Chelsea Boys

by Glen Hanson, Glen Hanson (Illustrator), Howard Cruise (Foreword)

Chelsea Boys is the first collection of Glen Hanson and Allan Neuwirth’s popular syndicated comic strip that appears in magazines, newspapers, and websites throughout the U.S., Canada, and the U.K. The strip follows the often outrageous antics, wild sexcapades, and everyday heartbreaks of three gay roommates, as different as can be from one another, living together in a three bedroom apartment in the heart of New York’s trendy Chelsea cuddly Nathan, a short, neurotic forty-something native New Yorker; gorgeous, buff Sky, a naive yet deeply spiritual art student raised on a farming commune in Canada; and the fabulous black club diva Soirée, who masks his inner pain with a rapier wit and outrageous style. Filled with humor, humanity, and wry observations on life in a modern setting, Chelsea Boys presents a family you’ve never seen before, and storytelling that speaks the truth rather than playing to stereotypes. Glen Hanson , a native of Toronto, is an internationally acclaimed designer, illustrator, writer, and art director. His award-winning work has appeared in Entertainment Weekly, Newsweek, MTV, Comedy Central, VH-1, Vogue, The New York Times , and Maxim . His character designs have been seen on animated shows such as Beetlejuice and Daria , and he designed the album cover for Blink 182’s The Enema Strikes Back . Allan Neuwirth , a native New Yorker, writes, produces, directs, and designs for a wide variety of media, with a strong emphasis on comedy and animation. His host of writing credits includes Courage, the Cowardly Dog , Gadget and the Gadgetinis , Toonsylvania , and Dragon Tales . Together, the men have written stories for DC Comic’s Cartoon Network comic books, designed characters for Hoppin’ Jon, an independent animated short, and collaborated on Wonder Woman vs. The Red Menace for DC Comics.

Genres: LGBT, Graphic Novels

109 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2003

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 3 out of 5]

I gave this a shot even though the exaggerated-anatomy cartoon style is not to my usual taste. The comics are humorous, sometimes touching, often hard-hitting in a constructive way (such as the "funny" racist comments of two of the three characters and how their roommate responds) and just darn good.
Nathan, Sky and Soiree seem like stereotypes at first but show they're more than that, especially Sky and Soiree/Delroy. I even got to appreciate the quality of the artistic style!

This made me 'homesick' for working-and-playing-in-Manhattan days and the diversity in the metro NY area.

[Ije the Devourer of Books · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very entertaining set of comic strips.