The Best Queer Graphic Novels and Comics of the Century (So Far)

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This year, Book Riot has been cataloguing our picks for the best books of the century so far, organized by genre, format, and age category. Our most recent entry in this series is The Best Comic Books of the Century So Far, and it includes plenty of queer graphic novels and comics—including several that I championed. I’ve collected them here, along with a couple that were nominated but didn’t make the final cut.

These lists are always impossible, and there are several queer graphic novels I would add to this list if I could. Some of my favourites that I think deserve a spot here are Heartstopper by Alice Oseman, The One Hundred Nights of Hero by Isabel Greenberg, When I Arrived in the Castle or A Guest in the House by E.M. Carroll, The Deep Dark by Lee Knox Ostertag, and She Love to Cook, and She Loves to Eat by Sakaomi Yuzaki.

I’m curious to know which queer graphic novels and comics you’d add to this list! There are so many on my TBR that I’ve heard great things about, like Laura Dean Keeps Breaking Up with Me by Mariko Tamaki, Brooms by Jasmine Walls, Kirby’s Lessons for Falling (In Love) by Laura Gao, and Cannon by Lee Lai. I also feel like I’ve barely scratched the surface of queer manga and manhwa.

All Access members, stay tuned at the end for a bonus list of 40(!!) new queer books out this week.

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The Best Queer Graphic Novels and Comics of the Century (So Far)

Boys Weekend by Mattie Lubchansky

This is a satirical horror graphic novel about Sammie, a transfemme person who is invited to an old friend’s bachelor party as the “best man.” Lubchansky blends together over-the-top elements of this dystopian capitalist world with grounded emotions; Sammie experiences both the supernatural horrors of the cult everyone around them seems oblivious to and the more realistic horrors of misgendering and anti-trans aggression. Sammie is a defiant character who refused to be swept up in the cult of cisheteromasculinity around them. As Carmen Maria Machado put it, this is a “witty, tender romp through the cosmic horror of being alive.” —Danika Ellis

Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu

There was a rare, lightning-in-a-bottle moment when Ngozi Ukazu created a romance that gives that ultimate swoon/obsession so many romance readers are forever chasing. Check, Please started as a webcomic that broke a Kickstarter record in 2021 for being the most funded. From the vibrant artwork to the incredibly adorable Bitty, a baking enthusiast and college hockey player, this graphic novel duology will make you laugh while also filling you with pure delight as you root for love (and friendships). It’s also impossible to only read it once, so plan for at least a yearly reread. —Jamie Canaves

Fun Home by Alison Bechdel

Alison Bechdel (for whom the Bechdel Test is named) reshaped the graphic memoir landscape with this bestselling and award-winning tragicomic chronicling her childhood in rural Pennsylvania and complex relationship with her closeted father. She weaves humor into heartache as she recalls reckoning with her father’s sudden death (which was likely a suicide) when she was 19 years old, just weeks after coming out as a lesbian and finding out he was gay, too. It took her seven years to finish Fun Home (a reference to the sardonic name for the funeral home where her father was director), meticulously rendering illustrations of actual photographs to create this family portrait. It is a work of art in every sense of the word. —Vanessa Diaz

Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe

You can feel the relief–and joy–Kobabe feels at the end of eir coming-of-gender identity memoir. This moving and dynamic comic is the story of Kobabe navigating the confusion of eir gender in a world that too often sees the world in binaries. What happens when you don’t fit that? Where and how do you explain who you are to your family, your friends, and to the broader community, especially if the knee-jerk reaction is “huh?” rather than “rad!” Kobabe’s memoir is a reminder that self-identity is a journey and one that matters to finding your place in the world–even and especially when that world wants to push back. Eir voice and art shine. —Kelly Jensen

Giant Days by John Allison, Max Sarin, Lissa Treiman

Giant Days began as a webcomic before being traditionally published, and really showed how successful and celebrated slice-of-life comics could be. Susan, Esther, and Daisy start university in the UK, and are primed to figure out who they really are as adults. There are heartwarming queer experiences and all manner of university-level hijinks, as the girls’ friendship deepens. —Erica Ezeifedi

Monstress by Marjorie M. Liu and Sana Takeda

By far the most beautiful and intricate ongoing comic series being published today! Set in alternate matriarchal 1900s Asia, Monstress is the story of a young woman’s quest to uncover the truth behind what happened to her mother during a magical war. It’s full of dark mythological storytelling and an art deco style that sets it apart from anything else I’ve ever read. If you haven’t started it yet, truly what are you doing? —Rachel Brittain

My Favorite Thing is Monsters, Vol. 1 by Emil Ferris

In Emil Ferris’s debut, the scenes of a young, awkward girl coming of age in 1960s Chicago are drawn in intricate pen on composition paper. Told in the form of 10-year-old Karen’s creative and vulnerable diaries, the book explores her discoveries about her wide range of neighbors, including a Holocaust survivor; the people (and pulp monsters) she finds herself identifying with as an outcast, including a ghostly girl and a burgeoning Black drag queen; and the landscape of 1960s Chicago. She draws herself as a young wolf-girl in this massively ambitious graphic novel that for the art alone should be considered one of the century’s best. —Leah Rachel von Essen

