Four-Color Heroes and Doctor Aphra took home awards at the 35th annual GLAAD Media Awards, which recognize and honor media for their fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBTQ+ community and the issues that affect their lives.
GLAAD recognizes the comic arts in two categories — “Outstanding Comic Book” and “Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology.” The awards were given out Thursday night at the Beverly Hilton in Beverly Hills, across categories that recognized film, television, video games and more. Other winners included the TV show Yellowjackets and the video game Baldur’s Gate 3.
Four-Color Heroes by Aotearoa/New Zealand-born creator Richard Fairgray and published by Fanbase Press won in the graphic novel category. It was up against nine other graphic novels, including Heartstopper Vol. 5 by Alice Oseman, Roaming by Jillian Tamaki and Mariko Tamaki, and Carmilla: The First Vampire by Amy Chu and Soo Lee.
The graphic novel is about “two star-crossed young men who – in spite of their disparate backgrounds – find escape and one another through the pages of a comic book.” It’s set in a New Zealand high school before the passing of the Civil Union Act of 2004, which allowed same-sex couples to enter into a civil union.
Doctor Aphra, published by Marvel in association with their sister company Lucasfilm, won in the comic book category. It’s the second win for the title, which also took home the award in 2020.
Set in the Star Wars universe, Doctor Aphra originated in a comic rather than a film or Disney+ show. Aphra was created by Kieron Gillen and Salvador Larroca, but the current series is written by Alyssa Wong and drawn by Minkyu Jung. The title was up against nine other titles, including The Oddly Pedestrian Life of Christopher Chaos, Adventures of Superman: Jon Kent and The Neighbors.
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