Website: http://avialaecomic.com/
Creator: Lucid – Tumblr, Twitter, DeviantArt
Store: http://lucidcomics.storenvy.com/
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/lucid
In preparation for the LGBTQ Webcomics panel I’m running at Anime North this year, I started trawling through some of my favorite webcomics. Those comics led me to other comics, and it was pretty much a whole day lost in reading awesome visual fiction. (And becoming something of a Patreon sugar daddy to support said comic artists.) I’ll be posting about all of my favorites in the coming weeks, but first I wanted to talk about Avialae. The creator’s going to be at the Toronto Comic Arts Festival this weekend and I’m hoping to stalk say hello and possibly throw money at her for merchandise.
So, about the comic. Avialae is the story of Gannet and Bailey, two awkward teenagers living in the middle of nowhere. Gannet and Bailey are neighbors and start off as sort of tangential friends. Bailey wakes Gannet up and drives him to school as a favor for Gannet’s mom. Gannet, who moved to the town a few months ago, sees Bailey as a boring geek who has a homophobic senator for a mom. To make matters worse for Gannet, he goes to a private Catholic school where he and his friend Addie are the only two openly gay people. At least it’s their senior year and Gannet can be out of there soon, right? Wrong!
Gannet’s life takes a turn for the strange when he suddenly grows a pair of wings on his back. Bailey is the first (and one of the few) to find out when he goes to get Gannet for school. Luckily for Gannet, Bailey is a bird watcher and knows a thing or two about wings. Bailey’s older brother is also trans so he helps Gannet bind his winds so Gannet can go out in public. They work together to solve the mystery of Gannet’s wings, which brings them closer both emotionally and physically. (Yes, there’s sex. It’s full-on NSFW and glorious.)
There’re only sixty-some pages up so far so it’s a pretty quick read to get caught up. At least it is if you’re like me and devour comics in one shot. Also for a $1 a month pledge on Patreon, you can get early access to pages.