Kurt Erichsen

Kurt Erichsen

Cartoonist & Illustrator

Toledo, Ohio

Kurt Erichsen's cartoons have appeared in amateur and professional publications since about 1970. The amateur publications included many Science Fiction and Comics Fandom fanzines and Amateur Press Associations. Fandom publications have continued, but since 1980 most works have appeared in LGBT newspapers, magazines, and books.

The main outlets for Erichsen's work have been the Murphy's Manor comic strip. It was syndicated, a total of 1183 cartoons, to local LGBT newspapers and bar guides from 1981 to 2008. In 2019 new strips were published in The 30-Year Wedding, bringing the total to 1205 cartoons.

Many of the Murphy's Manor cartoons were reprinted in Meatmen, comic story anthologies for gay men. The Murphy's Manor strips included were from the first 500 strips. Additionally, Erichsen contributed six new stories to Meatmen:

Meatmen 12 (1991) - Robot Love

Meatmen 15 (1983) - The Nine Billion Names of Penis

Meatmen 19 (1994) - Sparkle Spinsters: Little Red Riding Crop

Meatmen 20 (1997) - A Wedding in the Family

Meatmen 21 (1997) - Link-Up

Meatmen 22 (1997) - Straight Man’s Burden

The first issue of Gay Comix included Erichsen's first LGBT comic story: "Saboteur." In all, Erichsen contributed 9 stories to Gay Comix between 1980 and 1998.

Gay Comix 1 (1980) - Saboteur

Gay Comix 3 (1982) - Weekend Revolutionaries

Gay Comix 6 (1985) - The Sparkle Spinsters: Stains on the Sofa

Gay Comix 7 (1986) - Sparkle Spinsters: Home Movies

Gay Comix 8 (1986) - The Sparkle Spinsters: In Midsummer Night’s Super Stud

Gay Comix 12 (1988) - Sparkle Spinsters: in the Ghetto

Gay Comics 20 (1993) - Gender Bender

Gay Comics 22 (1993) - Honeymoon

Gay Comics 25 (1998) - I’ve Got a Secret

Selected List of Publications

Gay Comix: 9 comic stories

Meatmen: 6 original comic stories and about 15 installments of Murphy’s Manor reprints

Under the Covers: collection of 3 comic stories

Starlog Magazine: cartoons and illos

Fantasy Showcase Tarot Deck: [8 of Pentacles: published by Bruce Pelz]

Comics Feature: cartoons and illos

Instinct Magazine: illos for articles

Lambda Rising Book Report: cartoons and illos

Fairy Flicks: character designs and drawings to promote Gay/Lesbian Film Festival

GliB Talk: single panel gay/lesbian cartoons, syndicated

Murphy’s Manor: comic strip syndicated to local Gay/Lesbian newspapers, 1981-2008 and 2019

Strip AIDS USA: Murphy’s Manor strips

Best of Gay Comics [Triptow, editor]

No Straight Lines, reprint of “Home Movies” from Gay Comix 2012 [Justin Hall, editor]

La Revue des Bandes Dessinées LGBT – Murphy’s Manor and Gay Comix stories in color, in French 2017-2019 (issues 6, 7, & 8 so far) [Jean-Paul Jennequin, editor]

Awards

1985 Gay/Lesbian Press Association: Outstanding Achievement in Illustration

1987 Gay/Lesbian Press Association: Outstanding Achievement in Illustration

2002 Bill Rotsler Award for fan cartooning