Diane DiMassa: Still Homicidal After All These Years

12 hours ago 4

The first time I encountered Diane DiMassa’s work I was still reeling from my life falling apart around me. It was the beginning of 2021 and I was only just starting to process, among other things, the events of the past year that had led to my ex girlfriend and I fleeing the apartment/art studio we had renovated together and then amicably, but still intensely, breaking up. By the spring I would be diagnosed with complex PTSD, but at the time all I knew was that I was a billowy mess of unknown emotions. Subsequently, a lot of my time was spent alone and reading, catching up on so much that I hadn’t gotten to, and by chance I ended up getting the out of print and expensive Cleis press collection of the complete Hothead Paisan from the Philly library system. The book was gigantic and hard to hold but that felt appropriate - who could ever comfortably handle a Hothead ? And I spent so much time reading over and over again, laughing and swooning and hollering at the many twists and turns. This was a comic that was so uncontrollably itself, spilling out onto the pages in bursts of raw feeling. It was also, too, a recovery narrative, and it was so affirming and inspiring to watch the drawings go from scratchy to polished, to see Hothead and her friends become more and more themselves as the story progressed. It gave me the hope that I too could progress from the rough impression of a human that I felt like at the time into something more solid and fleshy and defined, and it’s no surprise to me that by the end of the year I had figured out a new way of making anti- assimilationist queer comics that (at least in my opinion) is a direct descendant of Diane’s work.
Naturally, when Sally asked me to write for the Comics Journal the first thing I thought of was Hothead, and I was pleasantly surprised to watch this piece escalate from a review to a phone interview to an in person interview at the Philly Comics Expo last year. Spending time with Diane was truly such a joy, and I’m so glad these comics are back in print here in 2026. It’s so easy to be fully helpless and numbed out by the brutally relentless news cycle of today, but Hothead is a circuit fried schematic for how to be truly alive amidst all the pain and uncertainty. There are friends to cherish and challenge, lovers to cackle with and kiss in the park, cats to cuddle and dance with! Most importantly, though, she reminds us that we have to stay MAD and that we should never normalize the unceasing greed and destruction of the powers that be. What follows is a polished transcription of what we talked about at PCX, I sincerely hope you enjoy it and that you get to spend time with this work in the near future if you haven’t already!
P.s. Another recent reissue that pairs nicely with Hothead is “On Strike Against God” by Joanna Russ on The Feminist Press. Check it out !!

ANA WOULFE: Well, does that sound okay? Can you hear me in the back? Cool. Diane, I wanted to start off by just saying...I don't know if anyone told you this..but when I heard about the reissue I was really excited! But I was also aware of the things that you had said regarding Mich Fest and I was concerned that they wouldn't be addressed. So my friend Lale and I wrote to New York Review of Comics and were like: we love this! This is important! But I just like hope that this complicated history can be acknowledged in some way. And I was really happy to get a response back saying that would be there. And then when I got the book and read the apology, it meant a lot to me. So, yeah! It feels really special in many ways to be talking to you right now.

DIANE DIMASSA: Well, I apologize in person. Eye to eye.

Oh! Well I wasn't fishing for that, but I appreciate it. I think just going going from writing to your publisher to getting to talk to you in person here feels really cool and special. So I'm happy we're here.

Thank you.

I wanted to start off talking maybe more about like origin stuff because you started making this comic in New Haven and I was curious if there was like a punk like scene in New Haven at the time? Were you an anomaly around then or?

<laughs> I usually am. There was a punk music scene and a couple of really horrible punk bars. There was a really famous one and it actually got shut down by the health department.

Yeah. And there's always, like, Toad’s Place.

Toad’s is still there. It's not really punk though, it's kind of everything venue. Yeah. So a little bit outside of the music scene like me and my friends 'cause yeah, it right in the middle of New Haven, and so that's the bastion. Yeah. And then everything kind of exists around Yale. And there's no punk culture in Yale is my point. So yeah, here and there. Okay. Not like San Francisco or something.

Right, So you were just kind of making this in isolation. Were you getting things from other cities?

