CAVALCADE OF BOYS

Cavalcade of Boys #1-3

by Tim Fish

The CAVALCADE OF BOYS trade paperbacks collect every issue of the soapy gay romance comic book series by Tim Fish. This nearly 600 page set includes CAVALCADE stories created for other anthologies, and exclusive material as well. Acclaimed by comic critics, professionals, and fans as "real" and "honest," CAVALCADE chronicles the adventures of a group of gay men in and out of the bedroom. Volume 1 launches the series, and introduces lonely heart Tighe, high-energy Warren, starved-for-attention Navy boy Eddie and many more, as they compete for each other's attention, romance, and love.

Genres: Comics, Queer, Fiction

552 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2006

About the author

American writer, artist, and writer/artist of comic book short stories, graphic novels, and one play. Currently based in Ireland under a Fulbright grant to research his upcoming projects.

Reviews

[P. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Reminded me of the comforting soap(opera)y fun I felt watching Queer As Folk.

It's a product of its time so there is bi-phobia in it, the end of Gordon was particularly mean-spirited, I thought, considering he wasn't more of a jerk than any of the other characters(for example: how Stan got Eddie to stay), just fatter (which I guess is a sin in this universe), and it's overwhelmingly white and cis-male (weirdly the women are all really femme, no butch representation).

It's also a very addictive, lightly funny slice of life/romance/social drama of gay men and I really liked seeing Fish's art get better and better until the characters become more "themselves" and the storylines embrace a complexity of emotion and life. The fashions brought me back, too.

[Erik · Rating 5 out of 5]

Imagine a (gay) comics fan-boy like me who hasn’t read one whit a single gay genre comic book? Say it ain’t so! Well, I’ve now officially purchased and completed Fish’s hefty collection of his long-running Cavalcade of Boys, and loved every single adorably trashy moment. (Oh, and let’s set the record straight – so to speak – on the gay comics front: These things are hard to come by domestically; with the exception of the two-boys-in-love manga subgenre that is specifically written for the teenage girl crowd over in the land of the rising sun.)

Cavalcade is less a one plot-line comic, and more a discursive multi-plot romp through the lives of nearly two dozen gay men of all shapes, sizes, and colors -- mostly set in an unidentified and fictitious SoCal urban locale. The sexual escapades may make the modest blush, but the humor and psychological insights into our basic yearning for love, attention, and affection is not just universal, but a heck of a lot more entertaining than any of the drivel the writers of Queer as Folk dished out.

Moreover, Fish’s pen and inks are an extremely eye-pleasing style akin to the best of The Savage Dragon’s Erik Larsen and indie great Jim Mahfood -- with a dash of manga facial expressions for good measure. Think adorably cute guys with great hair, strong eyes and brows, and broad shoulders. His cast of regulars include some of the hottest guys this (gay) side of the Fantastic Four’s Johnny Storm. (All I need next is to get one of them – preferably the college jock Sam -- into some skin-tight superhero togs. That would be sweet, now, wouldn’t it?)

I can truly say that I now know how it’s possible to fall in love with a comic-book character. Reading comics has never been sweeter.

[Broodingferret · Rating 4 out of 5]

Talk about a surprise. I ordered this off the Net expecting a passably cute and entertaining piece of queer fluff and instead found myself in possession of one of the best executed graphic novels I've ever read. Fish does an excellent job of creating many complex and engaging characters that grow and develop in believable ways. He also positively nails a number of queer archetypes that anyone who has spent any time in the gay scene would recognize instantly, shading them with just enough emotional complexity to drive home the point that even those who we may view as walking stereotypes are multidimensional humans and are anything but simple. I found myself genuinely caring about many of the characters in this book and felt more than one tug of sympathy as the various storylines unfolded. A necessary addition to any graphic novel collect, regardless of the collector's sexual orientation.

[Adam Dunn · Rating 1 out of 5]

Couldn't follow it.
The plot jumps all over the place with no explanation. You turn the page and there's a new story or a new character or the same story on a later date or a later time. Very disjointed. Story just seems to be about average guys dating and their lives but not enough to pull me in and the jumping happened so often, I would just figure out where and when and who the book was talking about and then it would jump again!

[Jdetrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm so torn about Tim Fish and his work. I like his artwork, yet everyone looks very similar and they're hard to tell apart. His stories are breezy and fun, but they're also somewhat superficial and his characters are rather thin. He tends to tell the same stereotypical stories with the same stereotypical gay characters. It's not bad, but it could be so much better.

[Jacob Dougherty · Rating 3 out of 5]

A fun soap opera romp through the lives of several gay characters. The situations the characters were in seemed a little stereotypical, but the cast was diverse and the art is well-done.

[Timothy]

From AfterElton.com: "Endearing characters and compelling storylines to go with Fish’s energetic, emotive art."