by rory midhani
The holiday season is the perfect time to support your favorite queer lady and non-binary artists, whether it’s by signing up to give them monthly support through their Patreon pages or buying gifts from their online stores for all your friends and loved ones. Now, I love Patreon. It’s hard to make a living making comics, and that’s especially true for webcomics. So now that there’s a way that I can support my favorite creators, you know that I’m going to be all over that. Besides just supporting your favorite creators’ Patreons, many artists also sell prints, shirts, stickers, comics and other merchandise that make for great gifts.
This is by no means a comprehensive list, and I mean no offense to any queer women or NB comic creators who aren’t listed here; there are several more listed here on the list I made last year.
Ariel Ries
From Ries’ webcomic Witchy.
Ries is one of my absolute favorite artists on the entire internet. Her webcomic Witchy, about a girl named Nyneve who lives in an Asian-based fantasy world where people have magic based on how much hair they have. Ries’ comic has stunning art, amazing world building, terrific fantasy rules and a cast full of queer characters and people of color. You can support her on Patreon, buy prints and other goods at her online store or buy her very terrific zines off of Gumroad.
Mildred Louis
From Agents of the Realm.
Another one of my favorite comic people on the internet, Louis creates the super terrific, absolutely gorgeous and ridiculously fun college-age Magical Girl comic Agents of the Realm, which, like Witchy, is full of poc and queer characters. You can support her on Patreon or buy prints or other things, like books or charms from her online stores.
Autostraddle’s Saturday Morning Cartoonists
Cameron Glavin
Glavin is one of our very excellent Saturday Morning Cartoon artists. You can follow Cameron on tumblr.
Anna Archie Bongiovanni
With their great Grease Bats comics, Bongiovanni brings us the adventures of Scout, Andy and now Ari every month. You can support them on Patreon or through their online store.
Yao Xiao
Her Baopu comics are always terrific, but her recent “If you Want to Say Thank You, Don’t Say Sorry” comic went wildly viral all across the internet. She also does beautiful illustrations, like in these essays. You can buy prints, including her Thank You/Sorry piece in her Etsy shop.
Megan Praz
The last, but not least, Saturday Morning Cartoonist, Praz can be contacted on her website for professional inquiries.
Kylie Wu
Kylie is the person behind the hilarious and super relatable Trans Girl Next Door comics. You can support her on Patreon or buy shirts and prints from her online store.
The Lumberjanes Team
First of all, you can buy Volume 1, Volume 2 or the special Friendship to the Max edition that collects both volumes and bonus content. You can also support individual members of the team by buying Noelle Stevenson’s other books like Nimona or Runaways. She also has several online stores. Artist Brooke Allen has a tumblr where she sometimes offers commission work. You can also support Kat Leyh, who recently joined as a writer through her online stores.
Kate Leth
Who wouldn’t love to have this Rihanna, Beyonce, Carly Rae, Nicki, T-Swift and Satan illustration on a shirt or pillow?
Kate Leth is a super awesome writer and artist who’s worked on comics like Edward Scissorhands, Adventure Time and Bravest Warriors. She also has a Patreon and a couple of online stores where you can buy prints and other products.
Sophie Campbell
Campbell is the unique and influential artist on Jem and the Holograms as well as having her own comics like Wet Moon and Shadoweyes, both of which have new versions coming out that have her correct name on them.
Tamra Bonvillain
And just sharing the original bw against the finished coloring!@TessFowler pic.twitter.com/boEwMiKQRn
— Tamra Bonvillain (@TBonvillain) December 8, 2015
Bonbillain is the colorist for books like Rat Queens (she’s done Issues #11, #12 and #13 so far), Wayward (which has three books), Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur and the upcoming Magaret Atwood-penned Angel Catbird, her colors make some of the most exciting comics out there come to life.
Aatmaja Pandya
Pandya makes the stunningly gorgeous fantasy webcomic Travelogue, as well as other comics like Baker’s Dozen that feature her wonderful fantasy world building. You can support her at Patreon or buy her comics from her online shop or Gumroad.
Cathy G. Johnson
From Dear Amanda.
Cathy G. Johnson is a brilliant writer and illustrator who makes some of the most fascinating and interesting comics out there. Jeremiah and Dear Amanda are two of my favorites. You can buy her comics, art and other things in her online store, which has a special Holiday sale going on right now!
Blue Delliquanti
Her webcomic O Human Star, about a transgender robot and her inventors, one of whom is the man she’s a robot clone of, is something I look forward to each time it comes out. You can buy the comic, or a poster of its characters, online and support Delliquanti through Patreon.
Molly Ostertag
Molly is the artist for my other Top 3 Favorite webcomic (along with Witchy and Agents of the Realm), Strong Female Protagonist, which is written by Brennan Lee Mulligan. You can buy SFP books, shirts and buttons online or check out Molly’s online store.
Suzanne Walker
Walker is the co-creator of one of my favorite new webcomics, Mooncakes, a paranormal tale about two Asian twenty-somethings, one a witch the other a werewolf, and the adventures they get into. The comic is on a short holiday hiatus, but you can support it through Patreon.
Christina Poag
Poag is an artist who uses bright colors to make her digital artwork stand out. You can support her on Patreon or commission her to do a unique piece of art for you or a loved one.
Taneka Stotts
Aside from being the writer for the webcomic Full Circle (which you can support on Patreon), Stotts is also an editor on collections like Beyond Anthology and the upcoming Elements Anthology.
Ens Current
Ens Current is a “self-identified tenderqueer, queer, mixed + white, femme PoC” who makes zines, illustrations and other crafts and has special discounts for queer women of color and queer femmes of color.
