Marvel's Voices: Pride

Marvel's Voices

by Luciano Vecchio, Angelique Roche

Stories from the world outside your window, by diverse creators who are making theirs Marvel — and making their voices heard! Take pride in a rainbow-powered, queer-centered anthology by an amazing assembly of writers and artists from all walks of life. New talents and fan-favorites tell their Pride stories — stories of inspiration and empowerment, featuring Wiccan and Hulkling! Iceman! Mystique and Destiny! Karma! Akihiro! Nico Minoru and Karolina Dean! And more sensational characters, old and new! Plus, Billy and Teddy’s honeymoon is interrupted by a full-scale galactic invasion of symbiotes! Aaron Fischer is the Captain America of the railways! And a stunning gallery of Phil Jimenez’s Pride Month variant covers!

Collects Marvel's Voices: Pride (2021) #1, Marvel's Voices (2020) #1 (“Assembled" story), Incredible Hulk (1968) #240, Astonishing X-Men (2004) #51, King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling (2021) #1, America Chavez: Made in the USA (2021) #1, material from United States of Captain America (2021) #1, Pride Month variants.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, LGBT, Marvel, Queer, Fantasy, Science Fiction

232 pages, Paperback

First published June 21, 2022

About the author

Ilustrador e historietista argentino.

Reviews

[Chad · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because of the nature of these types of anthologies, the stories can sometime feel forced. This is the case for some of the stories here but each year they get better and better and get further away from the cliched stories we are used to .When we finally get to the point where being gay or bi, is just an element of the story and not the story itself, we may finally have hit where creators are striving to be. Also included are a bunch of special issues that were some of the first "coming out" stories at Marvel. I still remember the majority of them like the issue where Jim Wilson dies of AIDS and the one where Northstar comes out.

[Nicholas Perez · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an alright little comic.

Some of the dialogue came off a bit cringy and forced, and some of the artwork...was not the best.
I am excited for the character of Somnus and this was a heart-felt introduction to him.

Overall, I was very impressed with the amount of bisexual representation in this issue.

[Rod Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

The short stories up front provide a quick and enjoyable run-through of Marvel's LGBTQIA+ characters, but mostly left me wanting more and longer stories instead of some of the questionable reprints that fill out the book. The Northstar coming out story from Alpha Flight #106 is a milestone, sure, but boy is it dreadfully drawn and written. The other reprints are better, but I had read most of them before, and they are from the middle or start of longer stories so they don't exactly satisfy on their own. Throw in the essays and there are enough good things to rate a thumbs up.

FOR REFERENCE:


Contents:

Introduction / Steve Orlando

Marvel's Voices Pride (2021) #1
• Introduction / Luciano Vecchio, writer, artist, colorist; Mike O'Sullivan, research
• The Vows / Allan Heinberg, writer; Jim Cheung, artist; Marcelo Maiolo, colorist
• Under the Stars / Mariko Tamaki, writer; Kris Anka, artist; Tamra Bonvillain, colorist
• Something New Everyday / Lilah Sturges, writer; Derek Charm, artist; Brittany Peer, colorist
• When a Black Cat Crosses Your Path, You Give Them the Right-of-way / Leah Williams, writer; Jan Bazaldua, artist; Erick Arciniega, colorist
• Totally Invulnerable / Crystal Frasier, writer; Jethro Morales, artist; Rachelle Rosenberg, colorist
• Colossus / Kieron Gillen, writer; Rye Hickman, artist; Brittany Peer, colorist
• Good Luck / Terry Blas, writer; Paulina Ganucheau, artist; Kendall Goode, colorist
• Early Thaw / Anthony Oliveira, writer; Javier Garron, artist; David Curiel, colorist
• The Man I Know / J.J. Kirby, writer, artist & colorist
• The Grey Ladies / Tini Howard, writer; Samantha Dodge, artist; Brittany Peer, colorist
• You Deserve / Vita Ayala, writer; Brittany L. Williams, Layouts; Joanna Estep, artist; Brittany Peer, colorist
• A Man of His Dreams / Steve Orlando, writer; Claudia Aguirre, artist, colorist; Luciano Vecchio, Somnus Character Design
• Love Is Love / Jacopo Camagni, writer, artist, colorist
• An Interview With Former Associate Editor Chris Cooper / Angélique Roché
• Big Gay Moments

