David Shenton‘s cartoon character Stanley (Townsend) first came to our attention as the star of his own weekly cartoon strip in Gay News and, subsequently, Capital Gay.

Whilst Stanley the cartoon strip documented a series of vignettes from the life of our uber-clone gay hero, Stanley and the Mask of Mystery provided a broader, somewhat surreal experience.

Described by one critic as “part graphic novel, part activity book for gay men”, the adventure kicks off in relatively conventional style with Stanley’s discovery of a black leather mask in his bed. But no sooner has he resolved to track down the source of said mask than we find ourselves filling in a crossword puzzle on the side of his bath, decoding ‘carrier bag semaphore’ or enjoying a game of Cottaging (“A Game of Chance”). And that’s just for starters!

While some of the activities were relevant to the story line (for example, ‘Join the Dots’ in a busy cruising spot), others were merely amusing diversions (such as The Homoteenies Membership Form or the knitting pattern for a “Cuddly Clone”, below).

It very much was a gay men’s activity book – sex positive and politically aware, all served up with a huge sense of fun. Something that was very much needed at the time (and wouldn’t go down too badly these days either – even if clones are a somewhat rarer species in the 21st century.)