Best Looks - Abel Boddy #307 (Patreon)

A comic about a gay guy with a guardian angel gives you lots of opportunities for ridiculous stories and this is something I always wanted to exploit. In this quick storyline from 2010, Howard refuses to jump on the gay bandwagon with a new summer fashion trend: The Pollyboy Mantote - and since he will not comply with the summer trend, summer cannot begin.

I would never put this one in the "Best of" of Abel Boddy comics, but I can look back and see all the ingredients of something I thought was entertaining. The bizarre weather phenomena being one, the appearance of the "Gay Cops" that popped up on occasion being another and also... Howard's outfit.

I am sure I came up with this look while sketching and just sorta committed to it. Looking back now, I both hate it and love it for it's daringness but also my inability to really execute it properly.

For a summer story - it's surprisingly a very "un-Summer" look: Baby blue, short sleeved, button front done up to the collar. A brown and yellow suit vest with a CUMMERBUND and matching gym leggings(??) White shorts and brown heeled Oxfords. 

I actually don't dislike the choices, just the placement - if I could do it all again, I'd (besides re-naming and re-designing the mantote) push this look to a fall story, get a better grip on locating the seams of that vest and reference what a cummerbund looks like from the back. And I'd probably just give Howard the most summer look possible for this tale: like short short shorts (with the pocket linings sticking out), a spaghetti tank with a deep deep V and the flip floppiest of flip flops. And I'd Probably toss in the world's smallest cross body bag for kicks.