Winner of the 2014 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology!
QU33R, from editor Rob Kirby, features 241 pages of new comics from 33 contributors—legends and new faces alike.
In 2012, Justin Hall edited a book called No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, that took readers on a journey from the beginnings of LGBT comics history to the present day. QU33R is an all-new project featuring queer comics legends as well as new talents that picks up where No Straight Lines left off. We’ve set down our history, now QU33R shines a light on our future!
QU33R had its genesis in an all-color queer comic zine called THREE, which featured three stories by three creators or teams per issue. Rob Kirby published three installments of THREE annually from 2010 to 2012, and the series did well, garnering not only an Ignatz nomination for Outstanding Anthology or Collection but also earning Rob the Prism Comics Queer Press Grant in 2011.
Producing the anthology was immensely gratifying, but featuring just three comics and publishing only once per year meant a lot of cartoonists weren’t getting the exposure they deserved. The publishing opportunities for queer cartoonists and queer subject matter are still limited, even today, and Rob longed for a wider distribution than he was able to manage on his own. He approached Northwest Press about doing a bigger compendium of all-new work.
While THREE was happening, Justin Hall was preparing his book No Straight Lines: Four Decades of Queer Comics, which Fantagraphics published in the summer of 2012. No Straight Lines traced the history of queer comics from their humble beginnings in the late 60’s/early 70’s all the way up to the present. The book was a whopping, award-winning success. Rob got to thinking that a follow-up volume—a sort-of-sequel focusing on all new work—would seal the deal, informing the world at large that we are still here, still queer, and still producing fresh and innovative work. He wanted to include not only several queer comics veterans, but also some fresh new faces and a few folks who haven’t necessarily belonged to the orthodox “queer comics scene” but have been doing non-heteronormative work all along.
QU33R features over 240 pages of new comics from a cross-generational lineup of award-winning LGBTQ cartoonists.
Broken Frontier –
“This look at life in Seattle’s ‘gay-bourhood’ is graphic, crass, and pretty darn funny, which it owes to Chris Lange’s honest writing and the serious sociopolitical issues that lie at the comic’s foundation: artistic freedom and human rights.” Read Reid Vanier’s review on Broken Frontier.
Pacific Center for Human Growth –
“It’s in this easy and familiar tone where Capitol Hillbillies gets most of its appeal: it feels a lot like joking around with your buddies. Only your buddies constantly have the perfect witty responses to your misfortunes and also one of them is naked all the time and sometimes a talking unicorn shows up.” Read Ellen Perry’s review on Pacific Center for Human Growth.
Sequential Tart –
“The tag line for the comic is ‘because sodomy is funny’, and that is a big clue to the kind of humor you’ll find here. Dick jokes, sex jokes, jokes involving Beyoncé, the local Capitol Hill gay culture scene, the occasional strips on hot button topics such as Proposition 8 and same sex marriage. If you find any of that potentially offensive, then this collection is not for you.” Read Patti Martinson’s review on Sequential Tart.