PRIDE MONTH 2026! The new Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration (formerly House of Illustration) has opened in Clerkenwell, London with exhibitions including the very timely, Paul Gravett-curated ‘Queer as Comics’. This celebration of 80 years of queer comics includes work from Broken Frontier ‘Six to Watch‘ creators including Ed Firth and Jason Chuang, alongside lots of other artists we’ve covered (many of whose work can be found on our extensive tagged resource list of LGBTQIA+ comics reviews and interviews here.)
More in the press release below alongside some tasters for what you can expect to see at the exhibition.
Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration to open with a celebration of 80 years of queer comics
Queer as Comics will be a landmark exhibition, exploring – for the first time in the UK- stories of fantasy, identity and resistance, as told by LGBTQIA+ comic-makers across time.
Spanning the 1940s to present day, this first major exhibition of queer comic-making in the UK will feature rarely displayed original artworks from comics, strip cartoons, graphic novels and zines. Most artworks are on display for the first time ever with over 60 artists featured, ranging from underground creators to influential icons, including Alison Bechdel, Tom of Finland, Cath Jackson, Kate Charlesworth and Rupert Kinnard.
Moomin episode 5, strip 29,Tove Jansson (1954) from London Evening News. ©Moomin Characters™
Curated by renowned comics specialist Paul Gravett, Queer as Comics will chronicle how comics creators have represented LGBTQIA+ lives over the past 80 years, from the UK’s first published gay comic strip, to the humour and sharp satire of the 1970s and 80s queer press, to contemporary zines and webcomics. Artwork on display address state power, discrimination and bold visions for the future, showcasing how comics provide a voice, community and life-affirming characters.
Curator Paul Gravett says, “Comics have a long tradition of being subversive: not solely art or literature but a combination of both to make their messages captivate readers. Under the radar, comics lend themselves perfectly to queer themes as brilliantly showcased in the exhibition.”
Translation: Bob was sitting at his place flicking magazines, when the doorbell rang. What kind of peddler could it be this time?
Untitled! (from ‘Initiation into the Brotherhood’), TOM OF FINLAND (1946) ©Tom of Finland Foundation Courtesy of the Tom of Finland Foundation and David Kordansky Gallery
Today, comics are one of the most influential forms of visual entertainment. The medium has been subject to censorship and constraints, with hysteria around comics as a ‘corrupting’ influence leading to strict content limits in 1955. At the same time, queer people used comics to disseminate stories in defiance of censorship.
The exhibition begins with works from the 1940s and 1950s, including original drawings from Tove Jansson – her 1954 Moomin cartoon strip for London Evening News included characters based on herself and her lesbian community. The first recurring queer-coded characters to appear in a mainstream British newspaper strip are attributed to Jansson. Tom of Finland’s Initiation into the Brotherhood provides a rare early example of his pioneering comics celebrating his sexuality during a time of criminalisation.
Untitled 2 (from ‘Initiation into the Brotherhood’), TOM OF FINLAND (1946) ©Tom of Finland Foundation Courtesy of the Tom of Finland Foundation and David Kordansky Gallery
The exhibition also includes the UK’s first published gay comic strip by Dave Richards: a parody of James Bond – James Blond as the “randy dandy with the handy pandy” – in 1969’s Jeremy magazine.
Following the UK’s partial decriminalisation of homosexuality in the 1960s, a vibrant queer press developed, with comic creators satirising queer scenes and making urgent political statements. Artists included in the exhibition include Kate Charlesworth, creator of the UK’s first ongoing lesbian comic strip The Adventures of Sandy. Simultaneously a lively underground ‘comix’ scene developed in the US including the first lesbian comic in 1973: Mary Wings’ Come Out Comix, also featured.
Bold-finger (1969), Dave Richards Jeremy, No1, Vol 1 (1969) © Dave Richards
Comics from the 1980s include works by Rupert Kinnard, creator of the ‘Brown Bomber’ – the first gay Black superhero. Original artwork from the first gay comic Gay Heartthrobs, and Burton Clarke’s comic Satyr for pioneering underground US publication Gay Comix, are on display in the UK for the first time. Also featured is the UK’s first LGBTQIA+ graphic novel Stanley and the Mask of Mystery (1983) by David Shenton. Comics collections made to protest Section 28 and advocate for gay rights during the AIDS epidemic include Tom Robinson’s Living with the Big A(1987).
Works from the 1990s include pioneering graphic novels by Ariel Schrag and Howard Cruse, alongside zines and underground comics by Diana Green, Sina Sparrow and Rachael House.
Betterment of Parental Guilt (1988), Rupert Kinnard Cathartic Comics Copyright © 2025 by Rupert Kinnard
Today, queer creators continue to expand the medium of comics, through ambitious graphic novels, vibrant self-publishing scenes and webcomics with global followings. Recent works include Anna Trench’s tale of women’s football and love in the early 20th century, Florrie and Lee Lai’s award-winning story of love lost, Stone Fruit (2021). Queer as Comics will champion pioneering creators and their comics as a vital form of queer art and literature. The exhibition will be on display from 5 June until 4 October.
De droommaker (The Dream-Maker), 2022 © Tobias Tak Courtesy of Estate of Tobias Eduard Tak
I Put My Ear Against Yours © Jason Chuang
Page from in the Hills, the Cities, 1980 Clive Barker (author) and John Bolton (artist) Published in Books of Blood, Volume I London: Sphere Books © John Bolton
Satyr (1986) ©Burton Clarke From Gay Comix #lO San Francisco Bob Ross
Dynamite Damsels (1976) © Roberta Gregory
Come Out Comix (1979), Mary Wings (first published 1973) © Mary Wings
Living with the Big A (1987), © Tom Robinson 1987
