by rory midhani
This month is the three year anniversary of this column, which seeks to highlight and celebrate comics by, for and about queer women. So, that means that it’s once again time for the Autostraddle Comic and Sequential Art Awards, the only comic award that focuses on feminist themes and queer women’s representation in comics. Starting last year, these awards are voted on by you, the fans and readers of these comics and these books, and we’re doing that again this year, but now there are even more categories for you to vote in! This way, even more comics and creators get the recognition they so rightfully deserve.
In order to choose this year’s nominees I surveyed those on the Autostraddle staff who read comics, and also got the opinions of many women and non-binary folks whose opinions on comics I respect and admire, including J.A. Micheline, Hazel Newlevant, Olivia Stephens, Al Rosenberg, Draven Katayama, Steenz Stewart, Juliet Kahn, Kat Overland and Rachel Stevens. All of these nominees were counted and then these shortlists were made based on who got the most nominations from both groups of voters. Each category — except for Favorite Cartoonist, Favorite Queer Character and Favorite Comic — was narrowed down to just five nominees. In those other three categories, there were ties in number of nominees. Now it’s up to you to chose the winners by casting your votes.
The stated goal of the Autostraddle Comic and Sequential Art Awards, also known as the ACSAs, is to recognize and celebrate webcomics, graphic zines, comic books, graphic novels and other forms of sequential art that come out each year between September 1st of the previous year and August 31st of that year that feature both excellence in the art form and excellence in representation for girls and women (especially queer girls and women) and feminist themes. Women have been a part of comics since the beginning, and now the number of women who both read and work in comics is bigger than ever before. We deserve to have our voices heard. The people who work hard to create these great stories for us also deserve recognition and celebration. They spend hours and days and weeks and months bringing us these comics. They sacrifice time and comfort and sometimes job opportunities in order to tell these kinds of stories. They’re bold and creative and deserve our love. So, here’s one way you can show them that love. However, as always, the best way to show these creators that you support them is to buy their comics or support them on patreon. Voting is open now and closes on Saturday, September 24th at Midnight Pacific Time.
Favorite All-Ages Comic
- The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North, Erica Henderson Tom Fowler, Rico Renzi and Travis Lanham
- Lumberjanes by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Carey Pietsch Ayme Sotuyo, Maarta Laiho and Aubrey Aiese
- Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat by Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, Megan Wilson and Clayton Cowles
- Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess
- Goldie Vance by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams, Sarah Stern and Jim Campbell
Favorite Big Two Book
- DC Comics Bombshells by Maguerite Bennett, Laura Braga, Mirka Andolfo, Sandy Jarrell, J. Nanjan, Wendy Broome, Kelly Fitzpatrick and Wes Abbott
- Ms. Marvel by G. Willow Wilson, Adrian Alphona, Takeshi Miyazawa, Ian Herring, Irma Kniivila and Joe Caramagna
- Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat by Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, Megan Wilson and Clayton Cowles
- The Unbeatable Squirrel Girl by Ryan North, Erica Henderson Tom Fowler, Rico Renzi and Travis Lanham
- Angela: Queen of Hel by Marguerite Bennett, Stephanie Hans, Kim Jacinto, Israel Silva and Clayton Cowles
Favorite Indie Book
- Zodiac Starforce by Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau
- Kim & Kim by Mags Vissagio, Eva Cabrera, Claudia Aguirre and Zakk Saam
- Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Kelly Fitzpatrick and Claton Cowles
- Goldie Vance by Hope Larson, Brittney Williams, Sarah Stern and Jim Campbell
- Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess
Favorite Single Issue
- Batgirl #45 by Cameron Stewart, Brenden Flethcer, Babs Tarr, Serge Lapointe and Steve Wands
- Bitch Planet #8 by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Kelly Fitzpatrick and Claton Cowles
- Angela: Queen of Hel #7 by Marguerite Bennett, Stephanie Hans, Kim Jacinto, Israel Silva and Clayton Cowles
- Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat #8 by Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, Rachelle Rosenberg and Clayton Cowles
- Zodiac Starforce #2 by Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau
Favorite Webcomic – Serial
- Witchy by Ariel Ries
- Strong Female Protagonist by Brennan Lee Mulligan and Molly Ostertag
- Agents of the Realm by Mildred Louis
- Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu
- As the Crow Flies by Melanie Gillman
Favorite Webcomic – Episodic
- Trans Girl Next Door by Kylie Wu
- Hark! A Vagrant by Kate Beaton
- Junior Scientist Power Hour by Abby Howard
- Travelogue by Aatmaja Pandya
- Band vs. Band by Kathleen Jacques
Favorite Webcomic – Single Story
- Lady of the Shard by Gigi D.G.
