By Amanda Steele

Nerd culture and pop culture is more popular than ever, and there are all kinds of fans who make up fandom in all its facets and glory. These days, it’s more important than ever to keep talking about representation in media of all kinds.

While there is more diverse representation across all kinds of media and pop culture now, there is still a long way to go. This is why fan artists and fan creators of all kinds are so creative. They are able to create content that reflects themselves and the diversity of the world we live in. Many times, these creators make both original content as well as fan works that create space for LGBT people when the original media will not. This is why you’ll find a lot of LGBT MCU fan art, for example, even though there haven’t been any queer MCU characters on screen so far.

This roundup is meant to call attention to queer artists or artists of any orientation who are exhibiting at New York Comic Con with art that is LGBT themed. This is of course not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good place to start if you’re looking to support diverse creators at the con. And make sure to do some perusing of your own, as there are many talented creators out there who are diverse in many ways and intersections who also deserve support.

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To start off, there’s the well-known and talented Jen Bartel, best known for doing covers for Marvel and for interior art on the Image Comics Blackbird series. She can be found at booth E9 in Artist’s Alley and has many prints of her Marvel work, as well as pins.

Another well-known artist in fandom circles is Ngozi Ukazu, who created the popular online comic Check, Please! about hockey players in college who fall in love as well, as friendship and more. Fans can buy print books of the comic, as well as find keychains and other artwork, at the booth located at G6 in Artist’s Alley.

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You should also check out the artwork of Becca Farrow. She’s the co-founder of Rock Candy Games, which just released the game Seventh Circle, described as “an urban fantasy visual novel.” She also has some great Marvel artwork, including one of the Revengers. Her booth is at E26.

Fans of shipping and queer Marvel art have quite a few options this year, but a couple stand-out booths include Arielle Jovellanos, located at F15, who has some cute Avengers group art as well as heroes like Peggy Carter and Black Widow in a vintage pin-up style. Janet Sung is also at the same booth, and has a lot of colorful prints and stickers. Another artist with a lot of Marvel shipping art is @pineapplebreads. This booth at H44 features a lot of Steve/Tony fan art, Steve Rogers pride art, and a tattoo AU series including fan-favorite Bucky Barnes.

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For fans of the newest, popular queer ship, Ineffable Husband from Good Omens, there is a lot of art to be found everywhere. You can find art from the series at many tables, but one artist to check out is Alice X. Zhang, located at booth F8.

Also, there is Tana Ford at booth E2 who did the artwork for Dark Horse’s LaGuardia and is Lambda Literary Award Finalist. Julia Reck located at F11 has a variety of enamel pins as well as anime and K-pop artwork. Also check out Kristafer Anka, a GLAAD Media Award-nominated artist, who has worked on Marvel’s Runaways, X-Men, Captain Marvel, and Spider-Woman. He can be found at booth E10.

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Lastly, be sure to head over to see the comics and artwork of Tee “Vixen” Franklin at D8. She is a GLAAD-nominated comic writer, and her comic Bingo Love is especially worth checking out. Her work is very intersectional and features characters of color, queer characters, and more.