Let's try this one more time.
Back in July I did a post asking for recommendations of excellent female-oriented or "girl powered" comics that you would recommend. Which series and/or storytellers are doing it right?
Last month I did a list of recommendations of Exceptional Minority Media: POC Edition.
This time we're gonna switch gears and do a post for LGBTs. What excellent comic book series/graphic novel featuring LGBTs would you recommend? Which series and/or storytellers are doing it right?
My personal recommendations and yes I know I'm probably forgetting some true gems:
1. Runaways. This series also wins the Triumvirate Award for making all three lists.
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8. Willow Rosenberg and Satsu. Nuff said. Also winner of the Triumvirate Award.
3. The Question: The Renee Montoya run. Another winner of the Triumvirate Award.
4. Batwoman (Detective Comics): One of the best comics out, PERIOD!!!!!!
5. Ultimate X-Men: I genuinely liked the Colossus storyline, I didn't finish the series. I stopped reading before the Ultimatum but from what I saw, I was pleased with how he was handled. I wouldn't mind "handling" Mr. Rasputin (as well as one Scott Summers) myself but that's neither here or there.
6. Midnighter: Part Sabrertooth, part Deadpool, part Batman, this walking BAMF is one of the few people alive who can call Wolverine a pansy. I loved the fact that the baddest badass of the Authority (and possibly Wildstorm) was an unapologetic gay man. Thus showing that gay men are every bit as tough as our heterosexual counterparts.
7. Perry Moore's Hero: Technically a YA novel but it takes place in the superhero genre and definitely a must-read.
8. Young Avengers: Wiccan & Hulkling. I've only read the first trade. I plan to pick up some more this week.
9. X-Factor: I'm still waiting to see how this plays out but it's nice to see the obvious be finally acknowledged, despite Liefeld's protests. Which by the by, the Spartans were like totally gay.
Your turn. Your recommendations.
Also extra points of awesome to anyone who can direct me to more series featuring more badass (and sexy) gay males. And our Trans heroes and heroines? Does anyone have any recommendations? I did a little research last night and the only one I found was Shvaughn Erin from Legion of Superheroes but I don't know how that character was handled. Does anyone know?
Okay NoScans, what would you recommend?
Back in July I did a post asking for recommendations of excellent female-oriented or "girl powered" comics that you would recommend. Which series and/or storytellers are doing it right?
Last month I did a list of recommendations of Exceptional Minority Media: POC Edition.
This time we're gonna switch gears and do a post for LGBTs. What excellent comic book series/graphic novel featuring LGBTs would you recommend? Which series and/or storytellers are doing it right?
My personal recommendations and yes I know I'm probably forgetting some true gems:
1. Runaways. This series also wins the Triumvirate Award for making all three lists.
2. Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8. Willow Rosenberg and Satsu. Nuff said. Also winner of the Triumvirate Award.
3. The Question: The Renee Montoya run. Another winner of the Triumvirate Award.
4. Batwoman (Detective Comics): One of the best comics out, PERIOD!!!!!!
5. Ultimate X-Men: I genuinely liked the Colossus storyline, I didn't finish the series. I stopped reading before the Ultimatum but from what I saw, I was pleased with how he was handled. I wouldn't mind "handling" Mr. Rasputin (as well as one Scott Summers) myself but that's neither here or there.
6. Midnighter: Part Sabrertooth, part Deadpool, part Batman, this walking BAMF is one of the few people alive who can call Wolverine a pansy. I loved the fact that the baddest badass of the Authority (and possibly Wildstorm) was an unapologetic gay man. Thus showing that gay men are every bit as tough as our heterosexual counterparts.
7. Perry Moore's Hero: Technically a YA novel but it takes place in the superhero genre and definitely a must-read.
8. Young Avengers: Wiccan & Hulkling. I've only read the first trade. I plan to pick up some more this week.
9. X-Factor: I'm still waiting to see how this plays out but it's nice to see the obvious be finally acknowledged, despite Liefeld's protests. Which by the by, the Spartans were like totally gay.
Your turn. Your recommendations.
Also extra points of awesome to anyone who can direct me to more series featuring more badass (and sexy) gay males. And our Trans heroes and heroines? Does anyone have any recommendations? I did a little research last night and the only one I found was Shvaughn Erin from Legion of Superheroes but I don't know how that character was handled. Does anyone know?
Okay NoScans, what would you recommend?
