14 Queer Comic Books You Probably Haven't Read (But Should)
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- Marvel Comics
In Young Avengers Vol. 1, Allan Heinberg and Jim Cheung introduce maybe the greatest comic book couple of all time - Billy Kaplan and Teddy Altman. No, really - they're that adorable. Over the course of both runs of Young Avengers, this continues to be one of the most well-written same-sex relationships in both comics and standard novels. Starting in Vol. 2, Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie introduce new members (America Chavez and Prodigy specifically) to the team that both expand the team in terms of strength and in terms of diversity on the LGBT+ spectrum. If you pick up just one book from this list, make it this one.
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- DC Comics
As one of the only gay characters to headline her own comic, Batwoman is kind of a big deal. In her youth, our girl Kate Kane was in a same-sex relationship while attending the United States Military Academy in 2006, well within the era of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. Upon this revelation, Kate is expelled and moves to Gotham City, where she eventually runs into Batman and becomes inspired to put on the cape herself. Greg Rucka's Batwoman: Elegy is a fantastic place to start which was released right before her self-titled New 52 series.
It needs to be noted that after Kate Kane proposes to her longtime girlfriend in the New 52 run, DC Comics forbade the marriage from taking place both on and off panel, stating basically superheroes couldn't be happy, causing the creative team of J.H. Williams III and W. Haden Blackman to walk away from the title, causing a massive drop in sales and a cancellation of the title prior to DC Rebirth.- Photo:
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- Image Comics
In one of the most diverse comics probably ever, The Wicked + The Divine is a beautifully drawn romp that's unapologetically awesome. In this story from Kieron Gillen and Jamie McKelvie (yup - same team as Young Avengers), every 90 years a Pantheon of deities from various mythological backgrounds are reincarnated as 20-somethings while retaining all of the powers one might associate with a god.
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- DC Comics
DC Bombshells started as a line of DC Collectibles statues released in 2013, but quickly became a fan favorite, inspiring a digital ongoing series that's just plain delightful. In the series, characters like Harley Quinn, Poison Ivy, and Batwoman retain their sexual identities while adapting to work together in a team setting in the 1940s. The series is collected in trades and is still an ongoing digital title.
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- Marvel
Created by Brian K. Vaughan and Adrian Alphona, the Runaways are a group of teenagers who discover that all of their parents are super villains. One night at a party, the six flee after watching their parents murder a girl in a ritual sacrifice. Among its members is Karolina Dean, a Majesdanian alien with the powers of flight and the ability to manipulate and reradiate solar energy, who also just happens to be gay. What's so great about this series is that it represents the internal struggles of sexuality very well with Karolina going through what most people in the LGBT community go through at some point - misreading signs.
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- DC Comics
Harley Quinn was also given her own solo title with the New 52 reboot back in 2011. Here, we get to see Harley grow into her own person and really step into center stage, highlighting both mental health and her relationships, both past and present. One of the downfalls of a character like Harley is the challenge of escaping the title of "The Joker's Ex-Girlfriend," and unfortunately, the title doesn't always accomplish that. It does, however, address Harley's bisexuality and doesn't erase it by simply labeling her as gay or straight or someone who just wants to have fun.
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- Archie Comics
In 2010, Dan Parent of Archie Comics introduced the series' first openly gay character in the form of Kevin Keller in Veronica #202. Kevin was then given a four-issue miniseries revolving around his life before he moved to Riverdale which then resulted in a solo title that ended after 15 issues in 2014. Kevin Keller's experience of what it's like to be a gay teen dealing with teenage problems is one of the most accurate representations in modern comics while remaining an all-ages title, making it perfect for kids.
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- Boom! Studios
Lumberjanes is an incredibly heartwarming all-ages title that focuses on the friendship of girls at a summer camp who also have to deal with some supernatural stuff that's happening in the woods. Think Hogwarts meets Girl Scouts - it's rad. There's LGBT+ representation across the spectrum and it's totally worth the journey to read. Grace Ellis's and ND Stevenson's writing make this a really accessible title for people who might not be super into comics.
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- Arsenal Pulp Press
Just read this. It's beautiful and sad but really, really, good.
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Remember that movie that came out in 2010 that was awesome? There's a comic series it's based off and it's even more amazing. Wallace Wells is only one of ten LGBT+ characters that appear in the series and the shenanigans surrounding Scott and his friends totally make this a worthwhile investment.
More Scott Pilgrim
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Written by ND Stevenson, this comic follows Nimona, the enthusiastic magical sidekick to supervillain Ballister Blackheart. Shenanigans ensue on their missions of villainy and characters fall in love. It's hard to say much more because of spoilers, but this is a great light-hearted read.
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- Image Comics
Published in 2014 with Warren Ellis writing and Jason Howard illustrating, Trees is a science fiction series that takes place 10 years after massive alien constructs appeared on Earth and then proceeded to simply exist - like trees. This series has done an awesome job at representing transgendered people in the form of Zhen and is definitely worth picking up, if not for the characters then for the massively detailed world Ellis and Howard have built.
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- E. K. Weaver
Formerly a webcomic, this is the road trip everyone gets roped into at least one time in their life. Amal, after rejecting the idea of an arranged marriage, coming out to his parents, and subsequently getting disowned, gets absolutely hammered one night. He wakes up in his apartment the following day with TJ, a stranger, cooking in his kitchen. To Amal's surprise, he had agreed to a cross-country road trip with a virtual stranger to go to his sister's graduation in Boston. Shenanigans ensue.
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- Marvel
While it's easy to wax poetic about how X-Men changed the world of comics when it launched in 1963, one storyline from 1982 particularly stands out: God Loves, Man Kills, the comic that inspired X2. Effectively, the story arc makes deep connections between the X-gene and homosexuality. With William Stryker being the Evangelical pastor of a mega church that promotes the killing of mutants, it really hits close to home.
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