Dancing on the Volcano

by Floor de Goede

Overview

Dancing on the Volcano is a dramatic and original story of gay relationships for fans of Howard Cruse’s Stuck Rubber Baby or Alison Bechdel’s Dykes To Watch Out For.

When cartoonist Flo travels the globe for the first time without his boyfriend, Bas, he is too preoccupied with feeling homesick to really see any of the beauty around him. Even after many years together, do you still need distance between you in order to miss each other—or can you occupy the same space and still feel disconnected?

Dancing on the Volcano is an autobiographical story about the painful but recognizable sides of love. We all know that a long relationship has many stages, but never before has someone portrayed all those different facets of love as beautifully as Floor de Goede in the original graphic memoir.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781637150887
Publisher:	Oni Press
Publication date:	11/22/2022
Pages:	256
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Floor de Goede is a Dutch comic artist and children’s book illustrator. In 2004, he started his autobiographical comic, Flo, and gained a loyal fan base with his stories about his life, relationships, and the world around him. Dancing on the Volcano is his first work to be published in the U.S.

Editorial Reviews

10/17/2022

A work trip takes comic artist de Goede away from his boyfriend Bas for the longest time in their three-year relationship, and the physical distance highlights the emotional distance between them in this pensive graphic memoir. De Goede, nicknamed Flo, caricatures himself as fastidious and prone to imagination run wild—for example, his portly travel companion for work, Sander, becomes a walrus and elephant when disturbing Flo’s sleep. After returning from his trip, Flo beings to wonder if anything happened between Bas and their mutual friend Tom, a younger, blond-haired man who’s captured Flo’s own romantic attention. Their quiet, building tension erupts when Flo, after cheating on Bas with Tom, asks Bas, “Why can’t the three of us...?” Though Bas supports Flo in recognizing his feelings for Tom, Bas isn’t at all keen on a polyamorous arrangement. Things slowly deteriorate for the couple as the mundanity of daily living becomes suffocating, but a lack of urgency stalls the script’s narrative momentum. Meanwhile, De Goede’s wiry, full-color art meshes the detailed style of European comics with cartooning and cute character designs à la Calvin and Hobbes. Despite its pacing flaws, this true-to-life account pinpoints the particular challenges of a long-term, monogamous gay relationship amid pervasive hookup culture. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly

"By the end of the book I was in love with each and every character. And especially with Flo, the sweetest grouch I know."

Alma Mathijsen

"Flo reveals big themes in the smallest of gestures. Subtle but merciless. His book is moving and honest."

Renske de Greef

A real-life account of the difficulties of maintaining a relationship, Dancing on the Volcano is a heartfelt romantic drama leavened with humor.

Foreword Reviews