I was recently reading Craig Russell's listing on Wikipedia. They credit him with being the first openly gay comics creator.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P._Craig_Russell

Among many other great stories in comics, Russell, paired with writer Don McGregor, early on did the "Killraven" series in AMAZING ADVENTURES 27-39 from 1974-1976.
https://comiconlinefree.com/amazing-adventures-1970/issue-27
One of my favorite comics series, its beautiful lyrical writing and art making it a series I've revisited often.





Right after, Russell did NIGHT MUSIC, the second graphic novel published by Eclipse, in 1979.



Originally in black-and-white, NIGHT MUSIC was reprinted in color with other material as a NIGHT MUSIC comic-size series in its first 2 issues, and continued with other adaptations and new work.

Russell also contributed adaptations of Wagnerian operas and plays, and adaptaions of Rudyard Kipling, O. Henry, Oscar Wilde, the Jungle Book, and other literary works. Beautiful stuff, and definintely filling a void, not likely to be adapted by any other comics artists. Russell's work is at times whimsical and even cartoonish, but overall presents a wealth of elegant and sophisticated work. Relative to the more fanboyish offerings in comics, Russell's work presentss a deep sense of culture, literature, and the arts.



Russell further cemented his reputation with the ELRIC Marvel graphic novel in 1982.
https://comiconlinefree.com/marvel-graphic-novel/issue-2_-_Elric_-_The_Dreaming_City



Followed up by an equally nice 6-issue ELRIC comics series from Pacific Comics in 1983-1984. And several follow-up Elric books and adaptations over the last 40 years. Russell has probably done more work on Elric than any other character.


In 1983, Russell also did a KILLRAVEN graphic novel, the last McGregor/Russell collaboration on the series.
https://comiconlinefree.com/marvel-graphic-novel/issue-7_-_Killraven_-_Warrior_of_the_Worlds





Here's an IDW "artists edition" book of Russell's original art on the KILLRAVEN graphic novel, and also a DR STRANGE: WHAT IS IT THAT DISTURBS YOU STEPHEN? one-shot (the latter being a revised version of Russell's DR STRANGE ANNUAL 1 from 1976), along with a sampling of other classic pages of Russell's early work:

https://aeindex.org/reviews/p-craig-russells-strange-dreams-artists-edition/

Among many other exceptional contributions to the comics field. Even Russell just providing inks on projects by artists like Michael Golden, Jim Starlin and Tom Artis turned those books into something exceptional and among my favorites.


So what other offerings by gay creators, or stories about gay issues or characters do you see as great contributions to the comics field?