Seven Queer Webcomics That Are Not DAR

feature image via Red String

When Erika Moen stopped writing DAR: A Super Girly Top Secret Comic Diary in 2009, I was heartbroken. I started reading DAR many, many years ago in college, when my straight guy friend sent me a link and said, “This comic makes me think of you because you’re a melodramatic lesbian getting over your first love, too” which is a really sweet thing to say, I think.

DAR was special to me right from the start. It was the first comic I encountered about being queer and crippling depression and falling in love with unexpected people and I still love every bit of it. At the time, I only read a few other webcomics that had nothing to do with lesbians, like Questionable Content (which, to its credit, does feature some lesbians but I think Jeph Jacques is kind of a jerk so).

Erika Moen’s sex toy review webcomic, Oh Joy Sex Toy is super fun and informative (kind of like her DAR guides to vibrators) and in May, she was gracious enough to talk to us about it and her new sex education book.

Since DAR, I’ve been trying to find an equally good queer comic to read, and I think I’ve found a few that come close. Here they are in no particular order.

Kate or Die is the adorable comic written by Kate, naturally. Kate uses the comic to talk about fun things like feminism and bisexuality and being young and confused and being overly excited about pumpkin scented objects (I feel you, Kate). Although she doesn’t update regularly, it’s a good comic to just get lost in, where you don’t have to follow super confusing storylines. It’s an immediate gratification comic.

curvy motherfucker

(via Curvy)

Curvy. (NSFW) You probably already know all about Curvy, but if not, I don’t even know how to begin explaining it to you. I started reading it because one of you told me to. There’s lesbian sex within the first ten comics. Go start reading it. The author, Sylvan Migdal, only writes in the about, “A sexy sci-fi adventure comic for adults.” Delightful! Did I mention NSFW?

Penny & Aggie is one of those comics that is kind of meh until it gets super good. It’s the kind of comic where you just want the main characters to be in lesbians with each other already, and then a million other characters are also gay. If I could describe Penny & Aggie one way, it’s like if Betty and Veronica hooked up. There’s about two million pages of this one, so start now.

Red String is a manga-style story written and drawn by one of my favorite artists, Gina Biggs. I’ll mention here that Gina also runs Filthy Figments (NSFW), an adult comics site featuring only women artists, which I think is fantastic. Red String is mainly the story of an adorable hetero couple, but Gina does coming out and first gay love justice. The Hanae/Fuuko scenes are my favorite. It’s also a super long saga which started in 2003, but it’s ending mid-August. Ten years!

Amy T. Falcone is a pretty amazing person and this is her webcomic, Cardigan Weather. There aren’t many strips up, but what is on the site is written, drawn, and thought out very well. It’s obvious Amy has some feelings, but I like the little series of her explaining queerness to her younger self. Amy also co-creates [citation needed] and is coming out with a new comic soon called Clique Refresh (which looks super similar to the drawing style of Kim Possible or is that just me?).

Okay. Moon Over June. NSFW. Like the most Not Safe For Work comic of all time. Maybe don’t read this if you’re not into a super sex-positive, graphic, graphic, graphic comic. I’m not a big fan of Moon Over June, to be honest, but it seemed weird to not include it on this list. I read it in the beginning and I think I stopped when a kind of ridiculous pregnancy storyline was introduced. But listen, it is what it is, and if you want a delightfully graphic comic which intensely detailed masturbation and sex scenes, you do you.

I know what you’re about to say. “This is the Megan Rose Gedris comic you chose? Over I Was Kidnapped By Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space?!” And to that, I say hells yes. Lesbian Space Pirates is an amazing comic that you should be reading, definitely, but  Yu+Me: dream is the most beautiful rosalarian work out there. It’s hands-down my favorite queer storyline-based comic. Told in a dream world, the comic’s style constantly changes and alters to fit the panel and chapter. All 847 pages are beautiful and worth the time you’ll spend obsessively reading the entire thing in one sitting.

Okay, what queer comics I missing out on?

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Hansen

Hansen is the former DIY & Food Editor of Autostraddle.com and likes to spend most days making and cooking and writing. She teaches creative writing at Colorado State University and is pursuing a Masters of Fine Arts in her free time.

Hansen has written 189 articles for us.

