The Drag Explosion
New York’s momentous drag scene of the 1980s and ‘90s reigns again in this volume of photos by Linda Simpson, who spent the era in the middle of the action taking just-for-fun snapshots. The vivid images capture wild nightlife, queer activism, pop-culture moments, and colorful characters galore as they joyfully pushed the boundaries of gender expression, including Lady Bunny, RuPaul, Lypsinka and Leigh Bowery. Her collection is a tribute to a golden age, when drag transformed from an underground art form into a mainstream sensation, and paved the path for today’s drag renaissance.
The Drag EXplosion
By Linda Simpson
With contributions by
Lady Bunny and Tavia Nyong’o
7.625 x 11.25 in.
250 pp
Full color, hardcover
$50
Strut your stuff in a limited edition Drag Explosion T-shirt! Featuring the instantly iconic book cover on the front, and the entire cast of characters on the back.
The Drag EXplosion
TSHIRT
Gildan White Softstyle
100% Cotton
$25
My Comrade magazine was founded by Linda Simpson in 1987 during the dark era of the AIDS crisis, and served as a symbol of hope and frivolity to the East Village gay scene and beyond. Armed with a tongue-in-cheek “revolutionary” agenda, the magazine glorified heroic drag queens and sexy guys in a cut-and-paste mishmash of articles and photo spreads. The sporadic publishing schedule produced a total of eleven issues until 1994. It was revived in 2004 for two more. A new issue was released in 2022 on the occasion of an exhibition of the My Comrade archive at Howl Happening.
MY COMRADE MAGAZINE
7 x 8.5 in.
24 pp
B/W, softcover
$5
