It’s been less than a year since Comicosity put together the last list of 35 indie comic titles that included queer characters or themes — and to be perfectly honest, it didn’t take much to come up with another. That’s progress, slowly but steadily.
DC has dropped to three queer-led monthlies (Harley Quinn, Hellblazer, and Detective Comics) and Marvel still has none, but 14 other publishers, large and small, are wasting no time in picking up the slack with either prominent supporting characters or outright leads.
And for this edition, we’re proud to say there’s some noticeably new patterns: more all-ages comics, more asexual characters, more trans characters. More of everything that makes the queer community as bright and vibrant as it can be, on the page and off.
35 more monthlies, mini-series, and graphic novels from the non-Big Two publishers that make us proud to hit the comic shop every Wednesday.
Merry Men
Published by Oni Press
Written by Robert Rodi
Art by Jackie Lewis and Marissa Louise
Ever sat in a room and wondered, what if Robin Hood and his Merry Men were actually — you know — merry together? Wonder no more. Set in the 13th century and reimagined as the gay lover of King Richard the Lionheart, Robin Hood leads his band of gay adventurers in opposition to the criminalization of homosexuality in England.
Kim & Kim
Published by Black Mask Studios
Written by Magdalene Visaggio
Art by Eva Cabrera and Claudia Aguirre
Arriving in stores July 6, 2016!
Two best friends, bounty hunters in space. One trans, both queer, two Kims. You want rock and roll, guns, space monsters, a totally queer ass cast, and some crazy, mixed-up parent issues? This is the book for you. And if you’re still not convinced, hear it for yourself from trans writer Magdalene Visaggio.
Jughead
Published by Archie Comics
Written by Chip Zdarsky
Art by Erica Henderson
Archie Comics has been a trailblazer in all-ages comics for bringing in queer characters (like Kevin Keller) and diversifying the population of Riverdale. Now, they’ve taken another great leap and had Jughead come out as asexual, making him the most prominent mainstream character as such. It was a matter-of-fact moment between Jughead and his classmates, and we love it!
Zodiac Starforce
Published by BOOM! Studios
Written by Kevin Panetta
Art by Paulina Ganucheau and Savanna Ganucheau
Teenage girls fighting monsters with magic, while still trying to get their homework done on time. With an emphasis on body diversity, ethnic variety, and multiple sexualities, the Zodiac Starforce team is filled to the brim with queerness. And as the romance grows between heroes Lily and Savi, so too do the feels.
Clean Room
Published by Vertigo Comics
Written by Gail Simone
Art by Jon Davis-Hunt and Quinton Winter
Queer characters in a Gail Simone-written comic? You don’t say. But with Clean Room, Simone is proving once again that queerness is the least provocative thing you can read in her books, as she takes on the self-help industry and creates a Church of Scientology-like vision of psychic demons plaguing the world. There are only two women who can stop them. Only thing is, one doesn’t believe it’s true. At first.
Princeless
Published by Action Lab Entertainment
Written by Jeremy Whitley
Art by Emily Martin and Brett Grunig
With the newest volume of Princeless (volume 5: Make Yourself), Princess Adrienne is introduced to a new friend among her dwarvan compatriots, who just happens to be in love with another female dwarf. If you’ve ever worried about how to explain same sex attraction or marriage to a child, this is the comic to pick up. Adrienne gets educated!
Saga
Published by Image Comics
Written by Brian K. Vaughan
Art by Fiona Staples
You probably heard, Saga #12 got banned from iTunes over depictions of gay sex. And the creative team couldn’t be happier. We get to see two gay alien journalists escape persecution on their home planet, and flashbacks to same sex experiences in Gwendolyn’s past. Plus, there’s a guy with a TV for a head who watches porn. A lot.
Power Up
Published by BOOM! Studios
Written by Kate Leth
Art by Matt Cummings
Meet Kevin. He’s a washed-up athlete. A construction worker. Bearded manly man. And he feels empowered when he wears a “Magical Girl” costume, complete with tutu. So. What. Welcome to another all-ages comic playing queerness not for jokes, but with heart, soul, acceptance, and worth celebrating!
Stripling Warrior
Published by So Super Duper Comics
Written by Brian Andersen
Art by James Neish
Featuring the world’s first gay Mormon super-hero (not to mention first lesbian Mormon super-hero as well), Stripling Warrior introduces us to healthy, loving, coupled homosexuals who find great power in their Mormon beliefs and traditions — literally — and use them to fight against hate.
