Jayson: Best of the 80s
In order to fully appreciate the contribution that Jayson made to the 1980s, it’s important to look back on the other gay comics of the time. Most of them seemed to be either highly oversexed or heavily political at the expense of character development, or rehashes of the same lame stereotypical jokes again and again. There were some bright spots, but at least to a comic book geek just coming out at the time, they weren’t anything to inspire a devoted readership.
“Jayson,” however, was different. There was some sex (although never explicit), some politics, and of course, some stereotyping, but more importantly, there were a small group of characters that the reader got to know and love: Jayson, his roommate Arena Stage, his ex-boyfriend Walter, and his flamboyantly gender-bending pornography-producing friend Robyn Ricketts. Many of the stories followed common gay milestones: coming out to the parents, finding (and losing) the boyfriend, and (the unfortunately all too common) helping the friend with AIDS. Others, such as a retelling of the First Christmas in gay terms, or a costumed superhero caper minus any superpowers, offered flights of fancy grounded by a little political satire.
“Jayson” creator Jeff Krell says in his introduction to this first collection that Jayson was initially an outlet for his frustration, “a pictorial diary of my post-college journey.” Although he says that this “best of” collection contains none of his early “six-panel…rants”, a bit of that frustration still shows through, but often realized through razor-sharp wit. However, some of Krell’s most poignant work lets the anger and sadness show through even more directly. One of these moments occurs when Jayson calls his mother on Mother’s Day and she informs him that he’s dead to her because he’s gay, but that she still misses him.
Another of these moments manages to juxtapose the humor with the frustration when Steven, the young and scrawny twink character, suddenly finds the strength to throw Robyn and Jayson out of the apartment of their friend with AIDS, chastising them for their selfishness. The drawing and action is hysterical, but Steven’s words cut deep into the characters, resulting in a touching moment of friendship between two characters whose relationship mostly revolves around bitchiness and sexual innuendo.
There’s certainly plenty of implied sex in “Jayson”, as well as plenty of strong language, yet the cartoon maintains a certain innocence that has caused it to be compared to the “Archie” comics series. The style of Krell’s early drawings have a somewhat “Archie” feel to them as well, although early versions of the characters come off as somewhat flatter on the page than the later-developed drawings. This isn’t to say the artwork is bad. In fact, it is somewhat of a treat to see the stylistic development of the characters over their first decade summed up in this 96-page volume.
The innocence of the cartoons reflects the unflappable optimism of its central duo, Jayson and his roommate Arena. No matter how many fights they have, how many boyfriends they lose, or how many struggles with parental disapproval they have to overcome, they manage to keep putting themselves in ever-wackier situations, even as they learn from their past experiences. It’s a tough balance to maintain, but Krell succeeds brilliantly, letting the characters grow over the years while still keeping true to their sit-comic roots.
While by no means a comprehensive collection, “Jayson: Best of the 80s” has been edited to provide the dramatic highlights of the character story arcs. A minor quibble with the format: the one-page cartoons don’t have titles at the top, which makes a casual flip to find the beginning of some of the shorter pieces difficult. However, the table of contents, a rarity in comic book collections, mostly makes up for this shortcoming.
The Best of the 80s collection takes Jayson through pursuing his ex Walter, dating (and losing) Rod, keeping the peace between his rival best friends Arena and Robyn, coming out to his parents, and attempting to marry his roommate in a crazy plan for them to capitalize on her parents’ desperation to see her wed. The collection ends on a cliffhanger, with Arena angrily leaving for New York City, and Jayson’s mother leaving his father, but fortunately the simultaneously-released “Best of the 90s” continues the story.
If you’re old enough to remember gay comics from the 1980s, “Jayson” is among the best of them. And if you were a comic book geek in the 1980s, then Jayson’s nerdy pursuit of gay happiness may strike a chord of familiarity in you. But even if you don’t remember the 80s, or even if you’re not a comic book geek, these collections will still entertain you with stories whose merits transcend the decade in which they were written.
$9.95, softcover, Ignite! Entertainment