76 Comments

  1. these are great, i definitely recommend them!! I write and draw a queer webcomic of my own, it’s about a rockstar and her manager who happens to have a big crush on her. it just updated the other day too, with a chapter about… pirates!

    you can read it here if you’d like:

    http://rachaelandpenny.com

  2. Let me add a couple of trans ones!
    http://rain.thecomicseries.com/ Rain: A cute high school webcomic about a trans girl. Has a diverse LGBT cast.

    http://www.transchizophrenic.com/ Transchizophrenic. A new one with not that many strips yet and I am sideeyeing the name but it has been pretty good so far. Just about a trans woman so far.

    http://venusenvycomic.com/ Venus Envy. A pretty popular high school trans comic but unfortunately has kind of stopped posting except rarely. Up until it stopped was great though.

    http://transgirldiaries.com/ Trans Girl Diaries. A funny if weird comic about trans people. Has a pretty great unofficial closing to Venus Envy.

    http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Princess/ The Princess. A so cute and sweet it will give you cavities comic about a little trans girl

    http://whatsnormalanyway.net/ Whats Normal Anyways. Webcomic about a trans guy! He is kinda super adorables.

    http://www.khaoskomix.com/ Khaos Komix. A series of interconnected stories dealing LGBT characters. It has ended.

    There are a couple more trans related comics I could list but don’t update anymore/finished. And some other lesbian/bi/queer but I would be here all day typing.

    • Khaos is amazing! I loved it, it helped me and it was beautifully done. Same artist, Tab, is now working on Shades of A, which is a parody of Shades of Grey, only less awful, and about an asexual guy, mostly.

      It updates every Monday and Thursday, with a livestream to watch Tab draw starting at 9AM, British time. http://www.discordcomics.com

  3. I just wrote a super huge list of trans comic suggestions. I hope it is being moderated and didn’t get deleted by accident cause I am not doing that again.

    • I can’t find it under moderated comments! It must have gotten deleted! Pleeeeeeease write it up again? I’d love to read your trans comic suggestions!

  5. So for webcomics about queer girls I read: Go Get A Roomie (has an awesome favorites list), Khaos Komix (so many queer characters!), Bad Reputation (gay lady pirates!), Serenity Rose (gay witch), Liliane, Bi Dyke, Chaos Life and a few others that I can’t think of right now.

    For webcomics that are good and have queer girls/characters in them that I read: Girls with Slingshots, Gunnerkrigg Court, Menage e Trois, Questionable Content, Knights Errant, O Human Star, and others.

    Actually, just go through Rosalarian’s favorite list on Yu+Me Dream, she lists them according to how many queer ladies are in them. And she also has I think three other webcomics about gay ladies. TJ and Amal is about about two gay dudes, but it’s a gorgeous, kinda quiet love story and the artist has a really good list of good webcomics. Yamino of Sister Clare: Pregnant Nun is also awesome as is most anything Yamino does. Oh! and then there’s also Jess Fink. And a lot of others that I can’t think of right now. Basically I’m really glad that this post exists because I love webcomics.

    • So many good additions! I loooove Jess Fink, but somehow Chester 5000 XYV seemed an odd fit on this list, you know?

    • I second Go Get a Roomie and Girls With Slingshots!

      I can’t wait to read all these new comics too :)

      • The Lesbians 101 on Chaos Life guide is the best. Bonus comic about the artist’s personal experience of gendered identity.

    • I second Go Get a Roomie and Gunnerkrigg Court. GC has some of the most amazingly complex stories I’ve ever seen. GGAR is just fun, and has some genuinely touching moments. It’s definitely NSFW though.

  7. I love love love this article and it’s super relevant to my interests! I’ve read a lot of these, but a couple are new and I can’t wait to check them out!

  10. Reeeeeeeeeading and bookmarking all of these now!

    I’ve grown to love and admire QC so much, but it took me a long time to get used to Jeph’s humour. The beginning few years were incredibly immature and I loathe toilet humour, so I stopped reading for a few years but came back to it. Honestly, for a straight white cis-dude, he’s done a really good job showing the complexity and diversity of queer identities without making it a big deal, you know? (Also, Claire’s crush on Marten is super cute)

  12. This isn’t super related, but am I the only person who can’t get into a comic if I don’t like the illustration style?

    • nope! i have the same problem. sometimes i can be won over, but if i don’t dig the art i’m definitely less likely to read stuff.

  13. Jane’s World! Started reading in like 2005 or something and read for a few years and then stopped for a reason I can’t remember but it turns out (I discovered lately!) the artist, Paige Braddock, is still writing it! Super awesome.

