Single Issue Showcase: All-New X-Men #13

 This scene doesn't appear in the comic.

I think I’ll end every year by checking in on Iceman. It’ll be a nice way of keeping track of how the character is being treated and my ignorance of all things X-related. I may be looking forward to the Iceman ongoing series, but I doubt I’ll still be able to make much sense of what’s going on. Fortunately, this issue is light on continuity-related shenanigans that would intimidate a new reader or make a seasoned reader’s head spin. There’s some talk of “Egypt and Hank” and the blue kid (whom the intro page calls “Kid Apocalypse” but the Internet calls “Genesis”) has a couple of panels talking about what he would do for Apocalypse, but mostly it’s about young, newly out Bobby Drake’s first time at a gay bar. And it’s just as adorable as it sounds.

Duck! Second Chances

The cover of Duck! Second Chances that I prefer

Published in 2013, Duck! Second Chances by J. Tana Ford is not quite a sequel. Though the title is a clever way of alerting the reader that this is the second volume of a story, it also refers to the self-contained tale of friendship and romance contained within. Second chances abound as characters deal with breakups and hookups, new relationships, the loss of a job and the search for a new one, and the possibilities of the future. There are four friends at the center this time instead of two—Duck and Cat are joined by two minor characters from Duck!—and the action takes place entirely within Boston, allowing it to easily distinguish itself from the previous story.

Duck

The cover of Duck

Friendship is a defining attribute of the gay community. When so many of us are rejected by our families—even now, at a time of great acceptance—it is important to find people upon whom we can rely in ways that cannot be found elsewhere in society. Even for gay people for whom family can be a refuge, friendships are what can matter most; we know that few people will understand us like other gay people. Such philosophical musings are the most immediate result of reading Duck by JT (Tana) Ford, an original graphic novel that hides a surprising amount of poignancy in its slim number of pages.

Single Issue Showcase: The Strangers #5 – “Dynamic Tension!”

The cover of The Strangers #5

I take great pride in presenting books on this blog that might go unnoticed by mainstream readers; a friend of mine told me he’d never heard of any of the books I wrote about last year and I took that as a great compliment. For this month’s Single Issue Showcase, I’d like to highlight a book so obscure other friends of mine accused me of making it up entirely: The Strangers. I’ve written on Spectral, the gay member of this superhero team, elsewhere and issue #5 is the one in which he comes out of the closet.

Likewise

The cover of Likewise

One of the most profound pleasures of following an artist is seeing a talent develop in unforeseen ways. I have written previously about the high school chronicles of Ariel Schrag, and it almost pains me to come to the end with Likewise because it means there will be no more. Like all great conclusions, it is bittersweet simply because it exists. Ostensibly about Ms. Schrag’s senior year of high school, it also chronicles her growth as a person and an artist. It is one of the best books I’ve read so far this year, and is no less powerful for being seven years old.

Flutter, Volume 2: Don't Let Me Die Nervous

The cover of Flutter, Volume 2

The second volume of a trilogy can be the best part of a story or a placeholder until the grand finale. It may be too soon to declare the second volume of Jennie Wood’s Flutter the former, since the third volume has yet to be produced, but it most certainly isn’t the latter. Don’t Let Me Die Nervous, a Kickstarter-funded sequel that came out last year, continues the story of Flutter, Volume 1 and does not disappoint. (Full disclosure: I contributed to that Kickstarter, though I defy anyone who read the first volume to say they wouldn’t have done the same.)

Single Issue Showcase: Limp Wrist

The cover of Limp Wrist

For this summer’s Single Issue Showcase, I decided to cover a mini comic I picked up at last year’s CAKE. Perhaps I’ll get around to my haul from this year sometime in 2018. That’s the closest I can get to opening with a joke, because Limp Wrist by Scout Wolfcave and Penina Gal is not for the faint of heart. The title page contains a trigger warning for “bullying, abuse, and transmisogyny.” It’s a harrowing autobiographical comic that does not flinch from portraying the reality far too many trans people face. In its sixteen pages, Limp Wrist contains more truth than whole feature-length films. It was published in 2014 by Paper Rocket Minicomics.

NIGHTLIFE

The cover of the hardcover of NIGHTLIFE

If last month’s selection broadened the boundaries of what pornographic material can do for comics, this month’s selection redefines what comics can do for pornography. Published in 2009 by Bruno Gmünder, NIGHTLIFE is a wordless comic written by Dale Lazarov with art by Bastian Jonsson and colors by Yann Duminil. It contains three short stories that explore different evening erotic encounters.

Massive: Gay Erotic Manga and the Men Who Make It

The reprint cover for Massive, with art by Jiraiya

Can the erotic be art? It’s obviously a stupid question; works fueled by erotic passion have existed since ancient times. Yet the distinction between art and pornography is constantly being made by censors and moralists, albeit in ways that become increasingly irrelevant. This month’s selection does away with this distinction entirely, as it is filled with comics that amount to both. Some of the contributors gleefully accept the title of pornographer, though they are no less artists.

Single Issue Showcase: Midnighter #1 - “Midnighter”

The cover to Midnighter #1 by Aco and Romulo Fajaro, Jr.

I know the (admittedly loose) rules I established last year for the Single Issue Showcase stipulate that I highlight gay content in a series that does not typically feature any, but I decided to change things up for the first one of the new year. Besides, it’s my blog, my rules, and only one person is reading this anyway. (Hi, Gavin!) Also, Midnighter is a series that deserves more recognition, all the more so because it is up for cancellation as DC makes way for yet another massive reboot with its “Rebirth.” Other issues of this series have been singled out before for what they have contributed to the series itself and the comics medium as a whole, but I decided to start at the beginning. Why not?

Wuvable Oaf

The cover of the hardcover of Wuvable Oaf

I'm finally getting around to another piece of my CAKE haul from last year! This month’s selection is a charming love story about a bear in San Francisco and his friends (and lots of kittens). Wuvable Oaf by Ed Luce was originally produced independently, but it was published last year by Fantagraphics Books in a gorgeous hardcover with some excellent supplemental material. The fanfare that met this production was well deserved yet insufficient. Individual issues of Wuvable Oaf and other assorted merchandise about the character are available on Mr. Luce’s website.

The Complete Wendel

The cover of The Complete Wendel

Welcome back to the Queer Comics Blog, my devoted readers, for a second improbable year! I thought I would start with another entry about one of my favorite artists, the inimitable Howard Cruse. Before writing his autobiographical masterpiece Stuck Rubber Baby, he wrote an ongoing comic strip for The Advocate magazine beginning in 1983 entitled Wendel. It ran for most of the decade and was collected into The Complete Wendel by the Universe imprint of Rizzoli Publications in 2011.