Alpha Flight #106
• Excerpt From Alpha Flight #106 / Scott Lobdell, writer; Mark Pacella, Penciller; Dan Panosian, Inker; Bob Sharen, colorist; Janice Chiang, letterer

Marvel's Voices #1
• Assemble / Luciano Vecchio, writer, artist, colorist; VC's Travis Lanham, letterer

Incredible Hulk (1968) #420
• Lest Darkness Come / Peter David, writers; Gary Frank, Penciler; Cam Smith, Inker; Glynis Oliver, colorist; Joe Rosen, letterer
• Green Mail / Michael Kraiger, Nicholas J. Vance, Barbara Slate, Fred Burke, Jeph Loeb, Joe Rubinstein, Mindy Newell, Chris Cooper, Gary Guzzo, Don H. DeBrandt, Tom A. Tenney, Kelly Corvese, writers

Astonishing X-Men (2004) #51
• [Untitled] / Marjorie Liu, writer; Mike Perkins, Penciler; Mike Perkins, Andrew Hennessy, Inkers; Andy Troy, Jim Charalampidis, Rachelle Rosenberg, colorist; VC's Joe Caramagna, Cory Petit, Clayton Cowles, letterer

King in Black: Wiccan and Hulkling
• In the Name of the Honeymoon / Tini Howard, writer; Luciano Vecchio, artist; Espen Grundetjerm, colorist; VC's Ariana Maher, letterer

America Chavez: Made in the USA #1
• Made in the U.S.A., Part 1 / Kalinda Vazquez, writer; Carlos Gomez, artist; Jesus Aburtov, colorist; VC's Travis Lanham, letterer

The United States of Captain America #1
• Excerpt featuring Aaron Fischer, the Captain America of the Railways / Josh Trujillo, writer, Jan Bazaldua, artist; Matt Milla, colorist; VC's Joe Caramagna, letterer

Marvel's Voices Essays
• Marvel's Voices: Essay / Chris Cooper, writer
• Marvel's Voices: Essay / Terry Blas, writer
• Even an Android Can Cry: Essay / Jasmine Estrada, writer
• Finding Ourselves in the Subtext: Essay / Conner Goldsmith, writer
• Afterword: Ever Forward / Danny Lore, writer

Covers, Variant Covers, and Cover Gallery / Olivier Coipel, Luciano Vecchio, Mark Pacella, Gary Frank, Dustin Weaver & Rachelle Rosenberg, Jim Cheung & Alejandro Sanchez Rodriguez, Sara Pichelli & Tamra Bonvillain, Alex Ross, Paulina Ganucheau, Kris Anka, Russell Dauterman & Matthew Wilson, Enanda Souza, Jeffrey Veregge, Phil Jimenez & Marte Gracia, Phil Jimenez & Federico Blee, artists

[Ashley Marie · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

The vignettes in the first half were wonderful. I loved the Bobby/Magneto story (totally read it in Ian McKellen and Shawn Ashmore's voices), Mystique/Destiny, and Prodigy - that bi rep was phenomenal. Also the She-Hulk and Daredevil stories. A few of the shorter pieces felt rushed, but they were so wholesome.

I appreciated the inclusion of bits from various comics' original runs in the second half, but things like that always feel disjointed to me because they come from a larger story that I'm not familiar with, and I feel like I'm missing something.

The essays were excellent.

['Nathan Burgoine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this, especially Oliveira’s Iceman short, Crystal Frasier's She-Hulk story (She-Hulk adjacent story?), the Leah Williams Black Cat story, and Lilah Sturges' Daredevil story. I will say for anyone going into this collection looking for narratives that you're potentially going to feel a little shortchanged. I'm a fan of vignettes, so for me most of this really hit the spot, but I can understand that's not for everyone. Quite a few of these are the comic equivalent of flash fiction, rather than actual fully-fledged short stories, and I while I would have loved to see any of them fleshed out to a full-length story, this didn't lower the effectiveness for me at all.

[Christina Close · Rating 4 out of 5]

Superheroes √
LGBTQIA+ representation √
Great Graphics √

What more could you ask for from a graphic novel?