  14. I HAVE SO MANY FEELINGS ABOUT THIS POST!
    I have read Yu+Me=Dream, GGAR, and Red String. Apparently I missed DAR (which I will go read tomorrow). I also go through periods of time when I subscribe to Filthy Figments. Really amazing artists and a good range of content. I guess I won’t be writing my thesis anytime soon…too many webcomics to read.

  15. I would really recommend Girls With Slingshots. The cast basically comprises the whole rainbow – a married lesbian couple, a dominatrix librarian, a lesbian couple where one member is asexual and the other is bi and polyamorous, a gay man who moonlights as a drag queen, and more…

    The characters are queer, straight, white, of colour, thin, fat, poor, comfortable, kinky, vanilla, everywhere in between, with disabilities, without – but it doesn’t feel contrived or tokenistic. It’s something I love to read because it reminds me that whatever I am it’s ok and hey we are all people with a lot in common really.

    A story arc where an out-of-work lesbian gets a job selling weiner hot dogs and discovers roller derby in the process is here – http://www.girlswithslingshots.com/comic/gws-1081/

  16. I really liked Khaos Komics, which has already been mentioned, and the author, Tab, is currently writing a new series, Shades of A, which is a satire of Shades of Grey where the main characters so far include an asexual man and his genderqueer best friend.

    http://www.discordcomics.com/shades-cover/

  18. Go Get a Roomie! is definitely a comic you should consider reading. Chloe’s art is great and you get to see it evolve, and the color is very easy on the eyes. It has good themes and easy to read, four paneled comics. She updates three times a week and has around 300 + comics to keep you busy.
    http://www.gogetaroomie.com/

    Next is Menage A 3, a comic about a geeky 30 year old virgin who’s former roommates were gay and moved out to be together so the main character had to find new room mates, one rocker chick who is openly bi, and another, an amazonian who is questioning her sexuality. It’s hilarious, never a dull moment. He even gets a girlfriend who’s father writes hentai, which is why she has a fear of penises and sees them as tentacles.

    http://www.ma3comic.com/strips-ma3/gender_reversed_preview

    And last but not least, Sticky Dilly Buns, a spin off of MA3 starring MA3’s old roommate, Dillon and his best friend, Amber, a former pornstar! This ones more gay than MA3.

    http://www.stickydillybuns.com/strips-sdb/caught_off_guard

    Every one of these are NSFW. ._.

  19. Just logged in to say, Megan Rose Gedris’ YU+ME: dream changed my life.

    And I know she reads Autostraddle, so if she sees this, HI MEGAN I LOVE YOU.

    Awks.

  20. Girls with Slingshots! Hilarious and totally queer.

    Also, there is now a trans character in Questionable Content, as well as Tai (my favourite 2D lesbian) and various other gay/bi characters.

    Will check out some of the other ones n all, love a good webcomic!

  24. Don’t forget about Girly (girlyyy.com). It features a lesbian couple in the fantastical world of Cutetown; it is crazy, really funny, and sometimes surprisingly insightful, even when giant elephants are overrunning Cutetown and even the CutePD isn’t enough to stop them.

  25. Can I just say that Kateordie a.k.a. Kate Leth is actually problematic?

    This is apparently the final version on bisexuality that she gave in print and it pushes even more false information then her previous ones: http://tearingdownthatfence.tumblr.com/post/49389650003/bidyke-gohomebiphobia-kateordie-hi So when the entire bi-community on tumblr (myself included) tried to point out the problematic stuff, she just deleted her post, went in a “you’re a bunch of meanies” mod and never apologized or even replied in any meaningful way.

    Also she insists on being awfully cissexist, even though she knows better: (Trigger warning!) http://tearingdownthatfence.tumblr.com/tagged/kateordie

    Basically: 0/10 Would not recommend.

    • I definitely second Band vs. Band – it is probably my favourite webcomic, like, ever. The art isn’t that great in the first few pages, but after that it really picks up, and it’s got the prettiest colour scheme!

  27. really i have to point out as other people have that kate leth is cissexist and has frequently told trans people that they should never criticize their allies because “at least we arent killing you”. she called vaginas lady parts in a picture, the caption for which specifically said that she knew it wasnt trans inclusive but really didnt care because vulva didnt sound right. when called out she labels any critics as bullies, and when another comic was criticized for being INCREDIBLY transphobic and using the term trap she lept to their defense and remarked that “you cant do anything these days without people taking offense”. i dont advocate for stringing people up over past mistakes but she has never apologized nor given any indication of caring, and the fact that shes labeled as “super queer positive” or whatever is grating.
    id also like to add that moon over june has an entire arc devoted to a lead up to an “LOL SHE’S A HE! HOW DISGUSTING” joke; perhaps its not really very queer positive at all.

