The Last Gay Man on Earth: A Photo Comic

Dutch cartoonist Driessen makes his English-language debut with a witty fotonovela memoir sprinkled with flights of fancy. Anxious about everything from aging to clubbing to letting strangers find out he’s gay, harangued by a bickering angel and devil on his shoulders, and convinced that “if one thing is going my way, another thing has to go wrong,” Driessen fantasizes about being alone on a deserted Earth where no one can make him take risks. When his boyfriend Nicky invites him on a trip to the U.S., Driessen is forced out of his comfort zone. The photo comic format, in which snapshots of the author and his friends are overlaid with word balloons, creates an initial sense of disconnect from the characters, but it’s easy to get into the affable story and Driessen keeps things visually compelling with carefully constructed sight gags and collage-based dream sequences. Among other self-referential jokes, he depicts himself staging scenes for the comic and confesses that he’s comfortable taking his shirt off because he can Photoshop himself for the book. It’s both a frank and funny slice of queer life and a fresh take on comics autobiography. (June)