Trick Pony Delivers a Powerful Addition to the Gay Cowboy Canon
Just in time for Pride Month comes the graphic novel Trick Pony by bearish writer Greg Lockard, and artist Anna David.
Trick Pony is a queer fantasy tale of a washed-up rodeo star heading home to visit his father in the hospital. While on the road he confronts the mistakes of his past and the monsters of his present. It is a clever and beautiful story that touches on the themes of second chances, magical realism, and queer romance.
Bears will enjoy the fact that the story is set within a world of cowfolk, a culture naturally imbued with a sense of masculinity. However, Lockard does a magnificent job of maintaining a refreshingly non-toxic depiction of this world. The main character, Jimmy Thomas, lives his life as an out and proud cowboy and party animal and while he is not universally beloved by those around him; their distaste for him is fueled by his bad decisions and diminishing performances as opposed to who he sleeps with.
Speaking of which, Jimmy is by all accounts a stud, who is seen throughout the story working his way through a variety of men (including a handsome big-bodied bear of a ranch owner), but not in a gross, demeaning way. You most certainly are aware that the ‘calls are coming from inside the house’ in terms of his intimacy issues, as opposed to any sort of self-hatred or cavalier attitude towards the men he is hooking up with. You can’t help to simultaneously want to root for him and to shake some sense into him.
The journey Jimmy takes both literally and metaphorically is something many gay men will be familiar with or at the very least be able to identify with, a testament to the heartfelt story Lockard has written which is beautifully supported by the gorgeous artwork of David. Do yourself a favor and add this one to your Pride-themed reading list.
About the Creators:
Greg Lockard is a writer and editor of comic books and graphic novels. He is currently editing The Closet, Blue Book, and The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos for Tiny Onion Studiosand The Bone Orchard Mythos, Little Monsters and Fishflies for Image Comics. Liebestrasse, his first GLAAD Media Award-nominated graphic novel as writer and co-creator with Tim Fish, is out now in print via Dark Horse and available digitally from Comixology Originals.
Anna David is an illustrator from Annapolis, Maryland who graduated from the Maryland Institute College of Art in May of 2018 with a BFA in illustration. She is interested in science, especially nature and prehistory, and likes long walks in the woods with her dog.
