Tim Barela

{{short description|American cartoonist}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} {{Infobox person | name =  | image =  | alt =  | caption = | birth_name =  | birth_date = {{birth year and age|1954}} | birth_place = Los Angeles, California, U.S. | death_date = | death_place = | other_names = | occupation = Cartoonist | years_active = | known_for = Gay Comix | notable_works = ''Leonard & Larry'' }}

'''Tim Barela''' (born 1954)<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Domesticity Isn't Pretty|last1=Barela|first1=Tim|last2=Mangels|first2=Andy|publisher=Palliard Press|year=1993|location=Minneapolis, Minnesota|isbn=1-884568-00-9|pages=9–16}}</ref> is an American gay cartoonist who is best known for his creation of the comic strip ''Leonard & Larry''.<ref name="Interview">{{cite web|last=Suresha |first=Ron |author-link=Ron Suresha |title=Portrait of the Cartoonist as a Middle-Aged Bear: An Interview with Tim Barela |url=http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview1.htm |access-date=February 3, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070801020818/http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview1.htm |archive-date=August 1, 2007 }}</ref> The ''Leonard & Larry'' strip first appeared in a 1984 issue of ''Gay Comix'', then were later featured in ''The Advocate'' and ''Frontiers'' magazines.<ref>{{cite web | last = The Gay Comics List | title = Leonard & Larry | url=http://gaycomicslist.free.fr/pages/reviews.php?review=ll | access-date = August 12, 2008 }}</ref> The comic series has been collected in four volumes published by Palliard Press, and a single volume by Rattling Good Yarns.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Leonard, Larry & Tim: gay comics legend Tim Barela|url=https://www.ebar.com/arts_&_culture/art//310153|access-date=November 8, 2021|website=The Bay Area Reporter / B.A.R. Inc.|language=en}}</ref>

==Career== Born in 1954 in Los Angeles, California,<ref name=":0"/> Barela began working as a cartoonist in 1976, producing an untitled comic strip for ''Cycle News''. This led to strips such as "Just Puttin" for ''Biker'' magazine (1977-1978), "Short Strokes" for ''Cycle World'' (1977-1979), "Hard Tale" for ''Choppers'' (1978-1979), "The Adventures of Rickie Racer," "The Adventures of Eric Enchilada," and "The Puttin Gourmet...America's Favorite Low-Life Epicurean" for Biker Lifestyle,<ref name=":0"/> and ''FTW News'' (1979). In 1980 he developed for possible syndication a comic strip titled "Ozone," which included a gay character named Leonard who had a "roommate" named Larry. The strip was unsuccessful, and he pitched another strip featuring those two characters to LGBT news magazine ''The Advocate'' which also turned it down.<ref name=":0" />

Editor Robert Triptow encouraged Barela to develop the ''Leonard & Larry'' strip into longer multi-page stories, which was first featured in ''Gay Comix'' #5. Following its debut, Leonard & Larry would go on to be featured in ''Gay Comix'' #7 in 1986, ''Gay Comix'' #10 in 1987, ''Gay Comics'' #14 in 1991, as well as its own special issue of ''Gay Comix'' dedicated to Leonard & Larry in 1992.<ref name=":0" /> The strip was also featured in ''Strip AIDS USA''.<ref name=":0" /> A later editor at ''The Advocate'' ran the series from 1988 to 1990, after which it was published in rival LGBT news magazine ''Frontiers'' for many years. The strip was also part of ''Out of the Inkwell'', a play presented in 1994 by San Francisco's Theatre Rhinoceros.<ref name="Tim Barela">{{cite web|url=http://prismcomics.org/profile.php?id=6|title=Tim Barela creator profile|publisher=Prism Comics|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141221004223/http://prismcomics.org/profile.php?id=6|archive-date=December 21, 2014|url-status=live|access-date=December 28, 2012}}</ref>

The ''Leonard & Larry'' collection ''Kurt Cobain & Mozart Are Both Dead'' was a nominee for the Lambda Literary Award in the Humor category.<ref>{{cite web | title = 9th Annual Lambda Literary Awards | date=July 15, 1997 | url=http://www.lambdaliterary.org/winners-finalists/07/14/lambda-literary-awards-1996/ | access-date = February 3, 2013 }}</ref>

==Personal life== Barela became a fundamentalist Christian in high school, but began attending a Metropolitan Community Church congregation in 1980.<ref name=":0" />

He is a former<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview3.htm|title=Portrait of the Cartoonist as a Middle-Aged Bear: An Interview with Tim Barela|last=Suresha|first=Ron|author-link=Ron Suresha|website=Leonard & Larry website|page=3|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041017153703/http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview3.htm|archive-date=October 17, 2004 |url-status=dead |access-date=February 4, 2013|quote=I have a very dear friend in Pennsylvania ... He's a biker - just like I used to be.}}</ref> avid motorcyclist.<ref name="Tim Barela" />