Adventure Time
Published by BOOM! Studios
Written by Christopher Hastings & Various
Art by Zachary Sterling & Various
You can’t get more all-ages or mainstream these days than Adventure Time. And while main characters Finn and Jake remain fairly unassuming in the world of love, we get a fair amount of background on the relationship history between Princess Bubblegum (who consistently breaks stereotype of what a girl can and should do) and Marceline the Vampire Queen.
The People Inside
Published by Oni Press
Written by Ray Fawkes
Art by Ray Fawkes
Featuring one of the most heart-breaking panel grids ever conceived in graphic form, The People Inside takes a look at relationships — gay and straight — as they progress in real time, until they don’t anymore.
Satellite Falling
Published by IDW Publishing
Written by Steve Horton
Art by Stephen Thompson and Lisa Jackson
The sole human on a satellite populated by aliens makes her way as a bounty hunter, but her latest mission is going to change her life forever. Meet Lilly, lesbian and widow, whose sexual pleasure is depicted as realistically and respectfully as her characterization.
Shaft
Published by Dynamite Entertainment
Written by David F. Walker
Art by Dietrich Smith
Shaft may be a bad motherfucker, but he still can change with the times. The times in question are the early 70s and the change necessary is to not be so damn homophobic. In taking on a young, homosexual client — Tito Salazar — whose friend has gone missing from the Stonewall Inn, Shaft: Imitation of Life shows exactly how writers can redeem characters with a modern lens but still stay true to their origins.
Motor Crush
Published by Image Comics
Written by Cameron Stewart and Brenden Fletcher
Art by Babs Tarr
Coming December 2016.
Queer bikers, crazy robots, and machine narcotics pepper the world of Motor Crush, as the complete creative team behind the Batgirl of Burnside makes their Image Comics debut.
Another Castle
Published by Oni Press
Written by Andrew Wheeler
Art by Paulina Ganucheau
You’d be hard-pressed not to find queer-coding in almost any Princess tale these days, and Another Castle is no exception. But more than anything, you might fall in love with Fosmoth the Jailor (not to mention Gorga the Attendant) and his precious basket of muffins. Every girl needs a GBF, and Princess Misty certainly seems to get hers right away.
Xena: Warrior Princess
Published by Dynamite Entertainment
Written by Genevieve Valentine
Art by Ariel Medel and Nanjan Jamberi
The love of Xena and Gabrielle is legendary — and not just among comic fans! Waking up years later in a Rome very different from the one they left behind, it’s up to the couple to save innocent villagers and team up with a group of Harpies that are out to kill them for betrayal!
Sex Criminals
Published by Image Comics
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Chip Zdarsky
With Sex Criminals #13, the focus turns for an issue onto new character Alix, who is asexual and can stop time and access the same power Jon and Suzie do post-orgasm. For a series that explores every possible aspect of sex, up to and including semen angels, it’s great Fraction and Zdarsky can introduce such a powerful (and important) counterpoint.
Chiggers
Published by Atheneum Books
Written by Hope Larson
Art by Hope Larson
A beautiful coming of age story featuring two girls on the path to love, Chiggers follows young Abby’s return to summer camp — but now, everything is different. Everyone is growing up, and so is Abby. Especially once she meets Shasta.
The Backstagers
Published by BOOM! Studios
Written by James Tynion IV
Art by Rian Sygh
Coming August 2016.
Queer drama kids take centerstage as Tynion and Sygh launch another all-ages book for BOOM!, this time focusing the spotlight right onto the stage crew of a high school drama department and the boys that make it up.
Heathen
Published by Heavy Metal
Written by Natasha Alterici
Art by Natasha Alterici
Who needs Thor when you can have a young lesbian Viking take on a mission to stop Odin? Originally self-published and now releasing volume 1 through Heavy Metal this fall, Heathen is also available right now via Kickstarter for volume 2.
Casanova
Published by Image Comics
Written by Matt Fraction
Art by Gabriel Bá and Fábio Moon
A healthy critique of masculinity, combined with sexual congress and amorality, Casanova features a universe-hopping spy who travels through time who’s as stylish as he is disruptive of traditional gender roles.
Isola
Published by Image Comics
Written by Brenden Fletcher
Art by Karl Kershl
Coming Spring 2017.
Two women — a queen and her captain of the guard — have been kept apart by station, class, and culture. But they now have to learn how to communicate in an intimate way that might ultimately bring them closer.
InSeXts
Published by Aftershock Comics
Written by Marguerite Bennett
Art by Ariela Kristantina and Bryan Valenza
Every crazy myth or monstrous fairy tale about what women can do to men is all true, at least as far as Victorian, shapeshifting women go. If you’re looking for a spot of erotic horror with your lesbian representation, this is the book for you.
