Frank’s girl friend/ girl Friday, Loretta Valentine discovers Frank’s secret stash of 50’s gay porn. In those days this took the form of chaste “Physical Culture” pamphlets. Ironically, these tracts are the same size as the Vertigo Crime imprints product, 5 3/8″ x 8 1/4″.
Loretta is based on actress Eileen Brennan.
One of my ongoing pet peeves with straight male cartoonists is that they tend to draw the same woman, varying only the hairstyles. Even the cartoonists who individualize their men fall into this trap with women. On this project, I was trying to differentiate the female characters as much as the males, yet still have them be beautiful and sexy. In Loretta’s case, I fear I erred on the side of individuation; at times she appears quite ugly.
