I think this book is very important with its collection of diverse authors and their personal stories. The different art styles and what they had to go through in their owns words was not only enlightening but moving as well. It was nice to see the author bios and where you could find other work of theirs as well. A great read!

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for the e-arc of this graphic novel! #TheOutSideTransNonbinaryComics #NetGalley

I am a little bit underwhelmed. Anthologies are hard in the first place but then you make it a comic anthology and it gets infinitely harder to be successful and that there's just not enough space to tell a memorable story. (Memorable as in I'm going to remember it, not memorable as important. This book is 100% important)

Now I'm not even going to rate this because I don't necessarily believe in rating people's life experiences and the comics were moving and they were important and I think that they are going to make a difference, but they were all very similar to a point where they bleed into one another.

Logically I understand that this is a coming out anthology and that all the stories are going to be about that but it felt like we got a lot of repetitive trans masc representation and afab nonbinary and not as much trans femme. There are also hardly any that reach into the wider depths of the transumbrella like genderqueer, bigender, agender etc. There is definitely one that is bigender and I remember that, but that's the only one that I can remember off the top of my head. I would have also loved to see an intersex comic but that is perhaps a bit nitpicky.

The anthology falls into an odd age range too because my first instinct is to put this in like middle school classrooms but then all the stories are from adult POVs and I don't know that it's 100% appropriate. That being said I think queer kids need to see happy queer adults and that's where I really see the importance of this book. I can only imagine as a closeted queer kid seeing a book with dozens of happy queer adults in it would be life-changing and for that reason alone I'm happy that this book exists.

I had the chance to read this through NetGalley in exchange for a fair review!

I loved this! Excellent Comics, a good diverse group of authors, illustrators, and stories!
Thank you!

I absolutely adored this collection of comics from trans and non-binary creators! All of the different art styles shined and made this a fun read. You can learn so much about other people's experiences when you read their words and view their artwork. Do not miss this one! Thank you to NetGalley for the ARC!

Diverse and utterly authentic, an essential read.

Thank you to the author and the publisher for this ARC through NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

The Out Side is an anthology of 29 diverse trans & nonbinary artists from all across the world. It's really awesome to see my own country represented in this anthology. Each artist has their own unique way of telling their story through art and I am here for it. This is going on my must buy list.

What a great anthology full of different experiences with gender nonconformity. I
loved all the different art styles and short introductions to each artist/author. I could have handled full length stories from each TBH.
Definitely will be looking up each author’s other works.

Thanks to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for an eARC.

As an all-trans comics anthology I could never rate this any less than 4 stars, although I felt that about half of the comics in the anthology didn’t really being anything fresh to the table.

There were a few that I loved:

Not There Yet by Wey about covid & moving away from a supportive environment (plus gorgeous art)

What’s the Point Then by Jam Aden about femininity as a transmasc person

Well-Hidden by Maddie Jacobus about her connection to her grandpa

Going Home by Matteo Montero-Murillo about his trans & Mexican identity

Cat Today and Human Tomorrow by Julie Fiveash about the way they represent themselves in comics & art

I’ve been sitting on this porch for a year by Nasr Bin Safwan which is honestly just beautiful

Comics like those mentioned above are why I so desperately seek out trans art & trans writing. Overall I’d definitely recommend the anthology, though like I said a few of the comics included felt repetitive and like I had seen similar things before.

This collection of trans and nonbinary "coming into their own" stories was wonderful. Not only do you get a wide range of identities, but you get to see both the overlapping themes and experiences, as well as how unique and individual everyone's journey is. These comics are emotional, heartfelt, and powerful in their own way. I loved being able to see part of my story reflected in these pages. It is such a great feeling knowing that there are people out there just like you who are experiencing the world like you are, and are living as their authentic selves. Speaking of authentic, the embracing of authenticity was amazing to see, but especially that who you are, your identity, can change! And part of being authentic is going with whatever your heart, mind, and soul tell you. I cannot recommend this book enough for trans, nonbinary, and cis folks alike.

An affirming and un-put-downable anthology. This will be a great resource for those questioning their gender or those who are looking to discover more trans artists!

I received an e-arc of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a collection of self-reflective comics about how different artists explore and understand their trans and nonbinary identities. I don't think the "goal" is to make their identity be fully understood, but I think the collection does a great job of introducing the complexity of gender identity to those who may not fully understand trans and nonbinary gender identity. I particularly enjoyed the comics that explored how gender and sometimes sexuality intertwined with ethnicity and culture. The focus of the collection is definitely more about the start of the journey to self-acceptance and it written to be accessible I feel. I loved the variety of art styles found here and throughly enjoyed the collection.