The fact that the author(s) took the superheroes we love and made it to where we clearly can see that they are apart of the LGBTQIA+ community really made me happy. I normally don't read superheroes graphics but if they are like this I will continue to read them because I was not too thrilled with the normal hetero love stories that most superheroes get, don't get me wrong I know that a lot of superheroes are hetero but we needed the LGBTQIA+ representation.

[Lewis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this was so perfect. From Prodigy's introduction; his discussion of his sexuality with Tommy; Billy and Teddy's vows; Somnus' resurrection; and Mystique's ownership of her Queerness after literal decades of being closeted by writers, this truly does feel like a celebration of Queer voices.

[Eli · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Some stories were better than others, as per usual with anthologies. I think it got better towards the second half, so I’m glad I didn’t give up on it.

I really like the Marvel Voices initiative they’re taking. It’s great that they’re highlighting all kinds of marginalized people and characters.

[Scratch · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not as godawful as I was worried it would be. But my biggest takeaway was the OMG moment that they actually brought back the obscure mutant "Jesse," formerly associated with Typhoid Mary. I picked that obscure mutant for my own fanfiction (that was never committed to paper), and I never expected that she would come back to Marvel comics.

Overall this was fine. I didn't experience too much cringe as a gay person.

[Cassie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It features not one, not two, but THREE trans girl characters. And I love all of them. It's also got trans writers Lilah Sturges and Crystal Frasier writing their stories. I think I enjoyed it more than the DC Pride book, and I'm hoping they make it an annual thing.

[Renata · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a fun volume! A bit of a mixed bag like, dare I say, most anthologies. It included some characters I'm not as familiar with and I personally preferred the stories about like, Wiccan and Hulking and Mystique and Destiny.

This is also a weird blend of new stories written just for Pride and some older reprints of notable "Pride" themed stories and I have to say uhhHHHHH I wish the older stories had maybe also gotten a little essay attached to provide added context or something? Like for example the BONKERS Hulk story where Sam Wilson's nephew is dying of AIDS and asks for a Hulk blood transfusion to see if it will cure AIDS and Bruce says no and then he dies? Meanwhile Betty answers a phone call from someone who found out he's HIV+ and wants to kill himself and she's like "this isn't a suicide hotline let me give you the number for that" and he's like "but I like your voice" and she's like "ok well don't kill yourself, everybody's got problems, for example I am married to the Hulk" and he's like "hm interesting well I am calling from my car phone and I am parking my car on the train tracks, goodbye" and then the issue ends with that guy getting hit by a train?!?! Happy Pride?!?!??!

[Romy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This reminds me of the DC Pulse Nightclub Tribute "Love Is Love" comic that came out in 2016. Very short vignettes of the lives of such characters as Prodigy, Hulking and Wiccan, Karolina Dean, Jessie Drake, Somnus, and others. The art for Northstar and Kyle leaves much to be desired.

I really felt that this collection could have been longer and some of the stories more fleshed out. I get that it is a collection of shorts, but it struggled in places to make an real impact. If you are looking to find LGBTQIA representation, this is such a small way to get it. I suggest instead that you pick a character that speaks to you and just read the character-relevant issues instead. Still, it was a decent read, just not earth-shattering.

[Sarah Laudenbach · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Yeah, I imagine for adults, the X-Men are bisexual heaven, but not when you're in a hormonal hell. Imagine trying to pay attention when Emma Frost is your teacher. And the first time Colossus walked into the room, it was..."

Part of the Marvel's Voices collection, Marvel's Voices: Pride is a collection of short comics pulled from all different years and eras of Marvel's history, compiling some of the most important queer moments in the comic company's history. Some of them are the length of an entire comic issue, while some of them are only two or three page scenes, and I loved the way this collection was put together. Nothing dragged on too long, nothing was too brief, and for someone like me who has a painfully short attention span, Marvel's Voices: Pride was really refreshing.

I know a lot of reviewers have said that a lot of the dialogue in some of these comics was too 'on the nose,' but you know what? I loved it. These are openly queer characters talking about, well, being openly queer. Because if they were any more subtle, people would miss the point. You know how the entire concept of the X-Men is an allegory for homosexuality? Yeah, people still don't get that. So unless a character says 'hey, by the way, I'm gay,' people are going to miss it. So having that lack of subtlety wasn't a big issue for me. Besides, as a queer person? Queer people love to talk about their queerness, when they're in an open and safe enough environment to do so.

