Artists - Part 47b

Fabien Lutz-Barabé

Yesterday we saw some of Canadian artist Fabien Lutz-Barabé's paintings and how he advocates for the naturist lifestyle.  But Fabien is also an accomplished cartoonist.  Below is a "Happy Nude Year" drawing featuring Fabien himself plus some of the characters that he has developed over the years.  From left: Matias, Fabien, Johnny Spice and Dan Fogel.

In 1993 he started a daily comic strip called The Spice of Life that was published in two Montreal newspapers.  It was eventually followed by a another strip called The Secret Life of a Naturist.  Both strips followed his nudist characters Dan Fogel and Johnny Spice, plus a host of other characters who were introduced over the years.  Below, a strip with Dan and Johnny.  I must say that these newspapers were much more liberal than U.S. newspapers in running a comic strip with full-frontal nudity.

Below is another strip with Dan and Johnny.  To get it, you need to know that it had taken nudist Dan (the blond guy) a long time (and many comic strips) to convince Johnny that it was OK to be nude.

The comic strips are not just for fun.  They cover subjects like discrimination and bashing of gays and transsexuals.  In one set of strips, a trans boy is attacked in a rest room at school, and when his gay friend defends him, he gets stabbed.  In another series of episodes, a teenage boy, Matias, is injured and his parents are killed in a car accident.  Johnny Spice is a doctor who treats Matias in the hospital.  Eventually, Johnny and Dan bring the boy into their home, resulting in the strip below.

Below are characters from Fabien's comic strips.  The strips are ultimately about equality and the need for tolerance, whether male or female, gay or straight, trans or cisgender, black or white, young or old, clothed or nudist – presented in a way to make us smile.

You can see more of Fabien's comic strips at https://thesecretlifeofanaturist.wordpress.com.

Thanks, Fabien, for letting me use this material.