Kate Leth’s “Valley Ghouls” Is the Bisexual Slice of Life Comic You Need Right Now

Brittney Williams is retiring from her Saturday Morning Cartoon, Yo! That’s Not Cool, to create some other really fun projects (for example, this Lois Lane comic book with Grace Ellis!) —  so while we’re working to fill her spot in our line-up, I thought I’d take a minute to introduce you to another one of my favorite comics creators.

If you have the great good fortune of knowing Kate Leth in real life, you know she’s one of those rare humans who’s the same in-person as she is on the internet: brilliant and hilarious and warm and uncompromising and Canadian and real and radiating bisexual energy like some kind of eternal Patronus form inside herself. I could be wrong, but she’s said it so long and with so much conviction, I think she may have been the one who started the MAKE IT GAY YOU COWRDS meme? When I asked her if she bought the black bat dress she was wearing for this year’s Buffering the Vampire Slayer prom just for the dance, she said, “What, no, I already owned this; it has wings!”

But maybe you don’t know Kate Leth at all, in which case, let me back up: Kate’s comics credits include Patsy Walker AKA Hellcat, Vampirella, Girl Over Paris, Edward Scissorhands, Fraggle Rock, Adventure Time, Power Up, School Spirit, Spell on Wheels (which is coming back!). She’s worked in animation with My Little Pony: Equestria Girls and Littlest Pet Shop: A World of Our Own. You can also hear her voice on Welcome to Night Vale and Buffering the Vampire Slayer.

I was actually Kate’s fan before I was her friend, and now I’m both. One of my favorite projects Kate’s ever done is her kinda-new Valley Ghouls comic, which seems like it started out as just a funny little occasional slice of life observational strip about her and her partner, and has turned into a beloved regular series that she posts on Twitter, Instagram, and Tumblr. She talks about Just Couple Things in the comic, about her depression and anxiety, about body image, about her career and her fears and triumphs and insecurities and hopes and what’s inside her heart. It’s sweet and funny and poignant and absolutely an antidote to the cynicism and over-curation of social media these days.

And this is just the tiniest little sampling! You can follow Kate on Twitter and Instagram for these comics, hummingbirds, nature, astute queer pop culture commentary, vapid fluff content, vintage fashion, goth stuff, and a thirst trap or two. You can also check out her comics on Tumblr. And if you want a print, those exist! Her Patreon includes personal blogs, songs, NSFW content, and more.

I hope you get to meet Kate one day, too; she’s the only person I’ve ever met who laughs as loud and hard as me.

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Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

9 Comments

  2. I love this! Thank you for the intro!

    I was never a kid interested in comics and now at nearly 30 I find queer comics/comics made by queers so delightful and relatable. hm!

  3. A couple years ago at a A-Camp I crafted at the same table as Kate Leth (during the bisexual brunch no less) and I truly think I gained bisexual energy. I’m more powerful now because of it.

  4. I love this comic! It kind of reminds me of Close Your Eyes and Look at the Mountains (@cyelatm on Instagram) which is also a super sweet comic about a queer couple but instead of a ghost and a bat it’s a cat and a dog.

  5. <3_<3

    I've followed Kate on twitter for a while, but I miss a lot of stuff on twitter so I specifically started following the Valley Ghouls tumblr this week so that I wouldn't miss any.

  6. Hmm, do you think Kate could sub in for Saturdays regularly?
    I‘d be ready and willing to bribe her with cookies. My great aunt and her friends say I make spectacular shortbread.
    It ships really well.
    Just saying.

    P.S.:Speaking of cookies. Ants of the Lesbian persuasion would also look good in this column!
    The offer stands for both!

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