While most of the comics in Marvel's Voices: Pride are from more recent comics (2010s onwards), I absolutely loved that they also reached back into the archives to put in some queer Marvel moments from the 90s. Marvel's Voices: Pride is a reminder that gay people didn't just start suddenly existing in the 21st century, and that queer representation (as much as it's grown and continues to need to grow) didn't just suddenly start in the past 20 years, either. There have always been queer superheroes, queer characters in your favourite comic books, and queer writers and illustrators behind the pen. Marvel's Voices: Pride also includes interviews and essays with some queer Marvel creators who had a hand in pivotal moments, and it was so lovely to see them talking about their experiences.

Forgive me for a quick sidenote, but I'm a massive fan of the MCU, right? MCU tattoos and Funko pops and collectible cups and all. But god help me, the low bar set by the MCU for queer representation gouges at me. Marvel's Voices: Pride reminds us that hey, guess what? Marvel has always had openly queer characters. Major ones, too, not side characters waiting to be killed off. Mystique, Bobby Drake, Hulkling and Wiccan, America Chavez, they're openly queer; and the MCU is ushering in an age of people getting their panties in a twist because there's some vaguely referenced gay character in the background of a scene. How many times have we heard the headline 'Marvel introduces its first openly gay character!', and then found out that that character has a 5 second scene that only ever hinted at their queerness, and was designed to be cut for overseas markets?

Look, I'm not saying Marvel is the pinnacle of queer rep, or queer comic rep. It's really, really not. But Marvel's Voices: Pride reminds us of why the comic industry was so big in the first place: comics are about superheroes and fantasy, sure, but they're about us, too. They're about seeing yourself and seeing the good in the world on the page, and taking that with you wherever you go. It's about seeing POC characters, and disabled characters, and queer characters, and saying hey, if they can be superheroes, why can't I? The comics industry as a whole has always been more accepting of queerness than a lot of other industries (Google underground queer comic movements if you want some history), and I'm outright ashamed that the MCU and the DCU have taken these relatable characters and stories and made having a major POC or queer character a big 'we did it, see, we're progressive!' deal.

Support comics. Support indie, queer comics. Give incel, homophobe Marvel nerds on Reddit shit for not knowing the history of their favourite comics. Is there a lot more progress that needs to happen? God, absolutely, without hesitation. But Marvel's Voices: Pride to me felt like a big 'we're here, we're queer, we've always been here, and we're not going anywhere' celebration of what it means to be unashamedly queer, and to be a superhero along with it.

[Mery ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25/5

A prodigy origin story is so funny but also really relatable, if I was a mutant living on the x-mansion during my teens I would also end up having a crush for everyone there.

I loved the idea that Iceman came out to Magneto when he was a child and Magneto just sat on that information for all these years. Hopefully, we see the two of them have a moment together in the present sometime soon.

[Larakaa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful, indeed.

[Ross · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with the rest of this 'Marvel's Voices' line, the short story anthology portion of this is well done. I don't know if I could justify the inclusion of the different selected stories to make this a graphic novel.

If the original anthology pops up at your local shop, give it a read. It's a good reference point for how Marvel is investing in their characters.

[Eva B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked that this was a blend of one-shot stories centering queer characters and glimpses of important moments from Marvel's queer history (namely Northstar's coming out and eventual wedding, and some comics that centered on the AIDS epidemic). My favorite was the one about Mystique and Destiny <3

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

Like the other Marvel Voices books, this is about half reprints and half new, extremely short stories about various LGBT+ Marvel characters. The quality of both the writing and the artwork varies, and the best stories come from writers who have recently worked on that very character.

[Danielle · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm torn between parts of this being very heartfelt (like the personal letters after a Hulk issue tackled AIDS), versus extremely quick shots that just barely touched on LGBT themes. I guess that's the course for anthologies, but I do remember enjoying Love Is Love: A Comic Book Anthology to Benefit the Survivors of the Orlando Pulse Shooting more than this.

[Nick · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well this exists.

