LGBT Fanbases in Comic Books.
- Associated Student Bodies: Back in the 1990s, this was the first significantly successful gay Furry comic. So much so, that later Furry Comics are a significant improvement if they can avert predictable comparisons to being "ASB with X". Though groundbreaking at the time, it has not aged well compared to newer even more successful gay Furry Comics, and new fanart seldom appears anymore. Nevertheless, considering how influential it has been, reading ASB is still something of a gay furry comics reading rite of passage.
- Archie Comics:
- Betty and Veronica have a degree of this, made more-so thanks to Riverdale, because they're close friends. A common joke is that they would be better off ditching Archie and dating each other.
- Jughead's traditional lack of interest in dating girls has also garnered him a lot of gay and asexual/aromantic fans over the years, him being variously interpreted in any of those ways. With the addition of Kevin as a canonical gay character in 2010, gay fans tended to focus more on him, making Jughead a clearer ace and/or aro character, and in 2015, when he was confirmed asexual in the new continuity, ace and aro fans leapt on the rare (and very well done!) representation.
- Richie and the canonically gay Kevin are popular amongst LGBT people, especially gay men.
- Asterix has plenty of scenes where Asterix and Obelix embrace, while several of the male characters such as Fulliautomatix are bare-chested and heavily muscular. The athletes in Asterix at the Olympic Games are practically Spartan Adonises in their depiction.
- The DCU
- Batman and the Joker get so much subtext in canon material that fans don’t really need to change a ton for their substantial fanfic.
- Most of Gail Simone's comics, but especially Birds of Prey due to Black Canary and Oracle's Pseudo-Romantic Friendship and Ambiguously Bi behavior, and Secret Six, the latter especially due to the presence of several canonically queer characters and their relationships. (Birds of Prey is notable for having had an LGBT fanbase under original writer Chuck Dixon as well.)
- DC Comics Bombshells has a lot of lesbian and bisexual characters. There's also at least one transgender character. Naturally, this has attracted a fandom.
- LGBT women love Harley Quinn and Poison Ivy together. Their (already plentiful) subtext that had existed through numerous cartoons and comics was amped up during the New 52. It also helps that Ivy (usually) treats Harley much better than The Joker does, and that their relationship was eventually made canon.
- Justice League International put Booster Gold and Blue Beetle in this category. They squabbled a lot, as one might imagine in a series Played for Laughs.
- Wonder Woman's long been heavily implied to be bisexual; however, DC never made it explicit until the 2010s. Even before that, she was a popular LGBT icon due to the Homoerotic Subtext in her comics.
- Deadpool gained one of these. Probably due to his Ho Yay moments with Cable, or his Omnisexuality.
- As with the cartoon, Jem and the Holograms (IDW) has a large LGBT following. Thus far three queer characters are major characters: Kimber, Stormer (who is also Kimber's girlfriend), and Blaze (who is a gay trans woman). The series keeps the same campy, fun nature of the cartoon for a newer audience.
- Sam & Max has gained a substantial LGBT following since the late 2010s, thanks to how Ambiguously Gay the titular duo are. This has extended to the video games as well as the short-lived cartoon.
- Scott Pilgrim has one. Every major character - with the exclusion of Young Neil - has had some sort of gay or homoerotic experience, including the protagonist himself.
- Sonic the Comic heavily downplays Amy's crush on Sonic (a decision brought on by Executive Meddling) and introduces Tekno the canary. Tekno and Amy spend a lot of the comic going on adventures alone together. Tekno's love interest is meant to be Shorty, but many fans (especially LGBT ones) prefer her with Amy.
- Spider-Man has a large gay fandom, especially when paired with Venom.
- Transformers: More than Meets the Eye, due to having a Transformer confirmed as in a homosexual (for a borderline-One-Gender Race definition) relationship with a fellow Transformer, Chromedome and Rewind, both of them from Generation 1 and their relationship was a major plot for the comic and their development. The large amount of Ho Yay between the unconfirmed Transformers are just a bonus. By the end of its sequel series Lost Light, there are several other same-gender relationships, including canonizing a couple fan-favourite ships, and introducing a pair of transgender femmes in a relationship with each other.
- X-Men has drawn gay parallels since day one. As a result, it has the highest number of queer members and supporting characters of a mainstream comic book franchise: Iceman, Northstar, Mystique, Destiny, Karma, Anole, Rictor, Shatterstar, Daken, Bling, Greymalkin and Prodigy.
- After Brian Michael Bendis outed teen Iceman, adult/regular timeline Iceman had two limited series focusing on his coming out, making him the oldest gay character in the X-Men, being one of the original five.
- Most male X-Men are sufficiently buff to have a significant amount of Bara Genre-style fanart of them. While Wolverine is far and away the most popular subject of this, as mentioned below, Cable, Colossus, Beast and Cyclops get quite a bit as well, and even the more lithely-built ones like Gambit, Angel, and Iceman get their share of bara-styled fanworks.
- Many of the characters mentioned above have a fair deal of slash fiction written about them as well.
- Due to strong women being traditionally praised by the gay community, several female X-Men have huge LGBT followings as well. Storm, Jean Grey, Rogue, and Shadowcat in particular stand out the most in this regard - Shadowcat in particular is a Launcher of a Thousand Ships, being particularly paired with Illyana Rasputin a.k.a. Magik (who bequeathed Kitty her Soulsword - yep, part of her literal soul) and Rachel Summers, who was referred to by her and Kitty's creator, Chris Claremont, as "the love of Kitty's life" and there has been a consistent Les Yay streak through their interactions.
- In 2020, Kitty was confirmed to be bisexual, followed by Rachel in 2022 (heralded by Rachel kissing Betsy in Otherworld, which led to the two of them being surrounded by rainbow butterflies - and got immediate Lampshade Hanging).
- There are a lot of modern X-Men fans who headcanon Quentin Quire as a trans boy due to his short pink hair and "feminine" figure.
- Considering the vast majority of the cast is queer, and the protagonist is bi, it's not at all surprising that The Wicked + The Divine has a very large queer fanbase.
- A lot of LGBT comic book readers love Young Avengers, thanks to canon couple Hulking and Wiccan. Though they aren't the only ones: Volume 2 made Tommy and David a couple and had lesbian America and fluid Loki join the team. Kate even mentions that she's probably the only straight member on the team - cue America's response "girl, you aren't that straight."
