Anything That Loves is a Northwest Press anthology to be released this July, just in time for Comic-Con in San Diego, and featuring a variety of wonderful artists exploring the seldom-seen world between “gay” and “straight”. Zan Christensen, the anthology’s editor, explains his work as an effort to change the way bisexuality is usually seen: a way to avoid to pick sides in the more or less friendly war that opposites gays to the straight culture at large. In his opinion, this kind of bi-phobia is a major cause of homophobia itself, and it’s rampant in both straight and gay communities. In his words, he means to tell tales about the complicated nature of sexuality, and to set aside the “queer enough” questions and the “too complicated” worries that often haunt LGBT comics projects. This wants to be a truly groundbreaking collection of stories that are all about the complexity, unpredictability, diversity, and beauty of human sexuality (Bisexual! Pansexual! Omnisexual! Why-are-you-so-obsessed-with-labeling-me-sexual!).
The anthology features work from artists Erika Moen, Ellen Forney, Randall Kirby, Jason Thompson, Kate Leth, Leia Weathington, MariNaomi and lots more, and has been the the subject of a Kickstarter fundraising drive successfully completed in April. The book aims to focus on the stories that LGBT anthologies often avoid: abandoning one sexual identity and trying on another, finding the love of your life isn’t the sex you thought (s)he would be, navigating sexuality as a transgender person (or dating someone transgender), dealing with a gay community that often feels “betrayed” by bisexuals… Anything That Loves asks you to put aside the labels, categories, and boxes and explore human sexuality with no roadmap.