Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist is an alternative comic written and drawn by Diane DiMassa published 1991–1998. It features the title character generally wreaking violent vengeance on male oppressors. Recurring characters include Hothead's cat Chicken, her wise mystical friend Roz, a talking lamp, and her lover Daphne.[1][2]
Publication
The series began in 1991, published under the imprint Giant Ass Publishing, run by DiMassa's partner, Stacy Sheehan. The series ran for 21 issues, ending in 1998, and were collected and published as two volumes: Hothead Paisan and The Revenge of Hothead Paisan. These volumes were later combined and republished with a 10-page introduction to the main character as a 428-page trade paperbackThe Complete Hothead Paisan.[3]
Hothead
According to Gabrielle Dean, the character of Hothead represents a "phallicized dyke" who is "at the mercy of her own rage against society, which she expresses by castrating men who are exaggerated stand-ins for the patriarchal order".[4] Hothead has changed into a wolf and her hands have become chainsaws. Kim Hall states that Hothead "is an image of feminist resistance that does not rest on purity."[5]
^Dimassa, Diane (1999). The Complete Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. San Francisco: Cleis Press. p. 10. ISBN978-1-57344-084-4.
^Dean, Gabrielle (1997). "The "Phallacies" of Dyke Comic Strips". In Foster, Thomas; Siegel, Carol; Berry, Ellen E. (eds.). The gay '90s : disciplinary and interdisciplinary formations in queer studies. New York, N.Y.: New York University Press. p. 208. ISBN978-0-8147-2673-0.
Dimassa, Diane (1999). The Complete Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist. San Francisco, CA.: Cleis Press. ISBN978-1573440844.
Frueh, Joanna and Fierstein, Laurie. "Comments on the Comics", in Frueh, Joanna; Fierstein, Laurie; Stein, Judith, eds. (2000). Picturing the Modern Amazon. New York: Rizzoli: New Museum Books. ISBN978-0847822478.
Heller, Dana A. (1993). "Hothead Paisan: Clearing a Space for Lesbian Feminist Folklore". New York Folklore. 19 (1–2): 27–44.
Queen, Robin M. "'I Don't Speak Spritch': Locating Lesbian Language", in Livia, Anna; Hall, Kira, eds. (1997). Queerly Phrased: Language, Gender, and Sexuality. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN978-0195104707.
