Joe Johnson

Joe Johnson was 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. The characters were featured in single-panel humor cartoons originally published in The Advocate.

Miss Thing is an unflappable, stereotypically effeminate, gay "queen"; 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. Both characters are sexually adventurous, and the cartoons are blatantly sexual with frequent nudity, but not sexually explicit. 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.

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. Howard Cruse cited Johnson's "brazenly gay" cartooning as an inspiration.