(116) Meet the Duchess

"Duchess" Duvall Capet III was one of the "Sparkle Spinster" characters I created for Gay Comix. Eventually I brought him, Vernon, and Lee  into Murphy's Manor as neighbors who lived down the street.

Duchess was a mass of sly inside jokes. The gag for this strip is one I should not have used because it makes non sense outside of Toledo. The very name "Duchess" automatically makes a gay man of my generation think of a Toledoan known as "Baroness." But Duchess is not that person. Duchess quickly developed a personality of his own. 

Then there's his name. Capet. The family name of the Bourbons. Yes, he really *is* a Duchess

And Duchess looks a bit like Ronald Reagan. Don't ask me to explain why.

Duchess is a character I kept returning to over the years. I think I found him attractive because he was totally unapologetic and lived his life strictly by him own terms, quite unconscious of what anybody else thought.