When I read Gender Queer back in 2020, it felt like a life-changing experience to me. Maia's life experience rang so true for me, and em sharing it gave me so many new ways of understanding myself. So I've been horrified upon seeing it become one of the most banned books.

This new annotated edition feels like an apt response to that. It offers additional context, with annotations from several people, including Maia emself, about craft choices, the way the story resonated for them, their own queer and trans life experiences, and more.

Reading it felt like a great way to revisit this graphic memoir. It felt like I was studying the book as part of a uni course, which I loved. It also placed the book in its larger community, which feels really important considering how much it's been challenged. Maia is most definitely not alone, and there are plenty of people who share parts of eir lived experience.

Gender Queer was one of the most important books for me when I realised I was trans. Many of the pages are burnt into my memory and I still use them to facilitate conversations with family, friends, healthcare providers, or anyone else. One that lives particularly rent free in my head is the concept of “balancing the scales” of my gender. This is always how I’ve described transitioning for me as a non-binary person.

I write this review less than 24 hours before picking up my first dose of testosterone. I don’t know how much longer that journey would’ve been without the work of Maia Kobabe and eir ability to give words to feelings I thought only I experienced.

As an academic, I adore annotated copies, especially done like this, with a variety of contributors gathering in the margins like commenters on a google doc. It really feels like watching a collaboration happen rather than seeing the result of it. There are also insights from Maia, who elaborates on eir experiences and how e came to write about particular passages.

One moment that I really resonated with was the annotation on page 29 about periods: “getting my period was a dividing line across my childhood(…) It was the biggest source of my dysphoria and broken trust with my own body.”

But it’s not just Maia who adds wonderful personal insight. Some of the contributors have such amazing additions. One notable one comes from Melissa Gillman, who talks about feeling connected to nature in their gender “when harvesting pine pollen - which contains testosterone - for baked goods. We have kin all around us.”

Another contributor, Noe, weighs in (no pun intended) on that weighing scale metaphor I referenced earlier, writing “this visual metaphor provides a valuable educational tool for healthcare providers. While education has improved over time for trans and nonbinary patients, the conversations are still often predicated on the idea that one must choose, or is seeking, a binary position. That transitions are about seeking a stable position on an alternate binary.” I can’t help but wonder, looking back on my own experience of medical transition, how easy it would be to identify those who have versus have not encountered this particular passage.

Overall, I’m thrilled this is getting an annotated edition. It meant the world to me reading it for the first time whilst gently tapping a nail against the shell of my egg, and it means the world now that I can’t ever imagine living inside a husk - or as a husk - ever again.

I already have and love the original version of gender queer, so this is a nobrainer to buy! I loved the insights and think I need a few more reads through to catch all the small intricacies and personal notes left behind.

This story has always resonated with me and touched my soul but seeing more behind the scenes, and in the authors life really made it feel deeper and more meaningful. The notes became almost like a note from a friend.

I will be using this in conjuction with my non annotated edition to showcase author choices, and meaning in the small details.

Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition by Maia Kobabe is an expanded version of the already well-known and controversial graphic memoir about identity, sexuality, and growing up while trying to understand yourself. The core story is still Maia’s deeply personal journey, where e talks openly about confusion, discovery, and the process of figuring out who e really is.

What makes this edition special are the annotations in the margins. Different voices comment on specific scenes, sometimes adding context, reactions, or extra insight into what was going on at the time. There are also early sketches and shortened versions of some scenes that were originally published, which makes it feel a bit like looking behind the scenes of the book.

If you’ve already read the original, this edition is a really cool way to revisit the story and understand it more deeply. And if you haven’t, it’s actually a great place to start, because you get Maia’s story plus a bunch of extra context and interesting details about how e created it.

Loved this graphic memoir when it first came out so reading the annotated version felt very special to me. A lot more insight to how the author was feeling and the whole process.

An absolutely amazing book about identity and finding your own personal comfort. This book made me feel so many things, from sadness to joy to hope. This book could be so important and useful for so many individuals and I’m so glad Maia took the leap to write it.

While I tend to not be a fan of annotations, I do think in a graphic novel like this one, it's actually incredibly valuable! I think it's awesome! I love that more is being added to queer voices and that's super important especially in our current climate.

