January. A month of new beginnings, resolutions, and sub-zero temperatures. It’s also time for Turnaround’s first LGBTQIA+ round up of the year! The queer lit preview dropped last week (do go check that out if you haven’t already) and, as always, comics must never be forgotten. Last year was an incredible one for queer comic book creators and stories, and 2025 looks to be continuing that trend. From the boundary-pushing and super-heroic, to the heartfelt and heartbreaking, here are the queer graphic novels you need to watch out for in the early months of 2025. Let us know which of these you’re most excited for, over on Instagram and Bluesky!

A sexy sci-fi comedy about the three hottest criminals in the universe.
Haze: shapeshifter/galaxy’s greatest thief.
Blue Lick: catman/brawny getaway driver.
Rat: angel/bombshell hacker.
In a future where humanity was guided by an all-knowing Algorithm to leave Earth behind and colonise the depths of outer space, our three hot thieves plan heists that can’t be predicted by unfeeling computer code. Always on their tail is Inspector Hundred Cold, one of the Algorithm’s robot lackeys built to serve the machine-made status quo that our heroes simply can’t resist toying with.
A hilarious and erotic send-up of cat-and-mouse crime capers by the cartoonist who brought you Mr. Boop! THE COLLECTED CRIMEHOT: VOL. 1 includes the series’ first five chapters.

A wholesome Boys Love rom-com between a handsome but oblivious mob boss and his young, simplehearted but moody second-in-command! Absence makes the heart grow fonder after mob boss Sawatari kicks his right-hand man, Kashima, out of the family. Free of the previous ties that bound them, their relationship begins to undergo changes that trigger a realisation… Sawatari finally notices that what he’s feeling toward his second-in-command is love!
Things seem like they might be too awkward to go on until Sawatari kisses Kashima out of nowhere! But just as their budding romance has started to bloom, an enemy targets the boss’s life and he winds up in a coma… In this final volume of the series, can their love ever come to fruition?

In this world, people are born without a gender.
Shiori and Ritsu grapple with how it would feel in a same-gender couple with Hinase. To both their surprise, they learn their other classmates have more complex views on romance and gender than they thought. A chance meeting with Nao, the woman who saved Hinase’s life, leaves the trio with a mystery: the identity of the androgynous older figure in her photo.
What if true love subverts society’s expectations?

Something is wrong in the deep forests of Broke Tree Valley. Something deadly. Something mammoth. The legends speak of something larger than human comprehension… A monstrous phantom that disappears for decades at a time. Now, it’s back, and things are about to go Very Bad if four people — Olivia, Jess, Kokoro, and Mason, scientists who have come to the small city of Kasbro to investigate a bizarre series of seismic activities in this heavily forested valley — can’t put the Mammoth to rest. One real problem with this is… Olivia’s dead.

It’s complicated: A thirty-year-old virgin gets more than he bargained for when his newfound magical power reveals he’s the object of his male coworker’s affections!
After Tsuge abruptly tells Minato that he’s a wizard who can read minds, Minato is left completely blindsided. Minato knows Tsuge’s not the type to lie, but does that mean magic is real? It’s going to take some time before Minato can come to terms with this new revelation!
For his part, Tsuge turns to Adachi and Kurosawa for help. Will their past experience with a very similar situation prove to be the guidance Tsuge needs to show him how to reach out to Minato and gain his trust again?

The critically acclaimed Young Avengers series begins, with an astonishing debut of a new generation of heroes! Acclaimed TV veteran Allan Heinberg teams with superstar-in-the-making Jim Cheung to introduce the Young Avengers!
When the original Avengers disband, a team of teenage heroes comes together to fill the gap. But who are Iron Lad, Hulkling, Patriot, Stature, Wiccan and Kate Bishop… and what, if any, are their connections to the heroes that inspired them? Their first order of business: surviving the wrath of Kang the Conqueror and weathering the disapproval of the adult Avengers! Next, the newly formed Young Avengers take on super-powered sadist Mister Hyde, the extraterrestrial Super-Skrull and a full-scale alien invasion — juggling their parents and their private lives at the same time! Featuring shocking revelations, new recruits and a devastating loss to the young team!
Collecting: Young Avengers (2005) 1-12, Director’s Cut; Young Avengers Special (2005)

