This adventure in roommate relations starts because Nathan wants to keep his beautiful, three-bedroom apartment in the heart of New York's fashionable Chelsea district. Nathan's longtime lover has died, and Nathan can't manage the rent solo, so he advertises for roommates. Along comes Sky, a sweet, naïve hunk just entering art school. He's joined by Soirée, a fierce, fabulous drag queen, as the third boarder. Chelsea Boys
explores the tensions, traumas and tedium of sharing living space through a homosexual lens. Among the exploits: Nathan tentatively checks out the dating scene, but breaks up with his new lover after the guy can't see the transcendence of Barbra Streisand; Soirée tells of his struggles with his parents (after a fight during his adolescence, they kicked him out of the house for being gay and never took him back); Sky horrifies the gang by having sex with a woman during Gay Pride weekend; Nathan is asked to be a sperm donor for the lesbian couple downstairs. The gay situation comedy continues, drawn with strong, b&w lines. Hanson and Neuwirth never saw a dirty joke they didn't like (or a bulging crotch they'd hesitate to render), but this work is so good-natured and fun-filled, readers might struggle to remember that the content may be too strong for some readers (certainly young ones). The lessons of shared humanity are appropriate for all ages, though, and they're served up in such a frothy plot and masterful depiction that the medicine is almost entirely disguised by the massive spoonful of sugar. (Sept.)
