Drawing it out: lesbian webcomics to watch out for

by Devil’s Food Cake

The internet is a marvelous thing. Back in the day when I was just coming out and utterly closeted in the family home, the one respite I had was my laptop, and I spent hours trawling the web looking for things to satisfy my curiosity for sapphic knowledge. My legal research skills clearly came in handy when digging up these treasure troves, and my utter fangirlness has led to a love for many geeky things, including, of course, webcomics. Alas, one of my favourite webcomics is coming to an end over the next month or so, but in light of this, could there be a better time to recount some of the better les[bi]an offerings available on t’interwebs? (Warning: Some images NSFW)

1. Yu+me dream

Based around the relationship between Fiona and her neighbour Lia, Yu+Me dream is a combination of fantastic artwork and great storytelling. I’m reluctant to give too much away, but what you expect when you begin to read bears little resemblance to the fantastic places the story ends up. Essentially though, it deals with meeting the girl of your dreams. Literally. Megan Gedris, the author, perhaps describes it best, as ‘a surreal love story. It is part high school romance, part journey/adventure story, and part total-mind-fuck.’ The story just gets better as you go along, and is one that is funny and sad and really just riveting. It’s with a heavy heart that I’ve been reading the (ongoing) epilogue. But I guess, as they say, all good things really must come to an end. It’s some small consolation, though, that Megan’s other comic, …Lesbian Pirates From Outer Space, will continue to update.

2. Girly

A girl and her sidekick – the premise is simple, but the adventures they have are not. There are a lot of big, bad things out there for two girls to face, but, armed with each other (and Winter’s gigantic dildo), they can take on anything. Also – marshmallow kitty is the kind of thing dreams are made of.

3. Moon Over June (NSFW)

I guess I should have known that a comic about a lesbian pornstar and a lesbian gynocologist who live together would be NSFW, but for some reason, it took me a while (two pages) to catch on. Clearly didn’t faze me, but if you’re the prudish sort, Moon Over June is probably not the comic for you. Funny, sexy and full of the kind of lez angst I can understand and, moreover, identify with, MOJ is defeinitely worth a regular peek. Author WocGirl’s other comic, Tales From the Woc, is also very NSFW, and can be read by subscription on Slipshine.

4. Curvy (NSFW)

What would you do if a lesbian alien princess crashed down in your bedroom and whisked you off to some entirely different planet? No? Yeah, I have no idea either. But Curvy is definitely a step in the right direction, if you’re trying to figure that out.

5. Questionable Content

Less dramatically lez than some of the other things I read regularly, QC is, I think, the first webcomic I ever started reading, and is still one of my favourites. It follows a bunch of hipster kids living in Northampton, and centers on Marten Reed, his room-mate Faye, his girlfriend Dora and the myriad friends they’ve picked up along the way. Though none of the main characters is ostensibly L, Dora’s bisexuality is pretty expertly dealt with, and Marten’s co-worker Tai is an awesome poly lesbian librarian with a sharp sleeve and more lady-action than you (or I) can count.

And. Now. This last one isn’t exactly a webcomic – in fact, it’s not a webcomic at all. But it is a comic, and it is on the web now. And more than anything else, Dykes To Watch Out For is a big gay institution, and any homage to great LBT comics or comic characters would be incomplete without a salute to the grand dame of them all. While not all the strips are online, a good portion are, so DTWOF n00bs can peruse to their heart’s content. An even better idea would be to buy the books, which are, in my humble opinion, freaking awesome and more than worth it.

Also, I have a raging, shameless crush on Alison Bechdel.