This is one of the books I went and bought the physical copy of in the middle of reading it.
This was everything to me back when I first read it!
First the foreword made me weep, then 99% of this autobiography of a genderqueer person was so relatable I flew through it, forgot time and space and couldn’t put it down until I was done.
This was excellent.
The drawings were wonderful and the colouring was beautiful.
I loved to accompany Maia through er life.
This was a book that made me think long after I finished it.

With the new annotated edition I felt like a lot was added with how those pages resonated with other queer people and my main issue was also addressed:
HP references. Yes, it’s a queer, trans autobiography and some of the experiences of this author include HP. I didn’t know if it would have made sense to cut them out in later editions, but at least Maia erself addresses and comments on these parts of the grafic novel in this edition, which I’m really happy about.

This is fantastic! This special annotated edition of Genderqueer reproduces every page of the original memoir and loads of sketches and drafts or each page, along with comments in the margins from creators Maia and Phoebe Kobabe, their mentors and teachers, friends, comic book experts, and many, many more. It's an education in reading graphic books and getting every nuance and detail in addition to a wonderful story about how the Kobabes collaborated, how eir friends and family supported em--or were confused, awkward, or didn't fully understand at first. Brave/bravx to everyone involved in this edition. Even if you already have the original, go get this one too. It's 100% worth it.

So I knew I would love this going into it because I loved Gender Queer when I originally read it a few years ago, but I was surprised by how much I loved this as well. I had assumed the annotations would be expanding on the gender and sexuality sides of the text, and there were many of these, but there were also annotations about comics as a medium, workplace harassment when working at a library, music history, more details about maia's life, etc. It ends up being so much more information than I expected but it was amazing to read all of it in combination with the original text. I was also shocked by the number of people involved in the annotations. Really an amazing read I would highly recommend it, especially to anyone who has already read Gender Queer.

I just spent time with Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition, and it’s a powerful, illuminating read that goes even deeper than the original. Maia Kobabe’s story is already raw, honest, and deeply moving—charting their journey of self-identity, adolescent crushes, coming out, and navigating the challenges of being nonbinary and asexual—but this edition adds a whole new layer of insight.

The annotations and commentaries from artists, academics, and fellow writers are thoughtful, informative, and deeply personal, giving context to both the creation of the work and the broader conversations about gender, sexuality, and identity. It’s part memoir, part educational tool, and entirely impactful.

If you want a book that’s heartfelt, eye-opening, and thoughtfully contextualized, this annotated edition of Gender Queer is a must-read. It’s as much a guide to understanding identity as it is a testament to the courage it takes to tell your own story.

The annotations allow much deeper insight into gender identity and exploration, as well as found family and support throughout the journey. It’s a top off for an already wonderful book!

Gender Queer by Maia Kobabe is an absolute masterpiece of coming-of-age autobiographical storytelling, with fabulous illustrations and emotional depths. It is just as powerful now as it was when it first came out. This annotated edition provides a range of detailed commentary from the author and others about both what is happening on the page and the broader context in the author's life. I recommend reading the story in full first and then coming back and exploring the annotations - this will give maximum story enjoyment and allow you to more fully absorb the commentary.
Thank you to NetGalley for the eARC.

I loved and devoured the edition without annotations, and this annotated version was even better. A lot to take in, but so happy to see this book talked about again.

First off I will begin this review by stating the obvious… if you have not read Gender Queer by this point in time… YOU MUST! I highly recommend reading it through on its own before diving into the annotated version (just in case anyone had plans to do otherwise? 🤣). Gender Queer is a TRANSFORMATIVE and necessary work for any library collection. It is beautifully honest, vulnerable, funny, insightful, informative, and this annotated version honors it by adding even more historical and personal insights by a WIDE array of community members and readers. This is an iconic celebration of a super important and spectacular work. Annotations include paragraphs of commentary from relevant figures mentioned throughout, and more. This was a surprising work for me, and a must add to any queer collections.

Gender Queer: The Annotated Edition by Maia Kobabe is an informative and heartfelt peek behind the curtain of the world of comics. This annotated edition is perfect for fans of the original work as it provides more information on the author's backstory and the actual process of creating the book. The coolest part of this annotation style is that most of the entries are written by people who know the author well. This book will also appeal to those interested in the process of creating comics as it explains many terms and styles that are common in the comic industry.

*Thanks Netgalley for the ARC.