Second-years Mao Tsuchiya and Hisashi Otomo make three promises: 1) That Mao will never tell anyone that Hisashi is gay and has a boyfriend, 2) That Hisashi will never think of Mao “in that way,” and 3) That they’ll always knock before entering, in case someone is having some “private time.” The two’s ground rules should ensure a peaceful life together in their dorm, but life is never as simple as it should be, and some things are not so easily promised…

Ten years in the making (and torn from the pages of the legendary Love and Rockets), Jaime Hernandez’s newest graphic novel skillfully weaves two generations of his beloved characters into a satisfying story of love—both young and middle-aged. LIFE DRAWING darts primarily between the youthful Tonta and the venerable Maggie. Tonta has a crush on her art teacher, Ray, as well as an axe to grind with an older woman in the neighborhood. When Tonta finds that the woman, Maggie, is married to Ray, things get complicated. And Tonta does not handle complications well.
LIFE DRAWING showcases Hernandez’s brilliant talent for character, weaving relationships, rejections, infidelities, and adventures involving: Tonta’s self-involved sisters Vivian, Violet, and Muñeca; her colourful pals Gomez, Judy Fair, and Brown Alice; her mother, the infamous ‘Black Widow of the Valley’; and of course, the two great loves of Maggie’s life, Ray and Hopey. There’s also a forest spirit, two weddings, some cosplay, a little pole dancing, and page after page of breathtaking comics by the medium’s most wide-eyed romantic. Did we mention the weddings?

In this world, people are born without a gender.
The summer festival is approaching, and Hinase’s plans to go with Ritsu return their focus to the question of selecting a gender. While Ritsu dreams of a romantic night out, Hinase struggles to break free from nostalgia. Shiori’s friend Shirogane also has his own struggles with the festival. He talks with Hinase about how his best friend, Kurokawa, decides to attend the festival with a girl instead of him.
Does jealousy mean friendship yearns for something more?

Amarantha is the last of her race, an ancient species that has lived among us for millennia, feeding on the life energies of humanity. Now enjoying a peaceful existence in a retirement community, she continues to consume just enough to survive. But Amarantha has made enemies throughout her long life and an ancient foe thought long defeated has returned and is out for blood, while a newer threat seeks to capture her for their own nefarious purposes! Now Amarantha must do everything in her power to vanquish her enemies and protect the life she has made for herself.

In the not-so-distant future, twenty-something Betty lives in a fascistic society that menacingly polices mental health. When she is caught crying in public, the Peacekeepers take her to an Orwellian health facility to control her emotions. There, she meets the defiant Berina, who opens her eyes to an alternative reality: the Resistance. If Betty can navigate a rollicking underworld, where all manner of queerness is celebrated, she just might have a chance to strike back against the regime.
Deliciously twisted, fiercely contemporary, and backed by a Swedish pop soundtrack, BABY BLUE is the dynamic graphic novel debut of comics artist Bim Eriksson. A vital manifesto about the need to express your unique identity in a chillingly conformist world.

WHAT DID YOU EAT YESTERDAY is best described as part comic, part cookbook — it depicts the romance between two 40-year-old men and the many meals they share together.
In the narrative, a hard-working middle-aged gay couple in Tokyo come to enjoy the finer moments of life through food. After long days at work, either in the law firm or the hair salon, Shiro and Kenji will always have down time together by the dinner table, where they can discuss their troubles, thrash out their feelings and enjoy delicately prepared home cooked meals!

Ed’s granddaughter, Lily, arrives in Ed’s life for the first time in a long time. Forcing both of them to acknowledge and address the changes they are both experiencing. Ed’s dementia is accelerating, robbing him of more of his now, and sending him increasingly into his past. A past of self-discovery, glam-music and exhilarating live performances.
Lily has been forced from her home in the city to stay with a grandpa she doesn’t know, in a small town of strangers, whilst dealing not only with transitioning but the pain of rejection for just being herself. Despite their struggles, Lily and Ed have an opportunity to get to really know each other, if they can find a way to really connect.
Exploring family, loss, tragedy, identity, and self-discovery, the 3rd book in the award winning Pass Me By series, Lily, is a heartfelt tale about how our stories carry through time, and how we come to terms with change.