{{short description|Alternative cartoonist}} '''Burton Clarke''' is a gay African-American alternative cartoonist. He is known for his contributions to the rise of LGBT comics and his focus on representing gay men of all races and classes in his art, using a mix of realism and fantasy to tackle complex issues such as internalized racism and homophobia.
== Personal life == Clarke was born in Plainfield, NJ. He received his Bachelor's in theatre from Syracuse University and his Master's in acting from Florida State University.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|title="Burton Clarke, A Gay Artist Who "Draws For My People"."|last=Smith|first=Charles Michael|date=10 August 1987|work=The New York Native|location=New York, New York}}</ref>
After four years at Sarasota's Asolo State Theatre, Clarke moved to New York. Due to the difficulty of finding steady work as a black actor, he eventually decided to fall back on his skills as a cartoonist, pursuing a personal interest in broadening gay representation in media.<ref name=":1" />
== Career == Clarke's comic "Cy Ross and the SQ Syndrome" was published first in the ''New York Native'' (1980), then re-printed in Gay Comix #2<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Gay Comix|publisher=Kitchen Sink Comix|editor-last=Cruz|editor-first=Howard|volume=2|location=Princeton, WI|pages=2, 3–7}}</ref> (1981), and in ''Meatmen'' Vol.1<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Meatmen: An Anthology of Gay Male Comics|publisher=G.S. Press/Leyland Publications|year=1986|editor-last=Leyland|editor-first=Winston|volume=1|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=12, 131–135}}</ref> (1986). He contributed cover art to Gay Comix #3,<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gay Comix|publisher=Kitchen Sink Comix|editor-last=Cruz|editor-first=Howard|volume=3|location=Princeton, WI|date=December 1982|pages=1}}</ref> and another comic, "The Satyr", to Gay Gomix #10.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Gay Comix|publisher=Bob Ross|year=1987|editor-last=Triptow|editor-first=Robert|volume=10|location=San Francisco, CA|pages=3–7}}</ref> He was also known for publications in the ''Playguy, First Hand,'' and ''Christopher Street'' magazine.<ref name=":0" />
Clarke has said that his own style is influenced by that of Leonard Star.<ref name=":1" />
=== Reception === Clarke is known for the realism and detail of his art style, his radical use of heavy shading/lighting in black-and-white comics, and for tackling sensitive issues such as the intersection of race and sexuality, as well as internalized racism and homophobia. In "Cy Ross and the SQ Syndrome" he confronts the internalized racism which comes with being a "snow queen",<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.ferris.edu/HTMLS/news/jimcrow/links/essays/comics.htm|title=From "Under Cork" to Overcoming: Black Images in the Comics|last=Loring Jones|first=Steven|website=Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia|access-date=2019-11-22}}</ref> while "The Satyr" confronts the ways in which internalized homophobia can lead to violence. His work has been recognized for the importance and rarity of its subject matter at the time, as well as its use in discussions about pornographic content and government funding for AIDS research.<ref>Fawaz, Ramzi, Justin Hall, & Helen M. Kinsella. ''discovering paradise islands: the politics and pleasures of feminist utopias, a conversation''. Feminist Review, Vol. 116, Issue 1. Springer Link. July 2017. p.1-21 [https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41305-017-0065-8 .]</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=Eighties People: New Lives in the American Imagination|last=Ferguson|first=Kevin L|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan|year=2016|isbn=9781349887651|location=New York, NY|pages=62–70}}</ref><ref>Nero, Charles I. “Free Speech or Hate Speech: Pornography and its Means of Production.” Law Sexuality: A Review of Lesbian and Gay Legal Issues, 2, 1992, p.3-10. HeinOnline [https://heinonline.org/HOL/P?h=hein.journals/lsex2&i=11. .]</ref>
Jerry Mills and Howard Cruse both expressed an admiration for Clarke's art and a desire to see him be more prolific in his output.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.howardcruse.com/loosecruse/?paged=9|title=West Coast Report (Part 2)|last=Cruse|first=Howard|date=26 May 2009|website=Loose Cruse: The Blog|access-date=21 November 2019|archive-date=5 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210705210224/http://www.howardcruse.com/loosecruse/?paged=9|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref name=":2" />
== Activism == Clarke is active in AIDS awareness and in 1987 contributed panel art to the GMHC "Safer Sex Comix" project in 1987, an attempt to spread awareness about AIDS and eroticize safe-sex practices such as using condoms.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wayback.archive-it.org/org-350/https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/survivingandthriving/digitalgallery/detail-safersexcomix.html|title=Safer Sex Comix #8, 1987|date=16 September 2013|website=U.S. National Library of Medicine}}</ref>
== Select publications == * Cassell, Avery. ''Resistance: The LGBT Fight Against Fascism in WWII''. Ed. Diane Kanzler. Dana Point, CA: Stacked Deck Press, November 16, 2018. {{ISBN|9780999647226}} * ''The Queer Heroes Coloring Book''. Ed. Jon Macy and Tara Madison Avery. Dana Point CA: Stacked Deck Press, July 29, 2016. {{ISBN|9780997048735}} * Estler, Thomas. ''Abolitionista!'' Vol. 1. United Graphic LLC: Mattoon, Illinois, 2014. {{ISBN|9780615754390}} * Queer Pin-Ups Card Deck sold by Northwest Press for the May 2015 Queers and Comics LGBTQ Cartoonist Conference in New York<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.tcj.com/queers-and-comics-the-lgbtq-cartoonists-and-comics-conference/|title=Queers and Comics: The LGBTQ Cartoonists and Comics Conference|last=Kirby|first=Robert|date=18 May 2015|website=The Comics Journal}}</ref>
== Citations == <references />
== References ==
* Hall, Justin. ''No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics''. Seattle, WA: Fantagraphics Books, Inc., 2013. {{ISBN|9781606997185}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Clarke, Burton}} Category:LGBTQ comics creators Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people Category:Syracuse University alumni Category:Florida State University alumni Category:African-American artists Category:21st-century African-American artists Category:21st-century American LGBTQ people