Spring 2023

Collection curated by Miiah Carter, Cyreema Marshall, and Anushka Nayak

Until 1989, the Comics Code Authority forbade any mention, depiction, or suggestion of “homosexuality” in comics bearing the CCA seal. But what the CCA didn’t anticipate was the response of LGBTQ+ artists and cartoonists, who challenged the ban by representing their communities on the comic strips that flourished throughout the underground world of “comix.” Used as a tool for raising awareness, exploring the social contexts of gender/sexuality, and affirming the existence of diverse identities, comics have played an essential role in introducing LGBTQ+ themes to a mainstream audience. To offer a look into the current world of queer representation in comics, graphic novels, and gaming, we gathered materials that use illustration as their primary medium to depict various queer identities, with the goal of creating a collection that reflects the expansive ways in which comics have been used to push the boundaries of queer characters that exist in popular imagination.

The Physical Collection

1. Heartstopper by Alice Oseman

This graphic novel series welcomes us into the wonderfully awkward world of high school romance and self-discovery. In Volume 1, we are introduced to Nick and Charlie in charming two-color artwork, and follow their respective coming-of-age journeys as they navigate friendship, coming out, mental illness, and budding feelings for each other. Originally a Webtoon comic, Alice Oseman’s charming take on teenage love will warm even the coldest of hearts!

2. Our Work Is Everywhere: An Illustrated Oral History of Queer & Trans Resistance by Rose Syan

Through bold, surrealist imagery, Rose Syan’s non-fiction graphic novel offers narratives of survival and resistance from queer and trans communities across America, including themes of BIPOC mental health, disability and healthcare practice, sex worker activism, and more.

3. Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker

In a world of witchcraft, occult rituals, and demons, Mooncakes follows teenage witch Nova, who loans out spell books at her grandmother’s bookshop and investigates supernatural occurrences in her New England town. On a fateful night in the woods, she encounters Tam, a genderqueer werewolf and Nova’s childhood crush, and she is suddenly thrust into a battle against the dark forces that threaten Tam as latent feelings between the two are rekindled. In this joyful fantasy, readers embark on an adventure centered around themes of family, love, and of course, plenty of magic!

4. Drama by Raina Telgemeier

Drama centers on the story of theater-lover Callie, who joins her school’s drama production crew and is suddenly confronted with the all-too-familiar tween experiences of confusing crushes, middle school drama, and juggling friendships. A master of the middle grade graphic novel, Raina Telegmeier offers readers a coming-of-age story all about teamwork and inclusion, introducing a cast of characters that you’ll absolutely fall in love with. 

5. Far Sector by Jamal Campbell & N.K. Jemisin

It’s been over 500 years since the City Enduring, a metropolis at the edge of the universe, has experienced violent crime, due to a controversial movement by the Emotion Exploit to erase its citizens’ full range of feelings. When a brutal murder rattles the social order of this strange world, Rookie Sojourner “Jo” Mullein must rely on her unique abilities as Green Lantern and the only human in her sector to solve the crime. In this award winning sci-fi murder mystery, Jemisin and Campbell present a refreshing twist on the Green Lantern legacy that you won’t be able to put down. 

6. Poison Ivy: Thorns by Kody Keplinger & Sara Kipin

There’s something strange about red-haired Pamela Insley, the girl who won’t let anyone see past the curtains, who obsessively looks after a few plants, who doesn’t trust other people. When Pamela meets Alice Oh, a cute goth girl and the only person that makes Pamela consider putting her guard down, she discovers that this new possibility of love is endangered by the dark secrets hidden within the thorns of Isley house– secrets that could turn deadly and destroy the only person who ever cared about Pamela, or as her mother liked to call her…Ivy. In Poison Ivy: Thorns, bestselling author Kody Keplinger and artist Sara Kipin reimagine an iconic DC antihero with a gothic-horror twist.  

7. Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan

There’s something strange about red-haired Pamela Insley, the girl who won’t let anyone see past the curtains, who obsessively looks after a few plants, who doesn’t trust other people. When Pamela meets Alice Oh, a cute goth girl and the only person that makes Pamela consider putting her guard down, she discovers that this new possibility of love is endangered by the dark secrets hidden within the thorns of Isley house– secrets that could turn deadly and destroy the only person who ever cared about Pamela, or as her mother liked to call her…Ivy. In Poison Ivy: Thorns, bestselling author Kody Keplinger and artist Sara Kipin reimagine an iconic DC antihero with a gothic-horror twist.  

8. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Alison Bechdel

Settle in to this wittily illustrated soap opera (Bechdel calls it “half op-ed column and half endless serialized Victorian novel”) of the lives, loves, and politics of Mo, Lois, Sydney, Sparrow, Ginger, Stuart, Clarice, and the rest of the cast of cult-fav characters. Most of them are lesbians, living in a midsize American city that may or may not be Minneapolis. Bechdel’s brilliantly imagined countercultural band of friends–academics, social workers, bookstore clerks–fall in and out of love, negotiate friendships, raise children, switch careers, and cope with aging parents. Bechdel fuses high and low culture–from foreign policy to domestic routine, hot sex to postmodern theory–in a serial graphic narrative “suitable for humanists of all persuasions.

9. Blue is the Warmest Color by Julie Maroh

Clementine is a junior in high school who seems average enough: she has friends, family, and the romantic attention of the boys in her school. When her openly gay best friend takes her out on the town, she wanders into a lesbian bar where she encounters Emma: a punkish, confident girl with blue hair. Their attraction is instant and electric, and Clementine finds herself in a relationship that will test her friends, parents, and her own ideas about herself and her identity.

10. Flamer by Mike Curato

Everyone’s going through changes–but for Aiden, the stakes feel higher. As he navigates friendships, deals with bullies, and spends time with Elias (a boy he can’t stop thinking about), he finds himself on a path of self-discovery and acceptance. Award-winning author and artist Mike Curato draws on his own experiences in this debut graphic novel, telling a difficult story with humor, compassion, and love.

10. On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

Award-winning cartoonist Tillie Walden released On a Sunbeam following her winning graphic novel memoir. On a Sunbeam is a science fiction graphic novel set in a spacefaring world following Mia with a restoration as they retrofit abandoned buildings on alien worlds. The story is told non-linearly as Mia goes through life altering experiences trying to come to terms with her past and her potential. 

Resources for more information!

