AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia)

AARGH (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia) was a 76-page one-off comics anthology published by Mad Love in 1988.[1]

AARGH! (Artists Against Rampant Government Homophobia)
Cover to AARGH! Art by Dave McKean.
Publication information
PublisherMad Love
FormatOne-shot
Publication dateMarch 1988
No. of issues1
Creative team
Written byAlan Moore
David Lloyd
Neil Gaiman
Bryan Talbot
Dave Sim
Groc
Geoff Ryman
Alexei Sayle
Hunt Emerson
Sue Hyde
David Leach
Dave Gibbons
Dave Thorpe
David Shenton
Charles Shaar Murray
Posy Simmonds
Dick Foreman
Roz Kaveney
Garry Leach
Howard Cruse
Bill Sienkiewicz
Harvey Pekar
Art Spiegelman
Kevin O'Neill
Steven Appleby
Kate Charlesworth
Jennie Wilson
Lisa Power
Izzy Islam
Robert Crumb
Brian Bolland
Dominic Regan
Savage Pencil
Phil Elliott
Tony Reeves
Frank Miller
Kathy Acker
Jamie Delano
Mark Vicars
Joyce Brabner
Debbie Delano
Phyllis Moore
Artist(s)Steve Bissette
David Lloyd
Rick Veitch
Dave Gibbons
Groc
Grahame Baker
Oscar Zarate
Hunt Emerson
David Leach
Lin Jammet
David Shenton
Floyd Hughes
Posy Simmonds
Dick Foreman
Graham Higgins
Garry Leach
Howard Cruse
Bill Sienkiewicz
Joe Zabel
Gary Dumm
Art Spiegelman
Kevin O'Neill
Steven Appleby
Bryan Talbot
Mark Buckingham
Kate Charlesworth
Dave Sim
Gerhard
Izzy Islam
Robert Crumb
Brian Bolland
Dominic Regan
Savage Pencil
Phil Elliot
Tony Reeves
Frank Miller
Shane Oakley
Denys Howard
Jaime Hernandez
Gilbert Hernandez
Letterer(s)David Lloyd
Groc
Dave Gibbons
Hunt Emerson
David Leach
Lin Jammet
David Shenton
Floyd Hughes
Posy Simmonds
Dick Foreman
Graham Higgins
Garry Leach
Howard Cruse
Bill Sienkiewicz
Gary Dumm
Art Spiegelman
Steven Appleby
Steve Cradock
Kate Charlesworth
Izzy Islam
Robert Crumb
Brian Bolland
Dominic Regan
Savage Pencil
Phil Elliott
Tony Reeves
Frank Miller
Tom Frame
Editor(s)Debbie Delano
Phyllis Moore
Collected editions
Aargh!ISBN 0-9513726-0-2

The comic was designed to aid the fight against Clause 28, which was a controversial amendment to the Local Government Act 1988, a British law which was designed to outlaw the "promotion of homosexuality" by local authorities. At that time Alan Moore, who was in a relationship with his wife and their girlfriend, felt that the law was heterosexist and that it would obviously affect them personally. To help their fight Moore formed Mad Love, his own publishing company, to release AARGH. The publication raised $17,000 for Britain's Organisation for Lesbian and Gay Action.[1][2]

The title was a mixed collection of almost 40 stories, mostly comics with some text pieces. Many of the pieces were satiric, and explored themes such as the persecution of homosexuals, morality police, homosexuals in history, and parallels between homophobia and fascism.[1]

Moore himself contributed an eight-page story called "The Mirror of Love", with Steve Bissette and Rick Veitch[1] providing art. Other creators included David Lloyd, Robert Crumb,[2] Howard Cruse, Hunt Emerson, Neil Gaiman,[2] Dave Gibbons, Los Bros Hernandez,[3] Garry Leach, Dave McKean, Frank Miller,[2] Harvey Pekar, Savage Pencil, Bill Sienkiewicz, Dave Sim,[1] Posy Simmonds, Art Spiegelman,[1] Alexei Sayle, and Bryan Talbot.

Clause 28 was eventually repealed in 2003. Moore has also reworked "The Mirror of Love" with illustrator José Villarrubia for Top Shelf Productions.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f Rothschild, D. Aviva (15 April 1995). Graphic Novels: A Bibliographic Guide to Book-Length Comics. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 59. ISBN 978-0-313-07991-7.
  2. ^ a b c d DiPaolo, Marc (10 January 2014). War, Politics and Superheroes: Ethics and Propaganda in Comics and Film. McFarland. p. 237. ISBN 978-0-7864-8579-6.
  3. ^ del Barco, Mandalit (23 November 2022). "'Love and Rockets' celebrates 40 years of edgy, Latinx, alternative comics". NPR. Retrieved 2 February 2024.
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