Just in time for Pride, Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer: A Memoir is getting a deluxe annotated hardcover through Oni Press. Following Kobabe through eir childhood, teen years, and young adulthood as e works through the complexities of gender, Gender Queer is a beautifully-illustrated tale of self-discovery and a vital text for anyone who has felt uncomfortable with their assigned identity, gender or otherwise.
Since its release seven years ago, Gender Queer has been widely regarded as one of the most banned books in the United States. It’s a heavy burden for a comic that is mostly about Kobabe’s deeply personal and ultimately cathartic journey. Experts often attribute the rise in book bans in the United States to a vocal minority. For eir part, Kobabe has suggested that people who are frustrated by the bans consider supporting groups like Books Not Bans. Another suggestion is to back our local libraries, who are often on the front line of the battle against book bans.
Still, Gender Queer’s effect on readers will always be more important than the bans. The book is a bestseller that continues to top “best of” lists. That prestige helped prompt this annotated edition, with lengthy notes from Kobabe and peers who have been affected by the work.
“Queer and trans cartoonists, comics scholars, and multiple people who appear in the book as characters contributed their thoughts, reactions, and notes to this new edition,” said Kobabe in a statement. “There are comments on the color design process, on comics craft, on family, on friendship, on the touchstone queer media that inspired me and countless other people searching for meaningful representation, and on the complicated process of self-discovery.”
Among the annotated contributors are industry peers such as Jadzia Axelrod, Ashley R. Guillory, Justin Hall, Kori Michele Handwerker, Phoebe Kobabe, Hal Schrieve, Rani Som, and Shannon Watters, as well as the original acquiring editor of Gender Queer, Andrea Colvin. It will also feature commentary from academics Dr. Sandra Cox, Ajuan Mance, Matthew Noe, and others.
“It’s been almost seven years since I wrote the final words of this memoir; revisiting these pages today, in a radically different and less accepting political climate, sparked a lot of new thoughts for me as well. I hope readers enjoy this even richer text full of community voices,” Kobabe continued.
Kobabe followed Gender Queer with Breathe: Journeys to Healthy Binding coauthored with Dr. Sarah Peitzmeier, and Opting Out (written with Lucky Srikumar), which will hit stands May 5, 2026. The 280-page annotated hardcover edition of Gender Queer: A Memoir will be available on May 20, 2026 through Oni Press and can be purchased at your local comic store or wherever you get books.
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