- Phantom by Aatmaja Pandya
- Finding Your Roots by Whit Taylor
- Dirt Creek Runs With Blood by Madeline McGrane
- Radishes by Carolyn Nowak
Favorite Graphic Novel/Book
- Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash
- A City Inside by Tillie Walden
- Long Red Hair by Meags Fitzgerald
- Turning Japanese by Marinaomi
- Shadoweyes Vol. 1 by Sophie Campbell
Favorite Comics Anthology
- Chainmail Bikini ed. by Hazel Newlevant
- Beyond Anthology ed. by Sfé Monster and Teneka Stotts
- Love in All Forms ed. by Serafina Dwyer
- The Other Side ed. by Kori Michelle Handwerker and Melanie Gilman
- Fresh Romance ed. by Janelle Asselin
Favorite Writer
- Marguerite Bennett – Angela: Queen of Hel, DC Comics Bombshells, InSEXts, Red Sonja
- Kate Leth – Power Up, Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat, Vampirella
- Kelly Sue DeConnick – Bitch Planet, Pretty Deadly, Captain Marvel and the Carol Corps
- Suzanne Walker – Mooncakes
- Marjorie Liu – Monstress
Favorite Artist
- Molly Ostertag – Strong Female Protagonist
- Brittney Williams – Goldie Vance, Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat
- Paulina Ganucheau – Zodiac Starforce, Another Castle
- Wendy Xu – Mooncakes, My Neighbor Jiaojian
- Sana Takeda – Monstress
Favorite Colorist
- Jordie Bellaire – Pretty Deadly, Captain Marvel
- Tamra Bonvillain – Rat Queens, Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur, The Unbelievable Gwenpool
- Kelly Fitzpatrick – Bitch Planet
- Megan Wilson – Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat
- Sarah Stern – Goldie Vance, MMPR: Pink
Favorite Letterer
- Aubrey Aiese – Lumberjanes
- Paulina Ganucheau – Zodiac Starforce
- Rachel Deering – Beauties, from Fresh Romance
- Janice Chiang – Poison Ivy: Cycle of Life and Death
- Saida Temofonte – Gotham by Midnight, Sensation Comics Featuring Wonder Woman
Favorite Cartoonist
- Maggie Thrash – Honor Girl
- Ariel Ries – Witchy
- Mildred Louis – Agents of the Realm
- Aatmaja Pandya – Travelogue, Phantom
- Melanie Gillman – As the Crow Flies
- Nataie Riess – Space Battle Lunchtime
Favorite Queer Character
- Maggie from Honor Girl
- Savi from Zodiac Starforce
- America Chavez from Ultimates and Hawkeye
- Batwoman from DC Comics Bombshells and Detective Comics
- Prill from Witchy
- Jordan from Agents of the Realm
Favorite Queer Couple
- Lily and Savi from Zodiac Starforce
- Mal and Molly from Lumberjanes
- Sera and Angela from Angela: Queen of Hel
- Poison Ivy and Harley Quinn from DC Comics Bombshells
- The Acolyte and the Radiant Goddess from Lady of the Shard
Favorite Comic
- Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash
- Witchy by Ariel Ries
- Patsy Walker, AKA Hellcat by Kate Leth, Brittney Williams, Megan Wilson and Clayton Cowles
- Bitch Planet by Kelly Sue DeConnick, Valentine De Landro, Kelly Fitzpatrick and Claton Cowles
- Lady of the Shard by Gigi D.G.
- Zodiac Starforce by Kevin Panetta and Paulina Ganucheau
- Space Battle Lunchtime by Natalie Riess
- Agents of the Realm by Mildred Louis
Once again, here’s the link to the survey where you can vote for your favorites.
New Releases (September 7)
Poison Ivy Cycle of Life and Death TP
Supergirl Friends and Fugitives TP
Supergirl: Who is Superwoman? TP
All New All Different Avengers #14
Color Your Own Women of Power TP
Lumberjanes To the Max Ed Vol 2 HC
Princess Princess Ever After HC
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.
well i know someone who just opened like 10 new links
…Are you spying on me?
Oh jeez, this will be SO HARD to vote on! So many great comics right now I really feel so blessed!
I know it must be so hard to create these lists but I do have to say that “Raven The Pirate Princess” is a glaring omission. It’s the number one comic I look forward to each month and it’s full of queer women and has an Asian lesbian as it’s lead character, with many more queer women on the crew. It’s incredibly fun and very feminist and it doesn’t get nearly enough attention.
Also a write-in option would be nice next time. :)
Oh and “Jem And The Holograms” has lesbian, queer and trans characters and such fantastic art.
Oh my gosh, YES! I love Mooncakes!
What do you consider an indie publisher? Because Dark Horse and Image are considered premium publishers not indie.
For the purposes of this award, it’s split between the big two and all other publishers.
What are “premium publishers”? Google has not given me an answer.
This looks like a great list, but I’m surprised Always Human didn’t make it into any of the webcomics categories…
i loove always human! i was so sure i was going to be able to vote for it :(
Three years and no nomination for Sister Claire??? It has some of the most gorgeous and moving art of any webcomic I’ve ever seen and a compelling storyline.
YES! Yamino is so good.
Woo hoo! I’m glad that I’m enough of a comics reader to be able to give informed votes this year!
I was thinking the exact same thing!
I’d really love to see a bigger diversity of webcomics represented in the future. As much as I love Witchy and As The Crow Flies, it’s kind of disappointing that the nominations for best serial webcomics are pretty much repeated over and over throughout the list…. It’s also kind of weird that some of the nominations for “Best Queer Character” have had very little screentime or development in their respective comics. It feels like a nomination on the basis of what those characters *could* represent and not what they’ve actually done so far, when there are so many great comics out there with well developed queer characters already!
A whole bunch of comics here that I wasn’t aware of and am thrilled to go look for now! Thanks for putting this list together!
And note to self: start following comics kickstarters religiously, because a lot of these seem to originate there.
Speaking of, an out lesbian has a comics kickstarter that’s just about to close, for anyone who might be interested and reads this in time:
https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/striptastic/striptastic?ref=user_menu
OMG ANGELA QUEEN OF HELL! I always felt like I was the only one reading it, so glad to see some recognition for it! :)
Thanks for organising this again, Mey! I’m super looking forward to voting!
Not sure if you’re able to edit surveys after they are live, but would it be possible (maybe for next year then?) for a ‘don’t know’ option for each category? I just don’t want to skew the results when it gets to some of the categories like fave colourist and fave letterer, when I’m really actually not sure!