AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia)
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AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia) was a 76-page one-off comics anthology published by Mad Love in 1988.[1]
The comic was designed to aid the fight against Clause 28, which was a controversial amendment to the Local Government Act 1988, a British law which was designed to outlaw the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. At that time Alan Moore, who was in a relationship with his wife and their girlfriend, felt that the law was heterosexist and that it would obviously affect them personally. To help their fight Moore formed Mad Love, his own publishing company, to release AARGH. The publication raised $17,000 for Britain's Organisation for Lesbian and Gay Action.[1][2]
The title was a mixed collection of almost 40 stories, mostly comics with some text pieces. Many of the pieces were satiric, and explored themes such as the persecution of homosexuals, morality police, homosexuals in history, and parallels between homophobia and fascism.[1]
Moore himself contributed an eight-page story called "The Mirror of Love", with Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch[1] providing art. Other creators included David Lloyd, Robert Crumb,[2] Howard Cruse, Hunt Emerson, Neil Gaiman,[2] Dave Gibbons, Los Bros Hernandez,[3] Garry Leach, Dave McKean, Frank Miller,[2] Harvey Pekar, Savage Pencil, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Sim,[1] Posy Simmonds, Art Spiegelman,[1] Alexei Sayle, and Bryan Talbot.
Clause 28 was eventually repealed in 2003. Moore has also reworked "The Mirror of Love" with illustrator José Villarrubia for Top Shelf Productions.
References[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f Rothschild, D. Aviva (15 April 1995). Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-Length Comics. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-313-07991-7.
- ^ a b c d DiPaolo, Marc (10 January 2014). War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film. McFarland. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-7864-8579-6.
- ^ del Barco, Mandalit (23 November 2022). "'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy, Latinx, alternative comics". NPR. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
External links[edit]
- The Mirror of Love at Top Shelf
- Bryan Talbot's contribution to AARGH! at the official Bryan Talbot fanpage
- AARGH page at MooreReppion.com[dead link] (AARGHs for sale with all money going to Stonewall)
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