Nimona by N.D. Stevenson

In the 2010s, N.D. Stevenson posted doodles on Tumblr of a story he wasn’t sure what to do with, one about a shapeshifter with a penchant for villainy and a villain with a vendetta for a sidekick. Little did he know that those doodles would become a widely acclaimed webcomic, an Eisner Award and a Cybils Award-winning graphic novel, and an Academy Award-nominated film, all with a loyal and passionate fan base. Nimona is embraced as a classic of queer comics despite not being canonically queer, as Editor Danika Ellis explored last year. And if you needed any more reasons to be impressed by N.D. Stevenson, here’s your reminder that he would go on to be part of the team that gave us Lumberjanes. —Vanessa Diaz

On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden

Walden is one of our generation’s biggest talents, and in this science-fiction epic drawn in gorgeous blacks, reds, and blues, she gives us a story of queer longing in the midst of the space age. Two young girls have their romance cut short; many years later, Mia decides she deserves to find her lost love again and sets out with her found family to track her down. Originally crafted as a webcomic, this novel takes bold chances with its storytelling, depicting real character backstory and growth and complex relationships alongside gorgeous shots of space, as well as with its art, doing a wordless chapter, or using color to differentiate timelines. —Leah Rachel von Essen

Shadow Life by Hiromi Goto and Ann Xu

Leave it to a poet to cleverly tackle a topic most people ignore, in a graphic novel that feels as unique as it is gorgeous and hilarious. I can’t say that I’ve come across many graphic novels following a septuagenarian bisexual woman running away from Death’s shadow while fighting to keep her independence after her children place her in a living facility. Now that she’s found an apartment and is living life on her own terms, she only has to deal with the pesky intrusion of Death’s shadow. —Jamie Canaves

The Magic Fish by Trung Le Nguyen

In this YA graphic novel, Tien struggles to come out to his mother as gay, made more difficult by the language barrier: how can he finds the words in Vietnamese? They find connection by sharing fairy tales with each other. The embedded fairy tale stories all have their own visual style, including the fashion, that reflects something about the storyteller. I loved that this wasn’t just about Tien trying to come out to his mother, but also about his mother’s experiences as an immigrant from Vietnam. This is such a work of art, and it breaks my heart that it’s been targeted for book bans so frequently in recent years. —Danika Ellis

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

This Eisner- and Harvey Award-winning YA graphic novel is a charming fairy tale about Prince Sebastian, who secretly moonlights as the fashionista Lady Crystallia, helped by his dressmaker best friend, Frances. It has a timeless, classic fairy tale feel, and the gender-nonconforming main character is what makes it stand out—unfortunately, that means it has also been targeted for book bans. This gentle, comforting story for all ages is a perfect example of the kind of books getting targeted in the current book banning wave, despite their literary quality and age appropriateness. —Danika Ellis

The Tea Dragon Society by K. O’Neill

This Eisner Award-winning middle grade graphic novel series is unlike anything else I’ve ever read. It made me fall in love with cozy fantasy before “cozy fantasy” was a term. It’s set in a queernorm, inclusive world populated by supportive and caring characters. In this first book, Greta is apprenticing as a blacksmith when she finds a tea dragon—a small dragon that produces magical tea leaves. She learns about how to take care of him from the local tea dragon experts. While there, she befriends their ward, a shy girl with missing memories. Did I mention that I recently got my first tattoo, and it’s a tea dragon? That’s how much I love this. —Danika Ellis

Honorable Mentions:

Mooncakes by Suzanne Walker and Wendy Xu

Nova Huang is a witchcraft expert. She works at her grandma’s bookshop, a special one that loans out spell books and helps unearth mysteries in their supernatural town. When exploring such a mystery, she finds her childhood crush Tam, who is in a bit of trouble. Together, they rekindle their friendship (and maybe more?) as they try to stop cults, demons, and other otherworldly foes. Charming, inclusive, and so much fun. —Mya Nunnally

My Lesbian Experience with Loneliness by Nagata Kabi

When she was in her late 20s, Nagata Kabi decided to hire a female sex worker to take her virginity upon evaluating how unfulfilled and lonely she felt in her life. This Harvey Award-winning manga is a beautiful and moving exploration of mental health, sexuality, and coming of age. —Patricia Thang

40 New Queer Books Out May 19, 2026

As a bonus for All Access members, here are 40 new queer books out this week, including the nonbinary epic Canon by Paige Lewis, the gay fantasy novel Not All Dragons by David Ly, and the asexual and nonbinary graphic memoir Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition by Maia Kobabe.

The Dinner Party by Cat Fitzpatrick (Trans Woman Verse Novel)

Kitchen Venom by Philip Hensher (Queer Fiction) (Rerelease)