Updated on August 7, 2022
Today’s comic review takes a look at “Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast,” a long-running comic strip written and drawn by Greg Fox. “Kyle’s” launched in 1998.
Summary
The strip focuses on the soap opera-like goings-on at a gay bed and breakfast located on Long Island, New York; the B&B is run by the titular Kyle. However, akin to the boarding house in the 1980s strip “Bloom County,” most of the occupants are very long term or permanent residents.
Many of “Kyle’s” storylines deal with aspects of gay culture, though the main focus is on the characters’ romantic or platonic relationships.
Most of the strip’s cast is male, and drawn with a muscular look. While this fits the strip’s soap opera nature, there are several characters who don’t fit this mold. The strip also tends toward a slightly “NSFW”/”blue” nature; characters are sometimes seen in the B&B’s shower, or wearing very little. The cast are also open about sex and sexuality.
Cast
While the very large cast of characters can rotate in and out (given the B&B nature of the strip), the most prominent characters (as of this writing) include:
- Kyle, the owner of the B&B. He specializes in making pancakes, which everyone at the B&B likes. (Pancakes even sometimes show up in the strip’s promotional logos/material.)
- Price, an egotistical, self-centered wealthy heir from Kentucky. Price views himself as a prize catch for any man, but others are often turned off by his personality. He strikes me as sort of a gay adult version of Archie’s Reggie Mantle.
- Lance, an ad executive from Los Angeles, and the strip’s main African-American character. Lance comes off as fairly high-brow in terms of interests, though still makes time for his friends at the B&B. He seems to clash the most with Price.
- Delia, a friend of Kyle’s who lives in an apartment building near the bed and breakfast.
- Drew, a bearded man from Alabama. Despite his laid-back mannerisms and accent, Drew’s a well educated man. He’s also started dating Lance.
- Dave, a coworker of Lance’s. Dave uses a wheelchair, and was a survivor of the World Trade Center attacks. (Despite real-world events acknowledged by the cast, the strip seems to use a DC/Marvel-like floating timeline, with everyone frozen at the same age.) Dave recently got married to…
- Nick, a balding, middle-aged auto mechanic and native New Yorker. Has a fairly gruff personality.
- Rudy, an elderly man who recently moved into the B&B.
- Brad, a minor league baseball player. After years of being in the closet, Brad finally came out to his teammates a few years ago.
- Richard, a gossipy, melodramatic man who keeps dying his hair different colors. A part-time DJ/fashion designer.
- Eduardo, a college student.
- Steve, a visiting character who only appears during holiday strips. Implied to be an actual angel.
- Frosty, Kyle’s pet dog, a Siberian Husky.
Highlights
- Some of the characters have an interest in superhero comics, particularly the Legion of Super-Heroes (Greg Fox’s favorite superhero comic). One strip had the cast putting on a Legion-themed costume party (Bronze Age version, if curious).
- The storyline where a man named Jake stays in the B&B. Jake was from Indiana, so a few Hoosier State references were made, mostly to the state’s conservative politics. During his stay, Jake dated Sergei, a Russian man.
Image from “Kyle’s Bed & Breakfast: Without Reservations.” Art by Greg Fox. (Sugar Maple Press)