ABSOULTELY LOVED THIS BOOK!!!!!! HIGHLY RECOMMEND for anyone who might be questioning if they are trans or nonbinary.

I liked the fact that each author/illustrator had an introduction pages with a website or social media page link to look at their other work. I found a bunch of authors/illustrators that I want to look further into their work.

The different types of stories and artwork was amazing. The colors and transitions throughout the book were excellent and put in a good order. I honestly wanted there to be more to the book.

This was so heartwarming, love it.

First of all, SUPER cool, right before each of the comics, it gives a bio and link for the artist!! I love that!
Secondly, every story in there is beautiful. This is so overwhelmingly positive, and so affirming. I love that all of these stories, the authors put in their highs and lows and really got into what feeling trans or non binary is like, and how they got there. This is the kind of media that kids need. This is accessible. This is educational. Perfection.
Thirdly, as someone who doesn't care about gender, this was so affirming for me. I love to hear about other people's views on gender and how it's impact their lives and stuff, and this mad me feel less alone. Love love love.

Also the author who drew FFVIII characters instead of therapists cause they couldn't remember the therapists faces, I literally almost died laughing. That's one of my favourite games and I wasn't prepared. 10/10 lol

I am telling you the cover do not do justice to the contents and I want to cry!

This collection is so precious and I would say this is a breakthrough in the publishing world! Yes, I may seem like I am overreacting and reading a book on the topic for the first time. No and no. But this book needs to be celebrated and circulated when it comes out. It’s just not about becoming more aware about the different sexual orientations but it is more about knowing the individuals and their work.

Hope this book gets more and more recognition as it comes out.

Thank you, Andrews McMeel Publishing, for the advance reading copy.

I loved this one! Each artist’s story and art were so beautiful. I really enjoyed how included the nonbinary stories were as well! I didn’t expect for there to be such a diverse group of artists! Each story was so uniquely beautiful and I couldn’t get enough of it!

Holy COW! As a nonbinary person, this was exactly what I needed, and I cannot wait to show it to friends and family!

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


An amazing book with varied graphic types and life stories. This book should be in every library and a source material book for gender studies classes. I enjoyed it and hope for more of this series.

I think this book may be helpful to someone who is questioning or exploring their gender identity and would like some validation or to get multiple differing points of view. Personally, this one wasn't for me because I feel like I have read many books like this already. I think anyone who likes "Be Gay Do Comics" and "A Quick & Easy Guide to Queer & Trans Identities" would definitely like this one!

This was phenomenal. I was thrilled with this volume most of all for not being super binary as well as diverse in gender identity and sexuality. Sometimes I have found works to be very rigid in what being trans or non-binary look like. This was not like that at all, especially the work of Jam Aden; “…I’ve come to realize that I’m not happy with the amount of femininity society allows me to express as a man. I’ve accepted I can transition to be feminine man.”
Overall an extremely affirming work.
Folks may recognize the creators, Dana Simpson of Phoebe and Her Unicorn and Lucas - The Nifty Fox of Princess Boo Boo.
I would recommend this to those who liked Gender Queer, Fine: A Comic About Gender, and Be Gay, Do Comics.

As with all things gender, I have feelings about this anthology.

I think that in many ways, the stories not only over lap, but sometimes outright feel like the same story from a different mouth. And I get that, for many of those stories, even if they were similar, they were still important. And I agree with that, but it made the book feel like 'oh, this again' with the comics.

THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT'S BAD. It just means that if you want to hear gender-affirming stories, this is the right book for you. As someone who is gender fluid, I get it (In particular Gender Fluid by Vixtopher which feels so close to my own story), I get wanting to hear from other people that they felt similarly, that they are still figuring it out and may have even been an absolute wreck or been 100% fine before putting the pieces of the puzzle together. And that's awesome! I think this book will do very well in the hands of those who need to hear these stories. For that, I'm grateful. Heck, there were one or two of the comics that I showed to my (nonbinary) partner because they sounded like their life and experiences. It's cool, and I hope more people get to read it.

The styles are so different, the cast is clearly diverse racially, on the gender spectrum, and even in their sexualities. It's a beautiful rainbow of the trans experience, and that's cool. It just got repetitive (for me, I cannot emphasize that enough!).

Also, holy crap, I didn't notice that Daneman worked on this until I looked it up on Goodreads. Hi from the DA days lol.

#TheOutSideTransNonbinaryComics #NetGalley