I think the best benefit it brings is a nice concise place for younger people to find representation in Marvel they might be looking for - though even with that they don't make it easy. There were a lot of great characters used in the marketing and covers that don't show up at all inside the actual volume, which robs people of the chance to know who they are, or even what their name is, so it'd sure be a challenge to look them up. And the characters they DO focus on? Well it's hard to really celebrate any of their unique stories when they're given the tiniest few pages to exist at all, sometimes as little as one.

Overall it's incredibly self-congratulatory all the way through, even depressingly so when they do things like show off their "timeline of important gay moments" and it's the tiniest scraping of a few events with almost entire decades going past between entries. It also rings a bit disingenuous when they proudly show off characters that they want us to be interested in, that they think we should be impressed that they've given us, who's series have been cancelled...?

[Jake Gray · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great anthology. Really hope they make this an annual project.

[Lillian Francis · Rating 5 out of 5]

This issue could have been twice the length and still not have covered all the queer characters that have managed to sneak in to Marvel comics over the years. I'm hoping this year (2022) we get more of the same with different characters - D-Man, Darkveil, Raz Malhotra's Giant Man. I want to know what Pyro mk2 is doing now, since his hook up with Bobby and the subsequent return of Pyro mk1. I want to know about Rictor and Shatterstar's reunion (they went from cozying up at the Hellfire ball to Shatterstar joining Excalibur in Otherworld with no explanation how they got there.). Even Flatman of the Great Lakes Avengers needs a nod. And that's just some of the 616 guys. What about other 'verse's gays.
So many stories waiting to be told. A positive goldmine if Marvel would only back them.

But this has turned into a list of wants rather than a review.
What of this version, as with any anthology style work there are some things I like more than others. Some stories introduced me to characters I'd never heard of before. But all have a place in our rainbow community.
Standout points for me both starred Daken funnily enough. The introduction of a brand new mutant, Somnus and his impact on Daken.
And Anole and his barkeeping duty. My problem with the current New Mutants runs is that they seem to have de-aged Anole (even though other runs have him tending bar at the Green Lagoon) when he should actually be in his late teens (at least), trying to find a boyfriend, and worrying about Santos, his best friend - goddammit! He is literally the same age (or thereabouts) as Elixir, he should not be running about with a bunch of pre-teens!
Okay, I've got off course again.
This is a great issue. Buy it.

[Raul Reyes · Rating 3 out of 5]

They should’ve called this the X-Men queer special since the ratio of mutant to non mutant people in the issue was crazy

The first story just felt like a pat on the back to Marvel, which kind of failed because I didn’t know who most of the people on the issue were. So, it would’ve been useful for them to explicitly say who each character was

The rest of them were either just okay, or so short that there’s nothing I can say about them (which was my main complaint in the special). Use the extra page count to have maybe at most 3 stories, go for quality over quantity. Although, my favorite story by far was the Destiny and Mystique story.

The Alpha Flight excerpt was good. I think that they handled the issue well, and how the “villain’s” motivation is that his son/the AIDS crisis was ignored until straight people got infected. And, the chastising of how Northstar could do even more with his influence if he came out.

Likewise the Incredible Hulk issue was really powerful, so powerful in fact that it made me cry. Hulk looked real silly physically speaking, but specifically the hotline storyline was really well-written. My only complaint was that the character on the other line was straight, because even tho the AIDS epidemic wasn’t strictly limited to gay people, the message of being ostracized by society would’ve hit even harder if the character was actually gay.

I think it’s funny what one of the Alpha flight members and Havoc are just straight up homophobic in the Norhtstar wedding issue.

The Hulkling and Wiccan venom issue was boring, and the America Chavez one was interesting, but it was only the first issue so there’s not much to talk about. And, finally the Captain America was also just fine.

[Heaven Ashlee · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a fabulous collection. The essays paired with the comics themselves...this is a beautiful and necessary book and I hope Marvel puts one out yearly because I would read them all!

I started reading Marvel comics from the bins at the library with single copies of X-Men comics around 2005 after I watched X-Men and X2. I don't think it took me long to read something about how the mutants were synonymous with the struggles of the gay community and then as I got older and read more, started to see more explicit rep on the page. It was great, I loved growing up and having the comics and characters change and grow (and new ones introduced) along with me figuring out myself in the world.

