Northwest Press


Northwest Press is an American publisher specializing in LGBT-themed comic books and graphic novels. It was founded in 2010 by Charles "Zan" Christensen. The company publishes in print, as well as through digital channels such as ComiXology and Apple's iBooks, and also retails some similarly-themed books published independently.

Controversy

Northwest has had repeated conflicts with Apple's content limitations on sales through the iBooks store. In 2011, an adaptation by Tom Bouden of Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest was only approved after the addition of black bars to cover partial male nudity. The technology company initially permitted the individual issues of Jon Macy's Fearful Hunter, but rejected the collected edition, then removed the issues. The satirical Al-Qaeda’s Super Secret Weapon was rejected outright. In 2016, Northwest published a self-censored version of Hard to Swallow by Justin Hall and Dave Davenport – covering the "objectionable" parts with images of apples – when the original version was rejected due to sexual content.

Awards

The company's publications have won awards. Teleny and Camille by Jon Macy won the 2011 Lambda Literary Award for Gay Erotica. Anything That Loves, edited by Christensen, won the 2013 Bisexual Book Award for nonfiction. Rob Kirby's QU33R received the 2014 Ignatz Award for Outstanding Anthology. Unpacking by Steve MacIsaac was nominated for the 2019 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ Graphic Novels.

Titles

Absolute Power: Tales of Queer Villainy Al-Qaeda’s Super Secret Weapon by Mohammad al-Mohamed Muhammad and Youssef Fakish