      • yeah, its not even remotely surprising that a lot of cis feminist women give a pass to her trans man chaser comic, god forbid they call out cissexism in their own spaces. nor are the views expressed in that strip particularly uncommon among cis feminist women

    • Ugh I had no idea about this. Thanks for pointing it out (I don’t actually read her comics, but it’s feasible that I might have in the future).

  28. ok i totally get she’s not up to date with bisexuality and ‘at least we aren’t killing you’ is both effed up and false, because exclusion equals indirect empowerment of killers. I’m not arguing she’s a decent, queer-pos person. But using ‘ladybits’ – is it really that awful? Don’t get me wrong i would never call a guy’s junk that, not ever, no matter the configuration – but re myself…i kind of have a cultural/emotional hangup re stuff like c-word and am much more comfy calling them that. i would stop if i saw how it is truly awful but kill me i don’t.

    • the problem was it was a diagram directly talking about body parts that she labeled as lady parts, while immediately mentioning that she knew it was trans exclusive but vulva “isnt as catchy and sounds medical enough to turn people off” and then when she was confronted with someone saying “you’re being oppressive and this is hurtful” she literally responded “yup” and never apologized for it ever, later deleting the posts. its one thing to say “vaginas are lady parts” with relative ignorance regarding trans inclusion but to say it KNOWING it was exclusive and would hurt people, and then treating the hurt feelings that resulted from this with dismissal is royally screwed up.
      gendering genitalia period is awful, however; a man with a vagina does not have lady parts, vaginas are neither exclusive nor intrinsic to womanhood, referring to them all as “lady parts” is therefor cissexist, and she knew that and did not care. if you have a vagina and are a woman and call your vagina your lady bits thats fine but saying that vaginas (or vulvas) are “lady parts” is shows cissexist thinking.

  29. true. makes sense and i pretty much was on board with that. just asked in case i’m screwing something up and don’t even see :)

    but yea it is as i thought – her actual mark of a true arsehat being the desire to make a point.

    and while thankfully we live in a cyberpunk world where it can hardly be called essentialist….sadly such point is still at the very least classist.

  30. I’m checking up on all the comics posted in the comments and I LOVE them!! thanks for sharing everyone!!

  31. I want to second Girlyyy and Go Get a Roomie. The author of GGaR, in particular, is an awesome and active illustrator (batlesbo a.k.a. Chloe) with a penchant for doing great, gay fanart: http://batlesbo.deviantart.com/gallery/

    Here is a link to an untitled webcomic by a talented person featuring a couple of women in a dom-sub type of relationship.
    Disclaimer: the BDSM definitely plays a heavy role in the store, but it’s not graphic and the story of the relationship between the two is really the most compelling part.
    Disclaimer 2: English does not appear to be the author’s first language, so his grammar his grammar leaves a lot to be desired, but I really like his art style.
    Final disclaimer: You’ll have to sign up for Deviant Art to read the comic.
    http://shiniez.deviantart.com/gallery/35675685

    And this one isn’t a webcomic, but the Batwoman reboot in DC’s New 52 is incredible. Worth checking out for any queer fan of superhero comics.

  35. Gunnerkrigg Court is the best (one of the two main characters now has a canon girlfriend), although the art takes a couple chapters to start improving, and Homestuck takes a while before, you know, the characters stop being thirteen and start getting into relationships, but 1) Rose and Kanaya are my OTP and 2) mixed in with video game pastiche, apocalypses (is that the correct plural?) and the requisite character deaths are a lot of lesbian relationships.

  36. All these webcomics absolutely rock. They inspired me to write a webcomic myself and we just finished the prologue! So in case anyone wants to check it out, I’d really appreciate it: http://salmagundi.smackjeeves.com/

    Also, my personal favorites would have to be: Go Get a Roomie, Spinnerette (lesbians and superheroes? yes!), Missing Monday, Chaos Life, Girly, and Yu+Me.

  38. ugh this is so so so so good. i’m absolutely obsessed with queer webcomics…kind of want to start my own.

  39. Oh this is wonderful! Thanks for sharing this list. I am a big time fan for queer webcomics and I just love the idea of reading as many comics as possible. I choose many of the comics from Webcomic Hub: from the list for top 100 webcomics http://webcomicshub.com/webcomics/top_100. But thanks for this post..glad reading :)

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