Joe the Pirate: The Life and Times of Marion Barbara Carstairs

Outrageous queer socialite and boat racer Marion Barbara “Joe” Carstairs (1900–1993) roars to life in this fearless and seductive graphic biography from late Angouleme winner Hubert, creator of Darkly She Goes, and animator Augustin. “I came out of the womb queer,” proclaims Carstairs, who locks horns with her wealthy and dysfunctional English family. She’s delighted to be shipped off to America, where she’s inducted into the gay culture of 1920s New York City by Oscar Wilde’s niece, who also deflowers her. In the Big Apple, she indulges her passions for wild parties, fast vehicles, and beautiful women. (Her famous conquests include Tallulah Bankhead and Marlene Dietrich.) Though she presents so butch that her rare efforts to dress like a woman come off as drag, she doesn’t identify as a man because “pretending to be one is much more fun.” In an especially bizarre frenzy, she buys an island in the Bahamas and sets herself up as its benevolent dictator. Here, Carstairs’s charm tarnishes: her treatment of the islanders is racist and condescending, and she hosts the fascist Duke and Duchess of Windsor during WWII. Augustin’s stylish visual nods to Art Deco designers and early New Yorker cartoonists like Gluyas Williams give the account spot-on period vibes. This rollicking history captures the spirit of its subject, whose motto was “Life’s too short to be bored.” (Feb.)