Career
A long-time resident of San Francisco, [1] Robert Triptow was one of the earliest contributors to Kitchen Sink Press' anthology Gay Comix, beginning with issue #2. He succeeded Howard Cruse as editor of the series, [2] editing issues #5 through #13 (1984–1991). During this time he edited the 1989 anthology Gay Comics, one of the earliest histories of the subject, [3] which won the first Lambda Literary Award for Humor. He also co-edited and contributed to the HIV-research fund-raising and educational anthology Strip AIDS U.S.A. (1988) with Trina Robbins & Bill Sienkiewicz. [4]
As a journalist, Triptow has contributed to The Advocate , The Bay Area Reporter , Frontiers , The San Francisco Sentinel , and other West Coast LGBT publications. [5]
In 1978, as the assistant to the publisher of The Advocate, David B. Goodstein, Triptow was close to the heart of the historic events “during the year of Harvey Milk.” [1]
Triptow received his title as "the last of the underground cartoonists" at WonderCon when asked whether he considered Gay Comix to be alternative or underground. [6] Lee Marrs, standing witness to the question, asked Triptow if he starved while living in the Haight-Ashbury district of San Francisco, to which he answered yes. It was then that Marrs coined his title. This conversation was filmed and circulated widely via the internet. [7]
In 2009, Triptow announced his plans to relaunch Gay Comics as a series of trade paperbacks under a new publisher, hoping to begin gathering comics for the collection by the end of the year. [8] These plans were confirmed by Triptow in 2013, adding that he wants it serve as "a platform for all the queer cartoonists," [9] however, no such series has reached publication yet.
In 2015, he released Class Photo, which has been described as a wryly comedic graphic novel imagining short biographies for the individuals depicted in a 1937 school group photograph. [1]
Personal life
Born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, Robert Triptow considers himself a "late bloomer" in the gay community as he did not come out until his mid-20s. [1] Triptow had no exposure to alternative cartooning until a junior high journalism field trip to Brigham Young University, where he discovered the works of cartoonists Jules Feiffer, Gilbert Shelton, and R. Crumb in the school's book store. [10] This prompted him to begin cartooning, creating a rift between him and his conservative parents as they deemed the nature of his queer-themed comics pornographic and sinful. [7] Triptow commonly references his home state's dense Mormon population, noting he was often considered an outsider as a non-Mormon in Utah. Triptow broke away from his family in 1971, the same year he found the photograph which inspired Class Photo. [11]
Triptow moved from Salt Lake City to San Francisco on Halloween of 1977. [7]
He is married to William Blakely. [12]
Notable works
Strip AIDS U.S.A.
Robert Triptow became involved in Strip AIDS U.S.A. (1988) when invited onto the fundraiser as co-editor by Trina Robbins, who felt unable to complete the project by herself as a heterosexual. Triptow then brought other cartoonists from Gay Comics onto the team, [13] resulting in 136 pages contributed by over 50 different artists.
Triptow's two-page comic titled "Needs" appears in the last half of Strip AIDS U.S.A between "The Quilt" by Donelan and an untitled comic by Sharon Rudahl . Triptow considers his piece one of few in the compilation to portray an individual living with AIDS. [14] The comic features a man named Joe with a male suitor whom he romantically declines on multiple occasions until the end when the two are shown together as Joe is dying of AIDS. The comic has a dedication written underneath the last panel which reads, “for Peter, Mickey, Spig & Rig, John, Steve, Vince, Joah, Raven, Tom, Hippler, and too many others.” [15] In 2008 only one of the individuals listed in this dedication was still alive, according to Triptow. [16]
Class Photo
Class Photo (2015) is Robert Triptow's first solo book venture. The comic consists of illustrated, fictionalized outcomes of each individual posing for a black and white 1937 class photograph labeled "Public School 49" from Brooklyn, New York, which Triptow found with his uncle as college students under a pile of garbage in their hometown of Salt Lake City. Triptow kept the photo, hanging it on a wall in his home to laugh at with house-guests for over 20 years. [12] In 2009 a cancer diagnosis motivated Triptow to finalize the project and proceed with publication. [11] [17]
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