• Atlanta Fulton Libraries: Digital Resources
  • Fine: a Comic About Gender – Rhea Ewing, OverDrive Read
    • “Adopting a pseudo-documentary format, graphic artist Rhea Ewing creates an elegantly illustrated portrait of the intricacies of gender expression with insights from interviewees across America. Fine is an elegantly illustrated celebration of the transgender community, producing fiercely honest stories about transitioning, queer adolescence, intersectionality, and grappling with identity. For anyone eager to define gender on their own terms, Fine offers many valuable perspectives you won’t want to miss.” 
  • Drawn this Way – Streaming Video
    • “From Tom of Finland to Bugs Bunny in a dress, animation has long been a place where artists can unleash and explore their sexuality. In this documentary, Andy Cheng and Cara Connors dive into the pages of comic books, animated series, films, and even video games to discover the LGBTQ characters portrayed, and to answer questions such as, how did these artists get their start; how did the genre develop; are these portrayals taken seriously in the mainstream?”
  • Manifestations of Queerness in Video Games – Gaspard Pelurson, OverDrive Read
    • “Situated at the intersection of New Media, Game, Cultural and Queer Studies, the book navigates diverse interspecies relationships, queer villains from the past, Pokémon memes on border politics, flânerie in post-industrial cities and one-sided erotic fights. It provides new critical engagements with the works of Jose Esteban Muñoz, Bonnie Ruberg, Guy Debord and Jack Halberstam, examining queer representation, gaming subcultures and dissident play practices. Making the bold claim that video games might be the queerest medium today, this book provides organic, self-reflective and, ultimately, thought-provoking thinking in which both games and gamers are queered.”
  • Good White Queers – Kai Linke, OverDrive Read
    • “How do white queer people portray our own whiteness? Can we, in the stories we tell about ourselves, face the uncomfortable fact that, while queer, we might still be racist? If we cannot, what does that say about us as potential allies in intersectional struggles? A careful analysis of Dykes To Watch Out For and Stuck Rubber Baby by queer comic icons Alison Bechdel and Howard Cruse traces the intersections of queerness and racism in the neglected medium of queer comics, while a close reading of Jaime Cortez’s striking graphic novel Sexile/Sexilio offers glimpses of the complexities and difficult truths that lie beyond the limits of the white queer imaginary.”
  • “2023 Book Squad Goals: Read a LGBTQIA+ Graphic Novel or Manga” – LPL Staff-Created Booklist
• Regional Resources (available on OverDrive Read)
  • Humor, Homosexuality, and the Southern Literary Canon – Tison Pugh (2017)
    • Published by Southern Literary Studies
  • Multicultural Comics: From Zap to Blue Beetle – edited by Frederick Luis Aldama (2010)
    • Published by University of Texas Press
  • Howard Cruse – Janell Utell (2023)
    • Published by University Press of Mississippi
  • Comics and Pop Culture: Adaptation from Panel to Frame – Barry Keith Grant & Scott Henderson (2019)
    • Published by University of Texas Press
  • The LGBTQ+ Comics Studies Reader: Critical Openings, Future Directions – edited by Alison Halsall & Jonathan Warren (2022)
    • Published by University Press of Mississippi
• Resources from National Organizations (WorldCat)
  • The Wicked + The Divine – Kieron Gillen (2014)
    • God is a DJ — and a singer, and a rapper, and a guitar player in this book about ancient gods who reincarnate as pop stars. Main character Laura is a superfan who follows them all, and wants to dance with the devil in the pale moonlight….the devil, in this case, being a beautiful young lady in a white suit. Skeptical reporter Cassandra’s transgender identity is more than just a plot point or a reveal, it influences her walk through the world. And tough-guy rapper Baal’s adoration of genderfluid crooner Inanna is a song played on the heartstrings.
  • My Brother’s Husband – Gengoroh Tagame (2017)
    • From one of Japan’s most notable manga artists: a heartbreaking and redemptive tale of mourning and acceptance that compares and contrasts the contemporary nature of gay tolerance in the East and the West. Yaichi is a work-at-home suburban dad in contemporary Tokyo, married to wife Natsuki, father to young daughter Kana. Their lives are suddenly upended with the arrival at their doorstep of a hulking, affable Canadian named Mike Flanagan, who declares himself the widower of Yaichi’s estranged gay twin, Ryoji. 
  • The Called Us Enemy – George Takei (2019)
    • A stunning graphic memoir recounting actor/author/activist George Takei’s childhood imprisoned within American concentration camps, as one of 120,000 Japanese Americans imprisoned by the U.S. government during World War II. Experience the forces that shaped an American icon — and America itself — in this gripping tale of courage, country, loyalty, and love.
  • The Sims (2000)
    • The Sims is a social simulation video game developed by Maxis and published by Electronic Arts in 2000. It is a simulation of the daily activities of one or more virtual people, called “Sims”, in a suburban household near a fictional city. Players control customizable Sims as they pursue career and relationship goals. All Sims can be directed to fall in love with and engage in romantic interactions with others Sims of either sex.
  • Juicy Mother 2
    • The only current publication that showcases comix by queer artists, the ground-breaking graphic novel Juicy Mother 2 contains richly drawn tales that examine LGBT life from new perspectives: killer dykes chasing romance, a superhero tranny, how Hothead met Chicken, homeboys in love, lesbian internet hook-ups, West Hollywood parties, kids with queer parents, and many other unexpectedly funny depictions of how like-minded individuals have found each other for love, lust, and heartbreak. Thoroughly entertaining adult comix for gender pirates and sexual outlaws, Juicy Mother 2 contains depictions of sweet sex, rough sex, and confusing sex.