Synopsis
Art and story combine powerfully in this lyrical tale of a young man caught in the maelstrom of the civil rights movement and the systematic homophobia of small-town America. Told in flashback, this is the story of Toland Polk, the son of an uneducated white carpenter who has grown up in the Southern town of Clayfield. It is the 1960s, a time of passionate beliefs and violent emotions, and Clayfield's citizens are divided in the fight over segregation. As Toland fights on the side of the civil rights activists, he slowly begins to realize -- and try to deny -- that he is gay. With a subtle yet intricate plot, and distinctively evocative illustrations, Stuck Rubber Baby is an unflinchingly honest look at one man's world of fears, dreams and prejudice.
The Washington Post - Dennis Drabelle
If occasionally Stuck Rubber Baby seems almost too ambitious for its own good, we should keep in mind what it commemorates. There wasn't a lot of subtlety to the heroism and villainy of the civil rights era in the South, and for that reason comic-strip art may be especially well suited to evoking it. Stuck Rubber Baby makes for a gripping way to revisit those lurid days.