Six years after Maia Kobabe’s graphic memoir Gender Queer was first published, it has become one of the most banned books in America and a lightning rod for discourse. But the book has also established itself as one of the most hopeful and necessary additions to the LGBTQIA+ literary canon in recent memory, and in 2026, publisher Oni Press will honor its legacy with a special hardcover edition.
The Beat can exclusively reveal Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition for publication next year. The book features Kobabe’s commentary and annotations from several industry experts, including:
Cartoonist Jadzia Axelrod (Galaxy: The Pretty Stars) Cartoonist Ashley R. Guillory (Queers at the Table Cartoonist and Editor) Justin Hall (No Straight Lines: 40 Years of Queer Comics) Cartoonist and Educator Cori Michele Handwerker (Tiny Book Science) Designer and Animator Phoebe Kobabe (Gender Queer: A Memoir) Author Hal Shreve (Fawn’s Blood) Cartoonist and Professor of Comics at California Institute of the Arts Lani Som (Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir”), Lumberjanes co-creator and editor Shannon Watters, and original genderqueer acquisition editor Andrea Colvin.
The hardcover will also feature academic commentary from leading experts in their fields, including Dr. Sandra Cox (Professor of English at Southwest Missouri State University), Dr. Ajuan Mance (Professor of Illustration at California Institute of the Arts), and Matthew Noe (Chief Collections and Knowledge Management Librarian at Harvard Medical School).
The fusion of comics and scholarship in The Annotated Edition furthers one of Kobabe’s goals: to create the first genderqueer version.
“My focus for the first edition of Gender Queer was the page numbers, which was inspired by my (then) recent experience in the Comics MFA program at California Institute of the Arts, where we talked about different comics and often had trouble finding specific pages or scenes in long books without page numbers,” Kobabe said in a statement to The Beat. “We specifically recognized how including page numbers could encourage classroom discussions and book club conversations about the text.
“In the years since its publication, I am very pleased that Gender Queer has appeared on many university syllabuses. I have seen it taught in English classes, women and gender studies, comics, memoir writing, graphic medicine, and more. One of my hopes for this annotated edition is that it will provide a richer resource for students and teachers studying the text in class, as well as for those who want to read the book in more detail,” said e.
Check out an exclusive excerpt from Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition below.
“We are thrilled to share Gender Queer: An Annotated Edition for fans, educators, and anyone who wants to know more. Queer and trans cartoonists, comics scholars, and several of the people featured in the book contributed their thoughts, reactions, and notes to this new edition,” Kobabe said in a statement.
“There are comments about the process of color design, the craft of comics, family, friendship, the touchstone queer media that has inspired me and countless others searching for meaningful expression, and the complex process of self-discovery,” continued e. “It’s been almost seven years since I wrote the last words of this memoir. Revisiting these pages today, in a much different and less accepting political climate, has given rise to many new thoughts for me as well. I hope readers will enjoy this even richer text filled with community voices.”
Gender Queer: An Annotated Edition will be available wherever books are sold on May 5, 2026. The 280-page, full-color hardcover retails for $49.99.
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