This is Universal Love, a month-long spotlight on LGBTQ comic book stories that I have enjoyed over the years. This isn't meant as a "Best Of" list, since there are so many great works out there and so I'll spread the love around a bit, as it were.

Today we look at the fascinating, but ill-fated romance between Valkyrie and Annabelle Riggs in Fearless Defenders by Cullen Bunn, Will Sliney and Veronica Gandini, which is the series that established that Valkyrie was bisexual, which Tessa Thompson picked up on for her portrayal of the character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

The series, which followed up Bunn's work with Valkyrie in the follow-up to Fear Itself, introduces Dr. Annabaelle Riggs, an archaeologist friend of Misty Knight's...

Some Asgardian artifact goes haywire, but luckily Valkyrie shows up to help...

Annabelle and Valkyrie share a kiss...

Valkyrie wants to explore this Asgardian mystery by herself, but Misty and Annabelle insist on going with her and Annabelle impresses Valkyrie with her moxie...

In the next issue, while in Asgardia, Annabelle and Valkyrie discuss the kiss and Valkyrie is pretty open with her bisexuality...

Valkyrie eventually puts together a group of female heroes as the new Valkyrior (mainly Valkyrie, Misty, Annabelle, Dani Moonstar and Hippolyta, going by the name Warrior Woman).

Annabelle continues to sort of see through Valkyrie's emotional armor...

When the team has to collect a whole bunch of female heroes together to fight against the evil Caroline Le Fey, Thundra questions Annabelle's inclusion in the group, and Valkyrie explains what she saw back in the first issue - she saw that Annabelle was a true Valkyrie...

In the last issue of the opening arc, Valkyrie is possessed by a "Doom Maiden," but Annabelle is once again able to pierce through Valkyrie's defenses and get to the real Valkyrie...

Sadly, the price of restoring Valkyrie was Annabelle's life!

In the next issue, though, with guest art by Stephanie Hans, Valkyrie restores Annabelle to life by merging herself with Annabelle, so they now share a body...

This, as you might imagine, was awkward on any possible romance, since they shared a single body. It was strained.

Like when Valkyrie is making out with her boyfriend of the time, Flash Thompson (during his Agent Venom period)...

And then, when Valkyrie sees Annabelle's ex-girlfriend and Annabelle takes over the body (Bunn gets a good joke in here about the inappropriateness of just kissing someone out of nowhere)...

In Fearless Defenders #10, we meet Ren Kimura, a brand-new Inhuman, who is also a lesbian...

Annabelle helps her deal with her newfound powers...

In the next issue, Anabelle and Ren become a couple...

In the final issue of the series, Annabelle and Valkyrie come to an understanding, and Valkyrie notes that she approves of Ren...

It was an unusual, but clever relationship.

Sadly, Valkyrie would later die (but how that was handled vis a vis Annabelle will be a story I'll address in the future in another column).

If you have a suggestion for an LGBTQ work that you'd like to see me spotlight, feel free to drop me a line at brianc@cbr.com.