No. What happened was <laughs>, it came out of therapy actually. I came into therapy after a horrible run of drugs and alcohol. I grew up in really intense anger and screaming and yelling, so I didn't know that my anger was abnormal. Even to this day, I see like the crazy person get outta their car. They're in the road rage. That's me. Still sometimes it's my biggest challenge, behind the wheel.

So I was in therapy and I hadn't drawn in years and I had the objectives to get through a creative block and also to work on my anger that people were telling me I had but I still couldn't recognize. So my very astute therapist says, “why don't you go home and do some artwork around your anger?” <Laughs> and there it is.

<laughs> Cool, and then that connected you to a whole larger world?

Well, this whole timing, it happened when I first started publishing, I was in the middle of this amazing time that I was oblivious to. Like I’d run into my friends at Kinko's at two o'clock in the morning, stapling and copying and stapling. I miss that stuff. I have a really good collection of zines. What was the question?

Oh, just wondering about what happened after.

Oh yeah. So, there was a huge zine explosion happening in San Francisco is what it was, but I didn't know that. And then I ended up moving there a couple years later.

That was my next picture.

Oh, yeah. I was tattooing. [DiMassa points to tattoo on her arm in the picture that says “Jessica”] That's my ex's name.

[Audience laughs]

I spent nine years with Jessica and all I got was a stupid tattoo <laugh>. So yeah,
my tattooing days.

Did you move to San Francisco specifically because there were other people doing what you were doing?

No, because of Jessica. Audience: <laughs>

Classic <laughs> And how long were you in San Francisco?

Like two and a half years. I regret leaving, but I always tell myself it was the right two
and a half years. It's like 92 to 94, when all this was happening.

I feel like a lot of people really romanticize that time there nowadays. And so that was when you found other people also making like zines and comic and stuff?

Oh God, yeah. Zines, performance, art bands, poetry slams, you name it. It was very, very creative. Even when people didn't have any creative talent, they were up there on stage. You know, just reading out of their journals. I was sitting in the front row with my friend Sarah, who was from England, and she was this big leather woman. And we were in the front row - never sit in the front row for performance art - and all of a sudden whoever was up there did this <DIMASSA lifts both of her arms up so her armpits are showing> and we got this big waft of body odor and we couldn't laugh. And we were both just looking straight ahead and trying not to look at each other. But anyway, yes. Any kind of art you could think of.

<laughs> Are there any bands or writers or anything from that time that you think are overlooked that you would tell us to check out?

Oh, Tribe 8. I did one of their album covers. They were all over the place. The best band name I ever heard was Jiggle the Handle.

That's really good.

I don’t know who they were.

<Laughs> I gotta look that up. That's so good. So continuing with San Francisco stuff, here's the shirt that you did for the San Francisco Lesbian Avengers, which.. I love the back: “Be the Bomb You Throw.”

Oh my God, I forgot all about that! That’s their tagline.

I also included these back covers from Hothead.

Fucking dams.

And I guess I was curious about your relationship to activism at the time? Because between making a shirt for the Lesbian Avengers and making the Dental Dam poster and the sticker, it seemed like you were involved in some things greater than comics world.

Pretty much. I did a couple AIDS walks during that time. We used to go around New York and my friend Jody photographed as many of those stickers as we could find. Well you just named more than I would have though of in terms of activism. Can I tell you a quick story about the Lesbian Avengers?

Absolutely.

Jessica and I- [Shows her faded “Jessica” tattoo to the audience, audience laughs] You can't read it anymore! No, we're like this. We were in a restaurant in the Haight and she was sitting on my lap or something. We had just gotten together and were, you know, smooching and we got kicked out. And so the Lesbian Avengers weren't having it. You can't kick Hothead out of the restaurant! So they organized a sit-in and we went in there like 25 of us, and we took up the whole restaurant. We would only order coffee.
And so the owner comes running in, “what do you want? What do you want?” And we were like, “well, you kicked us out when we were kissing.” “We don't allow that in here.” This straight couple across the restaurant goes, “me and my boyfriend kiss in here all the time and we don't get kicked out.” Everybody screamed, it was so funny!