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Comments
New Mutants v2: (Aka New Mutants: Academy X and Mew X-men) Anole is and always was gay. No switches to please masses. He's also green and spikey. The writers were originally going to kill him. Rather, have him kill himself. The story was nixed by editorial, like many things on their run. So Anole was given a loving family. One of the few students that had both parents show up for a family event. They also had both Northstar and Karma as teachers. They intended to give Karma a human female love interest but the book was removed from their hands before that story went through.
That series had a issue where the students all reacted to Northstar having been killed by Wolverine. Anole took it especially hard. Don't worry, Northstar came back.
Also New-Xmen:In the new authors hands Anole got moved to the front of the book. Also had an arm removed. That's Ok. It grew back, ugly. They all but killed the human loved interest of Karma. (Blew up her shop, whether she lived wasn't addressed. Ever.) That book ended.
In an in between issue for that series and the next written and drawn by Scottie Young, (name forgotten) had Anole throw a tantrum and attacked his parents and ranted at Northstar. That part bothered me, since as mentioned he was one of the few kids with parents that still cared for him.
Young X-men: Still has Anole. Now enter Graymalkin a Gollum like youth from before the X-mansion was built. He was buried by his father for being Gay. Luckily his mutation kicked in and he lived in a hole under the mansion until one of the times it blew up resurfaced him. Seemed like a potential love interest for Anole... but he's really ugly. And that book died too.
Yeah, but he had PTSD. It's kinda understandable.
Edited at 2010-01-04 05:38 pm (UTC)
The Desert Peach by Donna Barr
How Loathsome by Tristan Caine and Ted Naifeh
Omaha the Cat Dancer by Reed Waller and Kate Worley
Charm School by Elizabeth Watasin
Plus, Secret Six is just awesome.
There's Coagula from the Rachel Pollack run of Doom Patrol. Other people can say whether or not they would recommend that run.
But definitely Y: the Last Man.
Edited at 2010-01-04 08:44 pm (UTC)
And it's only taken so long to make Young Avengers because they weren't going to solicit it until it was finished finished finished.
Cavalcade of Boys: Tim Fish's quirky, sweet, absurd and surprisingly affecting gay soap opera.
Young Bottoms in Love: Anthology collection in the same vein as Cavalcade of Boys.
Dykes To Watch Out For: Comic collection by the creator of "Fun Home" (which should probably get its own mention here), Alison Bechdel, which fills the female, PoC, LGBT trinity nicely. It follows the lives of its cast in real time, so it's really quite a trip to go through the book and have characters you were introduced to as kids being old enough to date.
Kizuna: I'm actually hesitant to mention this one, because I do draw a distinction between yaoi and LGBT works, and the seme/uke bullshit drives me up the wall. Still, it's not a bad book if you can get past the annoyances of the genre, the art is lovely, and it's got kendo scenes and yakuza all over the place.
Manhunter: I'm surprised this one hasn't come up yet. Damon and Obsidian are supporting characters, but I think they're handled well, and Kate's a fun character in her own right. And, yeah, I'm a sucker for the flash-forward issues.
Maria's Wedding: An unhappy look at a family that's taken sides on the issue of one of their sons marrying another man, and how they function (or don't) at the following family gathering.
Gotham Central: Lays down a good chunk of Rene Montoya's characterization, including her being outed in the second trade. Also features Captain Maggie Sawyer, head of Gotham's Major Crime unit, last seen dancing with Kate Kane over in Detective Comics (which stars Kate, with Rene on back-up feature).
Outsiders: Grace and Thunder have a relationship, which is about one-fifth as interesting as the relationship between frequent guest-stars Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, which is simultaneously sweet, tragic, and completely WTF.
The character wasn't handled badly, I think, but the question of sexuality was pretty much restricted to a couple of blink-and-you'll-miss-it moments. Volume 4, #31 and #50, if you're interested.
*ducks!*
Seriously, though. A poster on my blog recommended Batwoman.
I had no idea For Better of Worse had a gay character, nor that the creator received death threats (wtf!) for it.
Infinity, Inc. volume 2 (DC) had Erik/Erika Storn (Fury IV/Amazing Woman) from Lex Luthor's new Infinity, Inc. team that debuted in 52. The II book was written by Peter Milligan, who does a good job with queer characters.
X-Force/X-Statix (Marvel; also by Peter Milligan) featured several gay men, including Bloke, Phat, and Vivisector. Post-series, Doop was outed as bisexual in one of those I Heart Marvel books a few years ago.
Seconding the rec for Enigma (which is also by Milligan). Its one of the earlier Vertigo mini-series, and has been collected in tpb format.