Barela has a passion for Western wear which he describes as his "cowboy fetish".<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview1.htm|title=.: Leonard and Larry :.|date=August 1, 2007|access-date=October 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070801020818/http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview1.htm|archive-date=August 1, 2007}}</ref> In all of the strips Barela has published, at least one character has appeared in Western garb.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview3.htm|title=.: Leonard and Larry :.|date=August 1, 2007|access-date=October 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070801020804/http://www.leonardandlarry.com/interview3.htm|archive-date=August 1, 2007}}</ref> Additionally, he considers himself to be part of the Bear community as well as a fan of it.

== ''Leonard and Larry'' == The ''Leonard and Larry'' comic strip was first published in ''Gay Comix'' #5 in 1984, and would go on to be featured in ''Gay Comix'' #7 in 1986, ''Gay Comix'' #10 in 1987, and ''Gay Comics'' #14 in 1991, as well as its own special issue of ''Gay Comix'' in 1992.<ref>{{Citation|title=Gay Comix|date=July 25, 2019|url=https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gay_Comix&oldid=907815710|work=Wikipedia|language=en|access-date=October 31, 2019}}</ref>{{Circular reference|date=October 2023}}

''Leonard and Larry'' has been praised for being comic strip which represents characters of different gender identities, sexual orientations, ages, and sexual preferences as a community.<ref name=":1">{{Cite news|url=http://lp.hscl.ufl.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&AuthType=ip,uid&db=edsglr&AN=edsgcl.66938078&site=eds-live|title=Bears Bust A Gut|last=Suresha|first=Ron|date=2000|work=Lambda Book Report|access-date=October 31, 2019|issue=3|issn=1048-9487}}</ref> The characters in the comic strip also age over time, as illustrated through graying hair, expanding bald patches, and growing children,<ref name=":1" /> which defies the tradition of comic characters appearing to be ageless.

The strip has also received praise for its representations of queer family structures. Incorporating themes of domesticity and unique family structures in the strip sets ''Leonard & Larry'' apart from many other gay comic strips from its time.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://gaycomicslist.free.fr/pages/reviews.php?review=ll|title=[The Gay Comics List ~ Leonard & Larry]|website=gaycomicslist.free.fr|access-date=November 25, 2019}}</ref>

''Leonard & Larry'' has been noted for Barela's attention to detail, particularly in his renderings of hair and beards. According to Alison Bechdel, "No one renders facial hair like Tim Barela, I always say. He does the most fabulous beards—he seems to draw each individual strand of hair."<ref name="Interview" />

==Books== ''Leonard & Larry'' has been released in four different collections published by Palliard Press, which include:

* ''Domesticity Isn't Pretty'' (1993), {{ISBN|1-884568-00-9}}<ref name=":0" /> * ''Kurt Cobain & Mozart Are Both Dead'' (1996), {{ISBN|1-884568-04-1}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barela |first=Tim |year=1996 |title=Kurt Cobain and Mozart are both dead: the second Leonard & Larry collection |others=Introduction: Robert Triptow |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Palliard Press |isbn=1-884568-04-1 |oclc=41948025}}</ref> * ''Excerpts from the Ring Cycle in Royal Albert Hall'' (2000), {{ISBN|1-884568-05-X}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barela |first=Tim |year=2000|title=Excerpts from the ring cycle in Royal Albert Hall: the third Leonard & Larry Collection |location=Minneapolis |publisher=Palliard Press |edition=1st |isbn=1-884568-05-X |oclc=44697531}}</ref> * ''How Real Men Do It'' (2003), {{ISBN|1884568-06-8}}<ref>{{Cite book |last=Barela |first=Tim |year=2003 |title=How Real Men Do It: The Fourth Leonard & Larry Collection |edition=First |others=Introduction: Ron Jackson Suresha |publisher=Palliard Press |location=Minneapolis |isbn=1-884568-06-8 |oclc=54985205}}</ref>

In 2021 Rattling Good Yarns released a compilation of all of the Leonard And Larry strips in both hardback and softcover.

* ''The Complete Leonard & Larry Collection'' (2021), {{ISBN|1-955826-05-6}}<ref name=":0" />

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [https://web.archive.org/web/20141221032620/http://prismcomics.org/profile.php?id=6 Profile: Tim Barela] from Prism Comics

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barela, Tim}} Category:1954 births Category:American comic strip cartoonists Category:American comics writers Category:American gay artists Category:American gay writers Category:Bear (gay culture) Category:LGBTQ comics creators Category:LGBTQ people from California Category:Living people Category:People from Temecula, California