That's incredible. I'm so happy I put the shirt in for that story. Kind of continuing along the same lines: in the interview in the back, and also I think in the back of Hothead issues you had often referenced that you were using an all women printing company. And I feel like that's less of a priority these days when talking about printing things. It made me think of Olivia Records, which is not your scene, I'm sure, but they had this goal of creating a lesbian economy. So I guess I was thinking about that with between like using a woman's printer and then like all the merch that you made, was there a goal to create a world outside of typical capitalist, patriarchal worlds?

Well, we definitely loved the underground stuff. And the merch...yeah for sure! You're right though. It is a less of a priority and that's too bad. And also this was pre digital. We were the original four color printing and we'd be up till 3:00 AM trying to beat the deadline, glue stick and little strips of whatever we were cutting out all over us. And we'd give it to the girls and we'd go pick up cases in about two weeks.

Is that press still around? I tried to find a history of it or something and I couldn't find anything about it online.

They're probably gone then.

It's hard to research though, because there was the New Haven advocate, the Alt Weekly. It's hard to search 'cause everyone's talking about the newspaper, but I couldn't find anything about the press. Was it like a specifically radical press?

They were definitely feminist. I think there was like one more radical woman in there, and then there was a straight woman, then there was the owner. God knows what she was, she was really great. There was just four of them in there.

Well I appreciate the emphasis on using that, which brought up another question for me: which is that this is the first time you've done Hothead with a publisher that isn't like a specifically lesbian press. How was that experience for you?

Amazing. I love it. I love it. This press has the coolest books. I like to go in their warehouse with a tote bag. I gotta catch up. They're fantastic you know, it’s New York Review of Comics. I have a PR guy that sets all this up and does all my trains <laughs>
It's much different. Obviously the audience is huge. My first ones were by Cleis Press, and then they went full erotica ‘cause that always sells better. I know a lot of women's presses tanked, and there's still some around, but this is definitely like a whole different scene.

How long ago did you start working on this reissue?

Two years? [DiMassa points into the crowd at Anika Bannister, who is sitting in the front row] This is Anika. She works for NYRC and she did the layout of the pages... [Anika confirms the project start time] About two years ago.

Was it something that you had wanted to do? Is it something you'd been thinking about and then they reached out?

I’ve been thinking about it for 20 years. ”I gotta scan Hothead”

[Laughs]

[Points at Anika] She had it do it. 400 plus pages.

That's a much better situation for you. What’s Next? Oh, I wanted to ask you about the chocolate bar.

<Laughs> Yeah. I was living in Northhampton Mass and...I forget the name of the company. I think they were affiliated with Kitchen Sink. There was this guy there who was making these and he did a bunch of cartoon people themed bars. We had four. We had this, I had the Chocolate Raspberry Femme Dyke Bitch Bar...based on Jessica.

[Audience laughs]

And a Chicken bar. Anyway, and they came in a Cigar Box, and I got to design the whole front and back and bottom and inside and everything. And they were selling good you know they turned up in gay book stores a lot. And then all of a sudden the building was empty and I never got paid.

Oh no!

DIMASSA: Yeah. I found out that the guy was a disbarred lawyer, so...

Wow, so this was just an elaborate scam. That’s amazing. Was it good? Did it taste good?

No. Not Really.

I'm vegan, so I say this out of love, but because they spell it “Chawklit” it really reminds me of like the way fake meat is spelled and stuff. So I keep imagining that as like fake chocolate

Perfect. Extra wax chocolate.

Yeah. Extra horrible tasting ! Okay, this is one of my favorite sections.

Hothead yelling “Christ!” At God.

Yeah. But also just like that she gets this a seedling that helps her love and forget everyone. And she's like “Why Me???”

Yeah, yeah. Bipolar Misanthrope.