Also seconding the rec for Manhunter (DC; by Marc Andreyko). Damon and Todd were well handled for a couple of supporting characters. (And yeah, Kate is pretty awesome herself!)
Flash (DC)Piper was a great character in the previous volume of the book, especially in the 1990s when William Messner-Loebs and Mark Waid were writing the title. Unlike Northstar, his Marvel contemporary, Piper actually got a boyfriend (and a retconned in ex-boyfriend in one story), got to kick ass, and occasionally pulled Wally's butt out of the fire.
Power Company (DC) I'm not sure if this one has ever been collected, but the team was headed by a gay African-American man (Josiah Power). Its a pretty fun read if you can track down the back issues.
I loved Colossus, and I liked that being gay wasn't his defining characteristic. It had been hinted at from very early on, and I think only hardcore denial fanboys were surprised when he officially came out (I remember the wanktastic threads on this one board from the same fan who just couldn't believe they'd RUINED PETER FOREVER!!!!).
But I hated the way his storyline was dealt with once he came out. For one thing, that was Kirkman's time to shine (and "shine" is meant in the sense that a crashed plane in a flaming field might shine). He was absolutely terrible with relationships. And...*sigh* Nightcrawler. Effin' Nightcrawler, formerly a little more reserved than his 616 counterpart but still ready to have piratey fun, turned into the biggest freaking crazypants nutbar in the world. The story couldn't've have been less subtle if it featured a homophobic elephant tramping around wearing a sign reading "I AM SUBTLE."
*deep breath*
Sorry. UXM will always set me off. I miss it being good.
Flash has the Pied Piper. Not sure really if he's in it often enough to make the list, but y'know, he's there and awesome and stuff. And thirding or fourthing votes for Secret Six.
I could buy into Ult!Kurt being homophobic...but yeah. Clubbing readers over the head with it and having him pretty much go insane was rubbish.
Scott Pilgrim - Scott's gay roommate, Wallace, is cooler than him.
Catwoman - Holly Robinson.
Girls with Slingshots - Webcomic with some gay/lesbian characters, mostly minor.
Dinosaur Comics - Utahraptor, you guys.
I'll also second (or third?) Fun Home and Dykes to Watch Out For.
Terry Moore's Strangers In Paradise. Heavily, heavily girl-oriented when it comes to the LGBT aspects, enough that I kind of want to shake the Cartoonist and remind him that gay/bi men exist too, but this was my very first "OMFG this comic is about a romance between two GIRLS!" experience in college, and I still adore it.
I have to recommend to you T-Gina. It's hard to find, but if you can, it's worth it. It's an excellent humor column-style autobiographical comic by a trans woman, who is relaly great.
On the Manga front, I love, love, LOVE anything by Yamaji Ebine. Her yuri graphic novels are all so real and exquisite, but I have a particular fondness for "Love My Life." Wish to god someone would license her stuff in English. Lililicious has the scans for now, anyway, as well as Amamiya Sae's wonderful autobiographical comic strip "Plica," which is cute as hell.
I'm a little hesitant to recommend "Cardcaptor Sakura" because of one kinda creepy teacher/student thing between (straight) side characters. But it happened to be the first comic I ever read with LBGT characters. I was fascinated by the fact that this was a comic aimed at kids which was absolutely packed with relationships, and the many gay ones were all treated EXACTLY the same as the straight ones. Boys crush on boys and girls crush on girls and it's no big deal. It's cute and sweet and I love the damn thing, although because of the one teacher/student relationship in the background, I'd be reluctant to give it to its original intended age group. (I know nine year olds crush on their teachers, and in a fantasy aimed at nine year olds, I guess it makes sense to imagine it being returned and working out, but eyuuuuunnnngh.)
Webcomics-wise, Khaos Komix is a nice little educational soap opera with an interesting story structure. Suffers a touch from "how the hell did all these gay, bi, queer, and trans kids HAPPEN to become friends BEFORE they all came out" syndrome but who the hell cares. Cannot possibly update fast enough to suit me.
Marry Me has its flaws but it's a fun fluffy read, and the male lead's best friend is awesome, crazy, hyper, goofy, and a lesbian. Parker rocks.
...oh, and the plot appears to be about an ancient semi-lovecraftian conspiracy involving the British royal family? But also there are voodoo gods and ancient central american mythology and. I'm a little confused on what exactly is going on due to starting with volume 2, and possibly also because it is hella convoluted! But awesome!