CRUSE RETURNS WITH "THE COMPLETE WENDEL"

Howard Cruse is considered by many to be one of the great modern American cartoonists, though he's drawn few comics in the past two decades. A noted underground creator before becoming the founding editor of the anthology "Gay Comix" in 1980, Cruse has a reputation for tackling head-on a topic that had been largely taboo. Throughout most of the 1980's, he wrote and illustrated a comic strip for "The Advocate." "Wendel" began as a light-hearted sex comedy, but quickly became something more as the titular character started a long term relationship and the strip depicted the gay community in a way that had rarely been seen before.

After he ended the strip, Cruse created the graphic novel "Stuck Rubber Baby," released in 1995 through DC Comics and re-released in a new hardcover edition last year from by Vertigo. Compared favorably to Art Spiegelman's "Maus" at the time of its release, "Stuck Rubber Baby" told the fictional account of a young white man coming of age in the Civil Right era, though much of it was informed by Cruse's own experiences growing up.

The Universe imprint of Rizzoli has just released "The Complete Wendel," collecting Cruse's strip from "The Advocate" with additional material and a new strip detailing where the characters are now. CBR News spoke with Cruse about his work and career and whether we can look forward to more from him in the future.