Pride Month 2026: Talking ‘Monsters In Love: A Pride Anthology’ With Writer Lee Knox Ostertag

Vampires and werewolves tend to come up first when people talk about monsters (or at least the supernatural kind), but what about genies? It’s this question that Lee Knox Ostertag answers with his story for the Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology. Lettered by Aditya Bidikar, here’s what Ostertag had to share about what inspired his story:

Rachel Bellwoar: How did you first hear about this anthology and what made you want to get involved?

Lee Knox Ostertag: James Tynion is a friend from way back! We moved to LA at the same time and had a tradition of Tuesdays spent watching horror movies at his house. It’s been so cool to watch him develop Tiny Onion — a real breath of fresh air in the world of comics — and I was thrilled to be asked to be a part of this anthology.

Bellwoar: In the case of your story, your “monster in love” is a genie. Do you feel genies often get overlooked in the monster category?  

Ostertag: I’d actually describe the monster as a demon. This piece was inspired by the sixteenth-century play Doctor Faustus, as performed by the Independent Shakespeare Company in LA in 2025. Mephistopheles was played by a woman in their version. I was really taken by her performance, and by the idea of a wish-granting demon who is ‘trapped’ in the body of a woman, especially in a historical context where women are taken less seriously and not seen as dangerous. I wanted to play with the idea of temptation as a job, of taking the form of a woman as the best way to do this job, and of the eventual dysphoria that this particular demon ends up feeling.

Bellwoar: How difficult was it to come up with your own spin on the three wishes scenerio?

Ostertag: I didn’t really come up with my own spin; this is pretty classic! In Doctor Faustus, he has a set amount of years where he gets unlimited wishes, but for an eight-page comic, we must trim things down.

Bellwoar: I actually had to look up “seven-league boots” after reading your story. When did you first become aware of that folklore?

Ostertag: I’m pretty sure I first came across them in The Enchanted Castle by E. Nesbit — I read a lot of old British fantasy as a kid. But they show up in Grimm’s Fairy Tales as well as many other folklore traditions. I’m interested in things that used to be fantastical and now are completely commonplace. In a world before cars and airplanes, boots that can travel seven leagues (about 21 miles) at a step would be utterly life changing, especially for someone who dreams of seeing the world.

Bellwoar: Would you jump at the chance to make three wishes or would the pressure to word them right be too much?

Ostertag: I absolutely would jump at the chance. I would also probably mess it up terribly!

Bellwoar: Thanks for agreeing to this interview, Lee!

Monsters in Love: A Pride Anthology goes on sale June 10th from Dark Horse Comics.