Gay Comics 101

Indie and Friendly

Outside of Marvel and DC — and outside of the superhero genre — things are far more varied, and publishers do not seem to have any kind of standard policy regarding gay characters. One of the best independent publishers is Oni Press, which has released Hopeless Savages, a series of graphic novels written by Jen Van Meter and drawn by a variety of artists, about a close-knit family with former punk-rock superstars for parents. Among the teenaged kids is a gay son whose love stories are handled as well anything else in these zany, cute stories.

Another good example of gay inclusion is Colleen Doran's A Distant Soil, an impressive sci-fi story — still currently serialized in comics — published by Image Comics. Two of the main characters are gay or bisexual and are engaged in what is the main love story of the whole series.

One of the best-known, and most acclaimed, indie series is Love & Rockets from publisher Fantagraphics, created by brothers Jaime and Gilbert Hernandez, who each write their own series and stories. Love & Rockets weaves a complex tapestry from the mostly realistic lives of a cast of hundreds of white and Latino characters. Jaime's series includes the on-again, off-again lesbian couple of Hopey and Maggie, and Gilbert's includes a number of gay and lesbian characters who, while usually secondary, receive the same attention as their straight counterparts.

These three examples are only the tip of an iceberg that puts to shame DC and Marvel's equivocations regarding their gay characters.

Gay Creators Galore

Of course, the most interesting aspect of indie comics is the variety of openly gay and lesbian creators self-publishing their work on the Web or in print.

One of the most productive indie artists is Tim Fish, who wrote and drew the 552-page Cavalcade of Boys, a bittersweet and very modern chronicle of gay boys and young men falling in and out of love and lust. Drawn in an energetic style, this series is full of engaging but slightly contradictory guys professing to pursue true love while jumping on every man crossing their paths.

Lesbians have been treated since the mid-'80s to a formidable series in the form of Alison Bechdel's Dykes to Watch Out For, a strip that began as unrelated one-pagers, but has evolved into the continuing saga of a straight-inclusive group of friends, with a decidedly left-leaning political point of view.

On the Web comics front, a large number of creators have launched strips, from completely amateur efforts to mainstream-level works like Greg Fox's Kyle's Bed & Breakfast, a charming series focusing on a group of gay friends living in a bed and breakfast who face realistic problems like being closeted or difficult relationships.

Book Publishers Enter the Fray

One of the recent developments in the business of comic books is the spread of book publishers launching graphic novels. Among those is Houghton Mifflin, which recently published Alison Bechdel's intelligent and sensitive Fun Home, in which the author delves into her youth and her relationship with her closeted father.

Less literary but just as engaging is Abby Denson's Tough Love, from Manic D. Press, the tale of a gay teenager facing homophobia and finding first love. Drawn in a simple style that conveys the stark reality of her characters' emotions and struggles, this book could be as important for teenage readers as Bechdel's is for adults.

Book publishers give authors the potential to reach far more readers than even Marvel could, and this could become the real mainstream, as Alison Bechdel's critical and commercial success suggests.

As for Marvel and DC, gays in supporting roles will probably remain the best one can hope for, with very few exceptions.

Joe Palmer has a B.F.A. from Chicago's Art Institute. HIV-positive since 1996, Palmer currently divides his time between running Gayleague.com, a website for LGBT comic fans, art, writing, and promoting art-making opportunities for the HIV positive community.

François Peneaud is a teacher, comics critic and occasional translator who lives in the southwest of France with his partner. He runs the gaycomicslist.free.fr site, and next year will see his first published stories in the Best Date Ever anthology from Alyson and in a collection of the Tim Fish-edited Young Bottoms in Love Web comics.