Template:Infobox comics creator Joe Johnson was[1] an American gay cartoonist, whose Miss Thing and Big Dick were among the first ongoing gay comics characters, appearing in the late 1960s and early 1970s.[2] The characters were featured in single-panel humor cartoons originally published in The Advocate.
Miss Thing is an unflappable, stereotypically effeminate, gay "queen";[3] the name was a popular expression in gay male subculture for such a person. He has a willowy physique and a pompadour hairstyle, and wears floral prints, bell-bottoms, and flamboyant blouses.[2] Big Dick is an outgoing, stereotypically macho gay man. He has a highly muscular physique, and wears tight jeans which emphasize his large penis, a baseball cap, and a leather jacket and boots, in the mold of a Tom of Finland character.[2][4] Both characters are sexually adventurous, and the cartoons are blatantly sexual with frequent nudity, but not sexually explicit.[4] The characters usually appear separately in cartoons under their respective names, but sometimes meet.
Johnson published a collection of Miss Thing and Big Dick cartoons through Funny Bone Press in 1973 as: ...and so, this is YOUR life, Miss Thing (the title being a reference to the then-recent popular television program This Is Your Life), with an introduction by Larry Townsend.[5] Some of Johnson's cartoons were also reprinted in volumes of Meatmen in the 1980s, as well as in historical overviews such as No Straight Lines published by Fantagraphics in 2012.[2] Johnson also produced explicit erotic illustrations for sale.[6]
Cartoonist Donelan was inspired by Johnson's work to begin his series "It's a Gay Life", which appeared in The Advocate after "Miss Thing" and "Big Dick" ended.[7] Howard Cruse cited Johnson's "brazenly gay" cartooning as an inspiration.[8]