Joamette Gil
Gil is the person behind the brilliant #BlackLedWebcomics list, one of the artists for Everyday Feminism, and has her own Gumroad and Society6 shops.
Cathi Chavers
Chavers is an illustrator, cartoonist and self proclaimed GIF Wizard, you can buy comics, prints and stickers from her online store.
Veronica Agarwal
Agarwal is an artist sells a bunch of really cute prints, stickers and jewelry in her online shop.
Annie Mok
Annie Mok is one of my favorite artists. She does really terrific stuff for Rookie, and does a bunch of other amazing comics. You can check out her Gumroad shop to buy PDFs and her online store to buy physical copies. I’d suggest you pick up some of her stuff right away.
Mira Ongchua
Miss Bird + Miss Cat
Ongchua is an artist who works as a storyboard artist for Cartoon Network and does the adorable webcomic Miss Bird+ Miss Cat. You can buy a bunch of her comics online.
Hazel Newlevant
Another one of my favorites! Newlevant was one of the very first people I covered here at Drawn to Comics, and since then I’ve just become a bigger and bigger fan. She was the editor of the terrific Girl Gamer Anthology Chain Mail Bikini and sells her own comics online. You can also check out her auto-bio comic No Ivy League, which I thoroughly enjoyed.
Melanie Gilman
From As the Crow Flies.
We might as well end on a high note. Gilman’s comics are some of the most beautiful out there, and no one can match them when it comes to working with colored pencils. I’ve been in love with their webcomic As the Crow Flies for years. You can support them on Patreon or download their lesbian swing dancing vampire comic from Gumroad.
New Releases (December 16)
Adventure Time With Fionna and Cake: Card Wars #6 (Boom!)
Boom Box 2015 Mix Tape #1 (Boom!)
Lumberjanes #21 (Boom!)
Power Up #6 (Boom!)
Spire #5 (Boom!)
Avatar: The Last Airbender Vol.11 Smoke and Shadow Pt. Two TPB (Dark Horse)
Batgirl #46 (DC)
Catwoman Vol. 4: The One You Love TPB (DC)
Clean Room #3 (DC)
Harley Quinn #23 (DC)
Secret Six #9 (DC)
We Are Robin #7 (DC)
Jem and the Holograms Holiday Special 2015 (IDW)
Phonogram the Immaterial Girl #5 (Image)
Wayward #12 (Image)
The Wicked + The Divine #17 (Image)
Mighty Thor #2 (Marvel)
Ms. Marvel #2 (Marvel)
Silk #2 (Marvel)
Unbeatable Squirrel Girl #3 (Marvel)
Web Warriors #2 (Marvel)
Welcome to Drawn to Comics! From diary comics to superheroes, from webcomics to graphic novels – this is where we’ll be taking a look at comics by, featuring and for queer ladies. So whether you love to look at detailed personal accounts of other people’s lives, explore new and creative worlds, or you just love to see hot ladies in spandex, we’ve got something for you.
If you have a comic that you’d like to see me review, you can email me at mey [at] autostraddle [dot] com.
It’s maybe just as well there isn’t a BUY IT ALL NOW button, else my credit card would be looking very frowny right now. ^_^; So much to explore!
And I might even find religion, were there a femme lizard-human-cyborg hybrid deity. One wonders what the services would be like..
I wonder how well Veronica Agarwal’s design there might work as laser etching. Maybe even on silver?
If I can add to the list:
Decrypting Rita, which you can read online at http://egypt.urnash.com/rita/chapter/01/ – her store’s currently closed, unfortunately. And, from the same artist:
Five Glasses of Absinthe, at http://egypt.urnash.com/5glasses/.
Ah well – think I’ll start with O Human Star, Jem, Lumberjanes, Trans Girl Next Door, and.. oh, who am I kidding? I’m going to wind up with getting something from everyone.. ^_^;
Mey my dear, you gotta stop writing articles! My Amazon wish list is getting too long! I can’t keep up with your recommendations! :(
Such an amazing list (as always!!). I also see some new artists that I haven’t seen before!!
Also want to recommend supporting Jessica of Manic Pixie Nightmare Girls, as she also draws (amazing funny) comics about being trans: http://manicpixienightmaregirls.com/
I got the Beyond anthology for my fiancée as part of her Christmas present!
So excited about this list!
Also, I believe that Melanie Gillman uses they/them pronouns? That is what they have listed on the ATCF website.
I was just signing in to say Melanie uses they/them, too.
Great collection of rad artists and storytellers!
you’re both absolutely right and I corrected the list!
Oh! And here’s a great Kickstarter to support! Featuring lots of other queer folks making indie comics. They have only 9 more days and need another $7000.
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1855150928/alphabet-anthology
Thanks for that! I’ve added my (admittedly very modest) support. ^_^
Seriously, how can this much awesome fit in one blog post?
Why magic of course.
But for serious all this practically is magic to me when I look at the history of publishing and the gatekeepers that can now be bypassed by our people.
Just thought it’d be worth noting that Lumberjanes 1-20 are included in the latest Humble Comic Bundle, if you pay at least $15 for the bundle. Thankfully, Amazon refunded me for 1-11, which I’d bought as Kindle editions the night before. ^_^ (Needless to say, I’d happily recommend the title. Really good fun)
O Human Star is indeed a fascinating premise, and with such warmth and humanity, despite most of the cast being artificial.
Trans Girl Next Door definitely deserves inclusion in this list – such a sharp sense of humor, sometimes wry, occasionally self-effacing, evidently heartfelt.
Guessing we didn’t make the list since we are a webcomic? Because as a creator I definitely qualify…
http://www.giantgirladventures.com