Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist

"Hothead is the backlash to the backlash." --Alison Bechdel

Hothead Paisan, a murderous icon of the '90s lesbian comics scene, comes roaring back into print in this fresh edition (including a new interview and supplemental materials) of one of the funniest, sharpest, and most unexpectedly warm comics of the late twentieth century, still as shocking today as it was more than two decades ago.

Hothead Paisan is an icon of the '90s lesbian DIY scene, a patron saint of those who wonder if going off the deep end is the only sane response to life in modern America.

Diane DiMassa's Hothead starts out in a murderous frenzy--taking out a variety of chauvinists and creeps--but soon deepens into a reflection on oppression, self-destruction, and living it up outside the conservative norms of the '90s. Hothead's rage is stoked by her inner demon, Personality #2, but sometimes tempered with the help of Roz, her friend who offers Zen wisdom and tough love, and Chicken, her cat and constant companion.

Author: Diane DiMassa
Publisher: New York Review Comics
Published: 09/02/2025
Pages: 456
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 2.64lbs
Size: 10.00h x 7.48w x 1.26d
ISBN13: 9781681378619
ISBN10: 1681378612
BISAC Categories:
- Comics & Graphic Novels | LGBTQ+ | General
- Comics & Graphic Novels | Humorous
- Comics & Graphic Novels | Contemporary Women

About the Author
Diane DiMassa is an American artist best known for her contributions to the alternative, feminist comic book sphere. Her illustrations have been featured in books such as Kathy Acker's Pussycat Fever, Kate Bornstein's My Gender Workbook, and Anne Fausto-Sterling's Sexing the Body: Gender Politics and the Construction of Sexuality. She lives between Bridgeport, Connecticut, and San Francisco, California.

Sarah Schulman is a writer, an activist, and a historian. A recipient of the Bill Whitehead Award for Lifetime Achievement, she has published over twenty works of fiction and non-fiction, including, most recently, the oral history Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993, which won a Lambda Literary Award. She lives in New York City.

Jay Graham is a writer living in Brooklyn, New York. Their work has appeared in The Paris Review Daily, Wonder Press, Angel Food Magazine, and The End Magazine.