In the back of the book you talked about making this comic in recovery. I read an interview recently with Elizabeth Gilbert - the person who did Eat, Pray, Love. I really didn't expect to be into what she was saying, but she was talking about 12 step programs as like America's greatest contribution to spirituality and she called it the "Antidote to America". Now, for the record, I don't think there's an antidote to America - I think it just needs to go away. But she said that it's the antidote to America because the first step is to admit you're powerless. And I was thinking about all of this when I was re-reading Hothead because there are these spiritual moments of like dealing with a higher power in which she totally refuses to acknowledge that. But that also it just made me think that Hothead is just so incredibly American - and she would hate to hear that - but she is such an incredible representation of America. And...where am I going with this? Just letting the passion come out I guess. I think this time around reading the book, I really loved all the moments of her having some form of self-awareness. I know that in the interview you said “no one wants to see Hothead calm down.” But were there moments where you were considering allowing her having a breakthrough?

No.

The slide that was just on, a lot of the stuff that the lamp was saying to Hothead was stuff I was carrying that I had been using in the program to stay sober. You know, just being able to zoom out. And Hothead can’t zoom out she has like a lightning rod 50 feet high up in the air you know. So, this stuff does get planted in her, but she's too stuck in her shit. And also, the reason I don't have drugs or alcohol or cigarettes or anything with Hothead is because anger for me is a drug in itself. You know, it feels great when it's happening and I think I'm right. And then I feel really bad 'cause I hurt somebody. And then I get a hangover. It's an altered state and I shouldn't act in it. Not talking about anybody else. So that's her drug.

That makes a lot of sense. It made me think about how one of my favorite 12 step phrases is “you spot it, you got it.” And I was wondering what you think would happen if someone said that to Hothead?

She wouldn't like it.

She has a weapon handy. She doesn't take criticism well at all, she wouldn’t get it! And she don't owe anybody anything as far as she's concerned. She has a right to be fucking livid. Yeah. So, she just goes about her business.

Yes, she does. I think about all this stuff of her being really oblivious to where she's at, or how other people see her. I think a lot about this section from the first issue in which her neighbor comes in and they have sex and she's yelling like destroyers, tanks, missiles, nuclear warheads, which is again, so American. And then she spirals and dissociates and is like, "that's how they do it in all the movies and books and comics and cartoons.” And I don't often see depictions of rape culture like that. So much of the time Hothead is acting out the same way that our culture at large does, targeting and focusing on a celebrity and being (rightfully) mad at them for doing it but not confronting all the tiny little things that we all perpetuate because we're swimming in it. And this section is like really amazing to me because so much of the comic is Hothead attacking people who are rapists. But then in this, she is also revealing that she's a part of the culture too. Which is a really powerful first issue. And I think that that's still something that isn't talked about enough. And I don't know if I necessarily have a question regarding that, but do you have anything more to say about that?

No, you're right. She's TV poisoned. And she's really mad, which makes her prone to violence in the first place and then she's soaking it in all the time. Sex and violence, that's all that comes out of our TVs. And she's completely reactionary and takes her cue. In fact, I think I was watching the news when I first started. I haven't looked at issue one in a really long time. But that's what happened. I had my pad of paper and I put on the TV and I saw something within like 45 seconds and that’s where the first four pages came from, which are the four pages that the therapist told me to do. And I brought 'em to work, and we all laughed at them, and I threw 'em in my room. And my partner, not Jessica now

[Audience laughs]

Very project oriented, Stacy. We were Giant Ass publishing in the beginning with the zines. And she saw it. She was like “what is this? Finish this!” And she went out and found, found the printer, and that's just how it started. I also worked as an alternative book distributor, so I didn't have to find a distributor. It really just all fell on my lap. But Stacy's the one who made it keep going.

Amazing. That is just such an incredible way to start off the first issue. But I feel like...Hothead does grow because the scenes with Daphne, I love so much, and I think they're so cute and they're also super tender. There's a lot of consent being discussed and like trust. So she does grow. She maybe doesn't admit that she's powerless to something, but she does grow and mature and she is pretty calm. Like, look at that face. She's so calm in that one.

