Rising Queer Comics That You Should Be Reading
Shot And Chaser
From the acclaimed creator of The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal comes a human story of hope in the face of everyday adversity. Set against the backdrop of the global lock-down, Shot And Chaser follows two friends as they chase their perfect day.
Olly and Tre are stormchasers on a quest to get footage of storms. Their goal distracts them from their own personal problems such as Olly’s mounting bills and Tre’s issues with his fundamentalist mother. Drawn in a clean monotone style, the characters are very relatable, both in appearance and in the issues that they face. You won’t find many idealized bodies here because the story is, at heart, about real people. Shot And Chaser is available on the same site as The Less Than Epic Adventures of TJ and Amal.
My Werewolf Girlfriend
Cinna Rosales is a werewolf hunter and a good one. However, her life is changed when she finds that her long-term nemesis and target is now living in a village called Moonhaven. Furthermore, her target has a daughter.
Combining fresh anime-inspired art with solid world-building, this webtoon is a refreshing read and one that explores female interaction (and love) in a fantasy world. It can be found on Tapas.
Alfie (NSFW)
Alfie is a long-running NSFW comic by famed erotic artist InCase. It follows the journey of Alfie, a sheltered havlin from an isolated village as she embarks on a quest of self-discovery.
The comic is unique in that it offers more than nudity and sexual situations. As the story and characters develop, the erotic scenarios take a back-seat to the character interaction, melodrama and consequences of the cast’s choices. The comic explores everything from small-town bigotry to handling the polygamous lifestyle if your partner wants monogamy. Oh, and it includes some of the hottest visual erotica seen on the internet.
While the body types tend to be quite ideal, there’s a variety of height, build and weight that’s welcome and every possible partnership – from gay to bisexual to straight – is explored within the comic, which can be read online. It’s for adult readers only.
Iron Nail Afternoon
The recipient of a Shortbox grant and chosen for the Tiptree Honors list, Iron Nail Afternoon is a bit darker than the other entries on the list. It’s an urban fantasy centered around a queer cast of friends and co-workers stuck in a dead-end town. The main character, Little Chuck, is the town’s resident monster hunter. Everything in his life is going well until the sudden arrival of his possessive ex-boyfriend.
The story offers a hefty dose of drama, sex and political intrigue while a clever use of flashbacks help to flesh out each characters’ past. The art style is appealing yet easy to follow in a way that’s reminiscent of European graphic novels. Iron Nail Afternoon first debuted on Webtoons before finally moving to its own site in 2023.