Little Stranger

Fake (Gaylord Phoenix) presents a striking, occasionally scatological collection of his short comics and drawings from recent years, culled from various zines and underground publications. Employing concise imagery and minimal text, and through symbology and analogy, Fake examines sex and gender with generous amounts of sly, irreverent humor. In the three-part “Foie Gras,” Fake substitutes images of food and food preparation for sexual acts and genitalia, while in “LA Silence,” a trip to a wellness center brings up post–gender-confirmation surgery issues in an unsettling fashion. In the one-page “Anal Sex for Perverts,” a drawing of a shell with a pink opening carries the caption: “Before I ask say yes.” Other more cryptic pieces require some work from readers to puzzle out, but that’s just part of the fun of Fake’s oeuvre: his comics maintain a playfully naughty mystery. (Appropriately, the book is dedicated in part to “the Queerdos out there.”) Fake deconstructs gender and human anatomy, sex and desire, then puts them back together again, on his own messy, artful terms. This provocative graphic collection pushes boundaries, and then breaks them open. (July)