdly strange. It's at least an R-rated story, so definitely not for everyone. I enjoyed Bob Fingerman's 'Minimum Wage' last month and liked seeing another early work by him here. The extras show the early evolution of the story with some different story elements. I liked this glimpse of the creative process. I liked it, but it's definitely kind of a weird B-movie sort of ride.

I received a review copy of this graphic novel from Diamond Book Distributors, Image Comics and NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you for allowing me to review this graphic novel.

[Theediscerning · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, well well! Having been a little underwhelmed by the sub-Pekar ideas within Fingerman's more recent Minimum Wage volume, this was a blast from his past that really made me rate the man a lot more. There's a Crumb style wackiness and sensible approach to being politically incorrect, when a rejected near-corpse from a nuclear accident turns up at a brain transplant clinic, and by force of accident and nature ends up in the body of a lesbian activist. Cue social japes as the man and his incredibly ugly new body and her incredibly ugly 'girlfriend' have to work out what the future holds. There're looks at sexism, there's not much about racism, but there is a lot of entertainment all round, and the characters are on the whole absurd and a little sympathetic – especially a second scientist added to the mix with a major sup-plot. The great artwork goes some way to disguise just how visually unattractive all the people are, and we're with them all the way. The book was let down by the bluntly open ending, but has redeemed itself with this edition by the original short story version, where the reject was doubly unfortunate, and original drafts with many alternative chapter endings. Without delving into Wikipedia and seeing the derivation, social background and reaction to this book I can see that it must have been a source of near-riotous glee in some circles, and the bravura it has means the intervening years will hardly have diminished that response.

[Imillar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Just your everyday story of how a black man's brain is transplanted into the body of a lesbian teenage radical activist. The best satire I've read in a long time, and an absolutely hilarious skewering of every sex and gender stereotype going. The cover of this new edition gives you an idea of its pulp charm, and I love how no cow is too sacred to take a stab at. But there's a some great social criticism in here to balance out the levity. I guess this is sort of like the bastard lovechild of Tarantino and Robert Crumb.

[HeavyReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't tell you too much about this book without spoiling the good parts. It is action packed and exciting, but it also raises interesting questions about race, gender, and class. It has an unusual story line, was fun to read, and made me think.

[Derek Royal · Rating 3 out of 5]

An early work from Fingerman. It's like he's trying to find his voice here, uncertain what kind of story to tell. Good, but it reads like it could be baked a little longer.

[Xian Xian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Review later.