QU33R

Book excerpt: Winner of the 2014 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology! QU33R, from editor Rob Kirby, features 241 pages of new comics from 33 contributors—legends and new faces alike. In 2012, Justin Hall edited a book called No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, that took readers on a journey from the beginnings of LGBT comics history to the present day. QU33R is an all-new project featuring queer comics legends as well as new talents that picks up where No Straight Lines left off. We've set down our history, now QU33R shines a light on our future! QU33R had its genesis in an all-color queer comic zine called THREE, which featured three stories by three creators or teams per issue. Rob Kirby published three installments of THREE annually from 2010 to 2012, and the series did well, garnering not only an Ignatz nomination for Outstanding Anthology or Collection but also earning Rob the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant in 2011. Producing the anthology was immensely gratifying, but featuring just three comics and publishing only once per year meant a lot of cartoonists weren’t getting the exposure they deserved. The publishing opportunities for queer cartoonists and queer subject matter are still limited, even today, and Rob longed for a wider distribution than he was able to manage on his own. He approached Northwest Press about doing a bigger compendium of all-new work. While THREE was happening, Justin Hall was preparing his book No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, which Fantagraphics published in the summer of 2012. No Straight Lines traced the history of queer comics from their humble beginnings in the late 60’s/early 70’s all the way up to the present. The book was a whopping, award-winning success. Rob got to thinking that a follow-up volume—a sort-of-sequel focusing on all new work—would seal the deal, informing the world at large that we are still here, still queer, and still producing fresh and innovative work. He wanted to include not only several queer comics veterans, but also some fresh new faces and a few folks who haven’t necessarily belonged to the orthodox "queer comics scene" but have been doing non-heteronormative work all along. QU33R features over 240 pages of new comics from a cross-generational lineup of award-winning LGBTQ cartoonists: Amanda Verwey (Manderz Totally Top Private Diary) Andy Hartzell (Fox Bunny Funny, Xeric grant recipient Bread and Circuses) Annie Murphy (Gay Genius, I Still Live) Carlo Quispe (Uranus) Carrie McNinch (You Don’t Get There From Here, The Assassin and the Whiner) Christine Smith (The Princess) Craig Bostick (Darby Crash, Go-Go Girl, Boy Trouble) David Kelly (Rainy Day Recess: The Complete Steven’s Comics, Boy Trouble) Diane DiMassa (Hothead Paisan: Homicidal Lesbian Terrorist) Dylan "NDR" Edwards (Transposes, Politically InQueerect) Ed Luce (Wuvable Oaf)Edie Fake (Gaylord Phoenix) Eric Kostiuk Williams (Hungry Bottom Comics) Eric Orner (The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green) Howard Cruse (Stuck Rubber Baby, Wendel, Barefootz) Ivan Velez, Jr. (Tales of the Closet, Dead High Yearbook) Jennifer Camper (Juicy Mother, Rude Girls and Dangerous Women, subGURLZ) Jon Macy (Teleny and Camille, Fearful Hunter, Nefarismo) Jose-Luis Olivares (Pansy Boy) Justin Hall (No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, Glamazonia, True Travel Tales) Kris Dresen (Manya, Max & Lily, She Said) L. Nichols (Flocks, Jumbly Junkery) Marian Runk (Not a Horse Girl, The Magic Hedge) MariNaomi (Kiss and Tell: A Romantic Resume, Smoke in Your Eyes, Estrus Comics) Michael Fahy (Boy Trouble) Nicole Georges (Calling Dr. Laura, Invincible Summer) Rick Worley (A Waste of Time) Rob Kirby (THREE, Boy Trouble, Curbside) Sasha Steinberg (Stonewall, Queerotica) Sina Sparrow (Art Fag, Boy Crazy Boy) Steve MacIsaac (Shirtlifter) Terrance Griep (Scooby-Doo) Tyler Cohen (Primahood) Released by Northwest Press, which has been publishing quality LGBT-inclusive comics and graphic novels since 2010.