This collection embodies that feeling and so many of those stories from all ages (the ESSAYS! Gosh the essays really made this for me) and I'm very thankful I saw it on my library's shelf (no single copies anymore, but a nice, sleek volume) and decided to read it on a day when I was feeling emotionally overwhelmed. It helped to ground me and remind me that people are going through struggles every day but the main focus of this collection was the hope for the future. Thanks Marvel, for doing something right!

[Ya Boi Be Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating anthologies are hard as you have to judge quality a bit differently. As a collection of queer stories it is alright. The new additions specific to Marvel Voices: Pride aren't my favorite. All of them are extremely short and come off as preach-y more than authentic. They each aim to tackle a specific issue or facet of the LGBTQ+ community but they're done extremely bluntly. However if you're a fan of specific heroes (like She-Hulk) or certain LGBTQ+ issues (coming to terms with one's bisexuality) those specific ones hit pretty hard.
The collection of older comics are okay. Some are more specific and focused on LGBTQ+ topics than others. All of them are good and you get a nice taste of both LGBTQ+ centric issues and issues that feature LGBTQ+ heroes. However, I can't shake the feeling that the whole collection feels a bit self-aggrandizing and corporate. Pride-themed stuff from any company has this issue and I take no issue with the creators who put genuine passion into it but considering this is part of a larger collection of Marvel Voices that similar tackle representation in their own company the feeling of corporate goodwill is there.

[Yani · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of the better versions of Marvel's Pride anthologies. Mostly because this one pulls what seem to be existing stories from throughout the back catalogue and reprints them, rather than doing what amounts to a couple of pages of random "hey, queer stuff" comic that doesn't connect to anything else. There are a few of those at the start of the book, but they do feel a little more cohesive this time around.

Plus there's a whole Hulkling and Wiccan story, and I like those boys.

I also very much like the intro where Prodigy basically walks back through Marvel history to present various queer characters through time. If anything, that section could have been a little longer... and would it have killed anyone to have names next to characters? Because I have no idea who some of them are, and would very much like to.

Also, just quietly, has there never been a good artist that worked on Northstar? Because any time I see stories with him in them, he always looks, frankly, terrible.

This did introduce me to some interesting characters tho, namely Daken and Aaron Fisher, the gay homeless "Captain America".

But this is definitely the best one of these thus far.

[Missy · Rating 4 out of 5]

So, this was really cute. It was pandering and a lot of it was on the nose, but you kind of expect that from a book about queerness. I wish there were more rep for people who are multisexual + in relationships with people of the opposite gender (I'm happy to see bisexuality in there though like no hate, it'd just be nice to see my relationship shown, I got that from Akihiro/Daken). Also, would've loved some more nonbinary rep too.

Overall, it was an anthology of original stories regarding queer/LGBTQ+ characters in the marvel universe, it was cute, yeah shoehorning because it has to be, and some of it is a bit cringy, but it's for a queer/LGBTQ+ audience, but also for people who are allies to the cause. I really enjoyed the inclusion of Northstar's coming out story, that was awesome to see some comic history.

[Tracey Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with all of these anthologies, this is a mixed bag: some of the stories are very short, some come across slightly heavy handed (albeit well-meaning) and the art is very variable. The Billy and Teddy story is super cute, and I liked the Destiny / Mystique short, and it's interesting to see historical moments in comics (Northstar coming out, and his later wedding, how comics handled the AIDS epidemic) to add context. Essays by queer creatives also show how much comics meant to them growing up and the importance of representation.

[Jorge Veronica Maldonado · Rating 5 out of 5]

AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING AMAZING AND OH SO DAMN QUEER!!!

Just hook it into my veins already!

Marvel has been really great lately about pushing forward LGBTQ+ stories in their publishing, and this was just such a love-letter to all the queer fans. I loved it - best book gift I've ever received on my birthday!

(Writing this review 6 months after cause i've re-read it like 10 times in the past 6 months or so, and hadn't realised it was on my read list lol)

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a much needed and appreciated addition to the Marvel canon. It features LGBTQIA+ characters, and there’s a good mix of new comics, republished comics that mark historic queer moments, and essays and reflections from queer people involved in the comics industry. I especially appreciated the last essay that discusses the weight and responsibility of being “the first”. I love what Marvel is doing with the Voices series and hope to see it expand even more.