A Soldier in the Sexual Revolution
'Naughty Bits' Takes
Bitchy Bitch Into the '70s
By J. Stephen Bolhafner
Published in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Thursday, June 8, 1995
Bitchy Bitch is "the person I would least like to have to be around," according to her creator, Roberta Gregory.
She is also the hilarious protagonist of most of the stories in Gregory's comic-book series "Naughty Bits," published by Fantagraphics. No. 16 came out in May, but comic-book stores that cater to adults might have several back issues, plus perhaps the collection of early stories called "A Bitch is Born."
Bitchy Bitch has a terrible temper, and tends to have tantrums that involve outrageous behavior (dumping broken glass in a guy's lap, for example) - but they're often precisely the kinds of overreactions many of us have fantasized about.
The latest "Naughty Bits" is all one story, about "Bitchy's College Daze." Actually, it's part two of a continuing story, but don't let that stop you. It has a definite beginning, middle and end. It's a continuation in the sense that life is a continuation. This chapter centers on Bitchy's eagerness to join the Sexual Revolution.
And once she does, she's quite a soldier. If you're under 18, I should warn you that no comic-book store in town is going to sell you this comic. Most of them don't even stock it. Only stores that cater primarily to adults will even carry it.
Gregory doesn't go out of her way to include graphic sex in every story to be "mature" (a most immature attitude that many "adult" comic books have), but she doesn't shrink from it when the story line calls for it, either. And a first year at college away from home in 1970 definitely calls for it.
Bitchy also gets involved in anti-war politics and almost gets arrested - but she doesn't really care about the politics, she's just trying to get in the pants of a cute bearded guy who's in charge of the co-ordinating committee. Does she succeed? I'll let you find out.