Wet Moon
Published by Oni Press
Written by Sophie Campbell
Art by Sophie Campbell
Cleo Lovedrop and her three best girl friends attend art school in the small college town of Wet Moon, and soon find themselves enveloped by Southern Gothic happenings — just as their own sexualities come into bloom. Putting queerness front and center from the very first moments, Sophie Campbell has crafted a slightly horror take on the coming of age/coming out story that you don’t want to miss out on.
Cry Havoc
Published by Image Comics
Written by Simon Spurrier
Art by Ryan Kelly
“Cry Havoc isn’t about a lesbian werewolf going to war, except it kind of is.” Gay London musician gets bitten by a wolf, what’s the first thing you do? Ship her off to Afghanistan to join a Black Ops group full of other similarly special operatives, all intent on killing insurgents and taking down the opposition.
Alters
Published by Aftershock Comics
Written by Paul Jenkins
Art by Leyla Leiz and Tamra Bonvillain
Coming September 2016.
Touting Chalice, the first mainstream transgender super-hero, at the center of its ensemble, Alters features a world transformed by super-powers and the threat of a world-dominating fascist, Matter Man.
Injection
Published by Image Comics
Written by Warren Ellis
Art by Declan Shalvey and Jordie Bellaire
With three queer protagonists — Maria Kilbride, Brigid Roth, and Vivek Headland — Injection tells the tale of what happens when the British government decides to start messing around with reaity, and injects something into it that starts creating toxic aberrations. And these scientists may be the world’s only hope.
Transformers: More than Meets the Eye
Published by IDW Publishing
Written by James Roberts
Art by Alex Milne and Joana Lafuente
Who would have thought when we were kids there would ever be gay Transformers? Rewind, the archivist of the group, and Chromedome, a surgeon, are key members of the Transformer’s main squad and while genderless by human terms, they both present as male robots in disguise.
Oh Joy Sex Toy
Published by Oni Press
Written by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
Art by Erika Moen and Matthew Nolan
Gay, straight, we all love the fun stuff. Oh Joy Sex Toy features sex tips galore from married couple Moen and Nolan, and certainly not limited to those between a man and woman — or even with more than one person. A long-running webcomic, this series will see its first printing this year with Oni Press’s new erotic fiction label.
We(l)come Back
Published by BOOM! Studios
Written by Christopher Sebela
Art by Jonathan Brandon Sawyer and Carlos Zamudio
Mali and Tessa are Sequels — a pair of soldiers that fight a neverending battle because they just keep getting reincarnated. But what happens when they start being drawn to each other for more than war, over time?
Empty Zone
Published by Image Comics
Written by Jason Shawn Alexander
Art by Jason Shawn Alexander and Luis NCT
Like Mad Max: Fury Road on an LSD bender, Empty Zone features a dark world 80 years into our future where bisexual Corrinne White keeps having waking dreams about the dead and losing limbs. All the while, she has to track down the undead as everything gets more terrifying by the minute.
Weird Detective
Published by Dark Horse Comics
Written by Fred Van Lente
Art by Guiu Vilanova, Mauricio Wallace, and Josan Gonzalez
Weird Detective follows Sebastian Greene (and his lesbian partner Sana Fayez), who is the only detective smart and savvy enough to outwit ad defeat the old god monsters that we keep at bay. Only trick is, he’s one of the monsters himself. Shhhhh!
Steven Universe
Published by BOOM! Studios
Written by Jeremy Sorese and Josceline Fenton
Art by Coleman Engle, Chrystin Garland, and Leigh Luna
One of the most queer-positive children’s cartoons ever made — and featuring lesbian couple Ruby and Sapphire — Steven Universe is equally as encouraging for questioning kids and affirming (or questioning) adults as a comic book.
Vampirella
Published by Dynamite Entertainment
Written by Kate Leth
Art by Eman Casallos
Like with Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat, Kate Leth weaves queer characters into her stint on Vampirella with ease, introducing Juliette Court, PR agent/social media manager, and fun foil for the woman in red.
Ringside
Published by Image Comics
Written by Joe Keatinge
Art by Nick Barber and Simon Gough
The world of wrestling takes focus as Dan Knossos, formerly known as the Minotaur, returns to California to face some shady business and encounter Reynolds, a younger version of himself as a wrestler just starting out. Combining the vision of an older gay man and a younger one in a field we don’t often see any queerness, Ringside is making some big strides for queer representation.
For another 35 titles to check out that should make your queer hearts burst with pride, click here.
