Pride Month is always a great chance to check out works from LGBTQ+ creators, and comics is a medium that is absolutely overflowing with excellent queer works to choose from. I’ve pulled together a list of some of my favourite queer graphic novels (all fiction), ranging from the wildly popular to the more obscure, featuring characters and creators from different queer and cultural identities. These graphic novels mark great places to start in the vast world of queer comics fiction.
For your convenience, I have loosely ordered them by maturity level. The first couple included are more middle grade, the last couple included are more adult, and everything else is suitable for teens and up (scaled to the side they have the most crossover appeal with).
Happy Pride and happy reading!
Rabbit Chase by Elizabeth LaPensée, art by KC Oster
Published by Annick Press in 2022, Rabbit Chase is a retelling of Alice in Wonderland starring Aimée, a nonbinary Anishinaabe middle-schooler, as they go on a field trip and are transported into an alternate dimension filled with traditional Anishinaabe figures. The story centres Anishinaabe culture, North American Indigenous history, and queer identity, tying these aspects into the story of Alice in Wonderland.
The Deep & Dark Blue by Niki Smith
The Deep & Dark Blue, released in 2020 by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, is a fantasy story about AMAB twins whose noble house is overthrown in a violent coup, so they go into hiding as girls in an order of magical women. One of them is a cis boy and one is a trans girl, so this leads to complicated feelings, especially when one wishes to return to his old life and the other finds true happiness in her new one.
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang
The Prince and The Dressmaker is a 2018 comic from First Second that tells a fairytale-esque story in a fictionalised version of early 19th century Paris. It follows a young prince who loves to wear dresses but keeps this a secret for his own protection, and the young dressmaker who clothes him even though it means her own ambitions must be delayed. It’s a very sweet, very queer fairy tale love story.
The Girl from the Sea by Molly Knox Ostertag
The Girl from the Sea is a romantic graphic novel about a closeted teenage girl set firmly within our own world (in Nova Scotia, Canada), with one exception: a selkie climbs out of the sea to romance her. Published by Graphix in 2021, it deals with everyday drama with friends and family, with a magical romance that shakes things up and adds a fresh spin on love stories with women who come from the sea.
Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker, art by Wendy Xu
Published in 2019 by Oni Press, Mooncakes tells the story of a deaf witch who works in her grandmother’s bookshop and her childhood friend, a werewolf who has been on the run for years. In a version of New England with magical people and creatures concealed just below the surface, the reunited friends battle horse demons and occult rituals together as they fall in love with each other.
Taproot by Keezy Young
Originally published in 2017 by Lion Forge and republished by Oni (after the two merged in 2019) in 2022, Taproot tells the story of a ghost who is in love with his best friend, a gardener–who, fortunately for him, can talk to ghosts. Something strange begins to happen that may threaten the safety of the medium, the ghost may have to cut ties to protect him. It’s extremely cute and sweet, with a dose of spookiness on the side.
Displacement by Kiku Hughes
Displacement, published in 2020 by First Second, is a time travel story based on real history. It follows the story of a girl who is transported back in time and incarcerated an internment camp with her young grandmother and countless other Japanese Americans. Although the story portrays the stark realities of a horrible part of history, it provides a human face to these events, along with a subtle and sweet queer romance on the side.
The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl by Emily Riesbeck, art by NJ Barna
Published in 2023 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, The Pirate and the Porcelain Girl is set in a queernormative world where the gods have abandoned mortals, but evidence of their magic persists, for example the girl who was turned porcelain by the gods. Held captive by a religious organisation, she breaks free looking to break the curse, with the help of pirates, led by a new romantic interest, an orc lady pirate captain.
Stage Dreams by Melanie Gillman
Stage Dreams is a queer western adventure story. Published in 2019 by Graphic Universe, it follows the story of a Latine outlaw and a trans runaway. They meet when the outlaw robs the stagecoach the runaway is leaving in, but they quickly realise they have similar values, and they team up to enact a heist and put a stop to a Confederate plot.
Cosmoknights, Vol. 1 by Hannah Templer
Released in 2019 by Top Shelf Productions, Cosmoknights is about, as the description puts it, a “ragtag band of space gays.” Set in a neo-medieval world with interplanetary travel, the story is about queer women in space smashing the patriarchal systems they live in and fighting for the things that matter to them. Volume two was released in 2023.
Bingo Love, Vol. 1: Jackpot Edition by Tee Franklin, art by Jenn St-Onge, colours by Joy San
Bingo Love, published by Image Comics in 2018, tells the story of two girls who meet at church bingo and fall in love in 1963, but homophobia forces them apart. They are reunited in the present day, at church bingo once again, and get a fresh chance to fall in love all over again. The Jackpot Edition includes a number of guest artists and writers who provide lots of fun and emotional additional content.
Meal by Blue Delliquanti and Soleil Ho
Meal tells the story of chefs who specialise in insect-based cuisine as they work on opening a new restaurant. Published by Iron Circus Comics in 2018, it shares ideas about culturally significant foods versus modern trends, it includes some recipes, and it features a sweet love story in the midst of these cooking and cultural aspects.
Wash Day Diaries by Jamila Rowser, art by Robyn Smith, and colours by Bex Glendining and Kazimir Lee
Originally funded as a single-issue comic titled Wash Day through Kickstarter (I backed it! It’s quick and cute!), Wash Day Diaries is a full-length graphic novel published in 2022 by Chronicle Books. Using interconnected slice-of-life short stories, it tells the story of four best friends in the Bronx. The story centres the experiences and friendships shared by Black women, including queer Black women.
The Low, Low Woods by Carmen Maria Machado, art by DaNi, colours by Tamra Bonvillain
Published by DC Black Label in 2020, The Low, Low Woods is set in a mysterious town in Pennsylvania, where two teenagers are affected by a disease that eats away at your memories. When they investigate their missing time, we witness a disturbing mystery loaded with folk horror, body horror, and social commentary that’s perfect for fans of queer horror.
Fruiting Bodies by Ashley Robin Franklin
The shortest graphic novel on this list, Fruiting Bodies is a horror comic published by Silver Sprocket in 2022. A very atmospheric natural horror, it tells the story of a woman going to live with her partner in the Pacific Northwest and forced to join her annoying brother’s “bro’s trip” to get there. When they have to spend the night in the woods thanks to a wrong turn, things go disastrously wrong quickly.
Patience & Esther by SW Searle
Set in Edwardian England, Patience & Esther tells the story of two young servant women who fall in love against the backdrop of work, working class and feminist struggles, and changing sexual mores. Published in 2021 by Iron Circus Comics, this is a moderately steamy (including nudity) and sweet romance filled with drama true to its rich historical setting.
The Feminist Bibliothecary 