What We Love: RuPaul Comic Book
You may have seen RuPaul’s Drag Race, but you haven’t seen anything like this before. RuPaul Andre Charles may be best known for his drag, but the queen bee of reality TV will be featured in the latest issue of Bluewater Productions’ Female Force biography comic series.
Female Force: RuPaul, in stores in July, follows the self-described “Supermodel of the World” from his early days as a struggling musician and dancer through to his first big break as a gender-bender in the B52’s “Love Shack” video.
“RuPaul is bigger-than-life and can hardly be contained in the pages of a traditional comic,” says Bluewater President Darren G. Davis. “That’s why we expanded this issue to 40 pages.”
The decision to feature a male figure in the female-centric comic book series stems from RuPaul’s refusal to be addressed as either. “He is comfortable in his own skin and is happy to let anyone within earshot know that,” he says. “The fact he chooses his public persona to be female, emphasizes that he stays true to his own concept of self. And that solidifies RuPaul as a female force.”
The issue, written by Michael Troy and penciled by Nathan Girten, also delves into RuPaul’s personal life as an openly gay performer and his many public trials and tribulations including the 1993 furor in upstaging legendary comic Milton Berle on live TV. The comic also discusses his cult-like following and famous reality show.
“I have been a huge RuPaul fan for years,” says Troy, “and I sashayed at the chance to be part of bringing him to comics.”
Female Force has also featured Michelle Obama, Hillary Clinton, Madonna, Cher, Oprah Winfrey, Stephenie Meyer, JK Rowling, Barbara Walters and many other notable women. But RuPaul is the first female illusionist to grace its pages.
