Xingyu wang-The GLAAD Outstanding Comic Book

The GLAAD Outstanding Comic Book Media Award is an annual award recognizing comic books that excel in depicting LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) characters and themes. It's one of the categories of the yearly GLAAD Media Awards, held by the American non-governmental media monitoring organization GLAAD during ceremonies in New York, Los Angeles, and San Francisco from March to June.

Introduced in 1992 as a non-competitive category at the 3rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards, the first winner was "The Flash" vol. 2, a series written by William Messner-Loebs and published by DC Comics. No awards were given from 1993 to 1995, but a comic has been selected annually since 1996. The Outstanding Comic Book became a competitive category in 1997. Originally covering all types of comics, such as comic books, strips, and graphic novels—GLAAD split the category into two from the 33rd awards ceremony in 2022: Outstanding Comic Book and Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology.

To qualify, a comic must be aimed at a general audience and sold in comic retail stores nationwide. Additionally, it must be published by one of the four major mainstream comic publishers—Dark Horse Comics, DC Comics, Image Comics, or Marvel Comics—or their subsidiaries. GLAAD may decide if works from other publishers qualify if they achieve similar renown and impact as one of the major publishers.

GLAAD evaluates nominated comics based on four criteria: "fair, accurate, and inclusive representation" of the LGBT community, the project's "boldness and originality", significant "impact" on mainstream culture, and the overall "quality" of the project. GLAAD monitors mainstream media to decide on nominations and also calls for submissions, encouraging media outlets to submit works for consideration. Comics created by and for the LGBT audience must be submitted to be considered for nomination, as GLAAD does not monitor such works for defamation. Winners are determined by a majority vote from GLAAD staff and board, stakeholders, and volunteers and allies.

Since its inception, the award has been given to 27 comics. "Green Lantern," "Young Avengers," "Strangers in Paradise," and "Doctor Aphra" are the only comics to win the award twice, with only "Green Lantern" winning consecutively in 2002 and 2003. Judd Winick, who has been nominated four times and won three, twice for "Green Lantern," holds the record for the most wins. "Strangers in Paradise" also holds the record for the most nominations, with seven.