In recent years, more LGBTQ characters and stories have been incorperated into comic books, from superheroes like America Chavez and Iceman to all age titles like Lumberjanes and The Backstagers. Every genre in the medium has been making some form of progress with queer representation, but none have been as successful as the science-fiction genre.

Speculative fiction at large allows authors and readers to imagine a world, or even a universe, where real world systems are altered or not in place. Science-fiction, while more rooted in the real than fantasy, lends itself to this, and comic artists and writers can create a more advanced society that has moved past bigotry or reformed oppressive systems. These stories can also have issues, such as systemic homophobia, be a thing of the past or not even an problem because the expectations of reality can be rewritten.

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Motor Crush, created by Brenden Fletcher, Babs Tarr and Cameron Stewart, for instance has a queer, interracial romance at its core between Lola and Domino. There are obstacles in the way of their relationship; however, none of them are tied to the characters' sexualities. Instead, the issues they face are either interpersonal ones they have with one another or something that deals with the classic science-fiction conflicts presented in the comic. Lola and Domino's relationship is one of the highlights of the comic because the creators pay so much attention to developing the electric chemistry between the two, as well as their complex history, instead of dedicating time to tired coming out narratives and exhausting homophobic conflicts.

Another comic that does this is Crowdedwritten by Christopher Sebela and art by Ro Stein and Ted Brandt. While Motor Crush introduces readers to a couple that already has history, this comic has the two lead characters, Vita and Charlie, meet each other when Charlie hires Vita to protect her after a million dollar hit is put on Charlie's head. The comic has a classic opposites attract vibe to it, which provides for lots of humor and sexual tension. Both characters also have baggage and are imperfect, but their sexualities are never the issue. In fact, with the world against them, they have bigger problems to deal with, problems that are more interesting and fun for fans to read about.

Even comics like Carolyn Nowak's Girl Town, an anthology book about different women's lives, present more light hearted conflicts that resonate with the everyday problems despite its science-fiction setting. This book is like a positive The Twilight Zone or Black Mirror, playing with science-fiction elements to create a pleasant read that allows the LGBTQ characters to simply exist in a fantastical world that provides an escape for queer readers.

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Most people turn to speculative fiction for an escape from their real world issues, and LGBTQ readers deserve to see themselves as heroes and have a distraction from their personal issues. One of the most extreme cases of a science-fiction graphic novel ignoring real world homphobia in favor of giving LGBTQ readers a fantasy they can escape to is On a Sunbeam by Tillie Walden. This is a comic with only queer people, and Walden never addresses why this is the norm, just like most comics, shows and films never feel a need to address why their casts are made up of mainly, or only, straight characters. Instead, On a Sunbeam has its protagonists go on an across the universe journey that leads to the development of a found family that every reader wants to be a part of.

While titles like these feature stories where homophobia isn't an issue, other titles directly play on the anxities within the LGBTQ community. Science-fiction has often been a genre to address the fears within society, as seen in comics like V for Vendetta or The Vision, as well as queer led comics, like Cosmoknights by Hannah Templer.

In this comic's universe, royal families sponsor knights to joust on their behalf for the hands of princesses, who are forced to marry into the winning family. However, a group of queer women disagree with this because it disregards whether or not the princesses are in love with their arranged princes, and this system does not take into consideration whether the princesses are even attracted to men. It plays with some of the more poorly aged tropes of fantasy and challenges them in this science-fiction narrative, with queer women fighting for their right to love who they want to, regardless of what the laws say.

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Another comic that focuses on the real world systems that oppress LGBTQ women, women of color and women who don't conform to society is Bitch Planet, written by Kelly Sue DeConnick, art by Valentine De Landro and letters by Clayton Cowles. The titular planet is a prison planet for women who are "too fat, too thin, too loud, too shy, to religious, too secular, too prudish, too sexual, too queer, too black, too brown, too whatever-it-is-they'll-judge-you-for-today," but these women refuse to go quietly, let alone accept a system that sees thier sexulaities, bodies, race and genders as a "threat" to society.

While these two comics develop science-fiction societies that are metaphors for the real systems that oppress and belittle queer people, other comics, like writer Magdalene Visaggio, artist Eva Cabrera and letterer Zakk Saam's Kim & Kim, create intergalactic settings that are more reminiscent of the Star Wars' universe, but real issues that LGBTQ people, specifically trans people, face are still evident. While real world problems, like one's family rejecting them for simply being themself, are present, Kim & Kim is a positive, violent and unapologetically feminine read that shows that trans characters, like Kim Q, deserve a bright future.

It's no surprise queer narratives have found a home with science-fiction comics when this genre can be an escape for LGBTQ people, providing a sanctuary free of homophobia. Along with being an escape where queer fans can see themselves as imperfect, complex heroes and role models, instead of just their sexualities, this genre also allows creators to criticize how reality has systematically put down LGBTQ people while having characters of this community directly challenge and fight these systems with style and grit.

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