Pheromones. Yeah, she is! She probably has only has ever trusted Roz in her life; Roz is her mentor. She gets vulnerable in front of Daphne. It's a moment.
I wouldn't say she has a breakthrough. She has a complete meltdown, and then Roz and Chicken and Daphne are at her apartment. And Daphne brings her a little diary and Hothead's like “oh my God!” And she remembers like being eight years old. You know, BINK! So, there are a little windows showing, I gotta keep a tab on that.

She's unruly. She's getting outta your control.

Yeah.

Yeah. And then I've been think I was thinking a lot about with Daphne, you talk about not wanting to define her gender, which I think is like still not something people are ready for. I think you were like way too ahead of the curve for that.

You know what? I didn't know when I drew her, I didn't have any specific idea about her. I just said “oh, Daphne's transitioning.” And that was it in my mind with her. I never had any thoughts of developing her as a character or anything. Hothead liked her. That was all we needed. I actually heard from more than one trans woman who was angry with me because I wouldn't admit that Daphne was a trans woman. But, the way I described Daphne is she's whatever you want her to be, she's whatever turns you on <laughs>

Yeah. I like how in the book you said you were gonna say that she was transitioning from butch to femme.

Cat to dog. Well, I started getting silly like that when the feedback started coming in.

I've read one book, this book Sphinx, it's a French book where the main characters are never gendered and no pronouns or gendered descriptions are used for them. And it's cool and it's sexy and it's great. But I think that’s the only other time I've seen someone be like “why do I have to define someone's gender?"

You know ? Isn’t that the problem? Daphne. Yeah. We love Daphne.

We love Daphne. Also, speaking of Roz: I love the precedent that Roz sets for friendships. She's so challenging but loving at the same time.

Well, yeah. The most spiritual thing about Roz is that she's able to be unconditional with the brat.

It’s a beautiful thing to see them just totally up in each others business. I really value when I'm challenged by friends. So, I love that like...this complicated person, her best friend is someone who's always challenging her! And One of my favorites is when Hothead says like “I want a cheeseburger” and Roz is like “you are going to eat a cheeseburger? You know what they do to those animals?” And then Hothead starts to spiral about how she's not enough of a Dyke for the Dykes.

Yeah, the sprouts and everything. That's true, I guess Roz was a seventies feminist.

Lots of sprouts. Tofu burgers. Was this like something that you were trying to cultivate in your life? Like having friends that challenged you or anything like that?

Well they do in the program. You can’t get away with shit. So, yes. I don't go to meetings anymore, I've been sober like 39 years or something. And my friends, we're all on the same page. And so they don't let me get away with it. And I do the same to them. We call each other out, that's a friend. You know, “you really need a haircut,” even that kind of stuff. But yeah, I think Roz only got mad at her twice and her and Chicken usually gang up on Hothead. Roz always has a smile on her face while Hothead’s freaking out. “Hothead’s at it again” That's how my anger is met with my friends.

It's a beautiful thing to see. I think it's one of my favorite things in the comic, the way that Roz handles everything. I think I have just one last question before we turn it over to the audience. Is that, does that sound good, Sally? Okay.

[Looks down and realizes she’s slowly pushed herself far away from the table] How did I get all way over here? Didn’t I start out over there?

[Audience laughs]

Did everybody see that happen? [DiMassa scoots her chair back to her original spot at the table]

Hi, welcome back! I think anyone who's read your comics would wanna know -- oh, actually I put this one in too because it has a Phillies reference. She’s wearing a Phillies shirt.

I did a signing here 500 years ago and one of our readers gave me that. It's not a Philly shirt. It's a Philly's Cunt shirt.

Where did you do the signing?

Oh, I forget. Some bookstore.

[Looks at how far DIMASSA has already pushed her chair from the table] You’ve already moved so far away!

I had coffee.

I think we all wanna know if you have a cat right now, and what's up with the cat if you have one.

I have Chicken Two. Her name is Fez because Chicken wore a Fez. The original Chicken was with me for 17 years.

Wow.

She was my heart. Fez looks like chicken pretty much.

How old is Chicken Two?

19.

Wow. Oh my God.