Outsider Comics Hosts Maia Kobabe, Author of Genderqeer Graphic Novel

I am at the start of a personal mission to seek out more queer spaces.  Specifically, to find non-binary ones. So when I saw that Outsider Comics was hosting Maia Kobabe to talk about eir graphic novel, Genderqueer, I had to go.

The book itself is a heartfelt memoir that I had read a month or so earlier, right after it first came out.  It is Maia’s story of figuring out eir gender identity. It serves as both a good primer on genderqueer and non-binary identities and an interesting look at one person’s story.  Also, the art is gorgeous.

When I showed up at the store, everything had been moved in preparation for the talk.  Maia was sitting at a table in the middle of the room with copies of Genderqueer, a couple of anthologies e had worked on, and sketchbooks containing the strips that eventually led to the creation of Genderqueer and the planning sketches for the book.  A couple of people were already there, looking through eir sketchbooks and chatting with Maia.

When I sat down, e wrapped up the conversation e was having, welcomed me, and asked if I had read the book.  We had a brief conversation about my reading and loaning out the book and that broadened out into discussion with everyone there.  As it got closer to the scheduled time for the reading, the room filled up with a combination of interested readers, a couple that happened to be wandering by, and a few of Maia’s friends.

E presented the art from three projects and read the text that would be with it.  The first was titled The Nonbinary Bunny, a very sweet riff on The Runaway Bunny.  The second was a discussion of non-binary gender that was originally a Kicksarter reward for the comic anthology Heartwood.  The third was an additional memoir piece that e had written after the book.

E talked, through both conversation and the presentation itself, about creating the book partially as a way to solve the coming out question.  E had used comics in the past to explain things to eir friends and family and was now using this publication as a way to come out at gatherings.  When e receives the common question of what e does for a living, the book’s title serves to indicate eir gender. I will be interested, whenever I get to see e speak again, if this worked.  After all, so many people are oblivious on that front.

As the event wound down, the attendees began talking to each other, discussing their own art, exchanging social media handles, and starting to build new community.  Outsider intends to have more events like this, pulling in a variety of artists and writers. This was their first and it was an amazing night where they continued to build out the community that is so important to the shop.  I am glad that they also used it to help in building out the non-binary community in this area.