The comic centers on Stephie, a young trans girl and her genderfluid best friend Ciel. She makes friends with other queer kids and confront the many problems people in the queer community. All while having some fun along the way.
The strips range from serialized narratives, to gag-a-day, to purely informative ones. Whatever the style, they all focus on LGBTQ+ topics/issues and how Steph and Ciel, mainly Steph, deal with said issues.
It can be read on Tumblr
, Twitter, or Webtoon.
Assigned Male contains examples of:
- Art Evolution: The comic goes from a somewhat rough art style where even the adults look like somewhat misshapen toddlers, to a much smoother and more cutesy style.
- Author Avatar: Steph is more often than not used by Labelle to talk about her own beliefs and discuss social issues.
- Author Guest Spot: When she isn't using Stephie as a mouthpiece, Labelle sometimes just draws herself into certain strips, such as this one.
- Coming-Out Story:
- "The Lie" and its subsequent page "The Gift" is about Stephie coming out to her friends.
- Ciel comes out to their dad in the last part of "Camp Fabulous."
- "The Lie
- Deadpan Snarker: Stephie almost always has a sardonic remark up her sleeve, especially when it comes to ignorant people and/or bigots.
- Deuteragonist: Ciel is the second most important character in the comic next to Steph.
- Embarrassing Damp Sheets: Averted. Steph assumes Ciel wet the bed due to the latter mentioning it earlier, but it turns out Ciel is loving the manicure Steph gave them.
- Embarrassing Old Photo: When Frank visits Steph's house to work on a group project, Steph asks her dad to take down a pre-transition photo of her.
- Fake Twin Gambit: When Steph's friends ask why she looks so similar to "Stephen" (Stephie’s deadname), she pretends to be "Stephen's twin sister". Later on, she tells them the truth...somewhat. She does say Stephen's not living with her mom but still fabricates that this "Stephen" is actually a Hollywood actor.
- Innocently Insensitive: Frank in the beginning of the comic is a tad ignorant on queer topics and this often annoyed Stephie, but it's clear he isn't malicious. He becomes more educated on said issues as the comic goes on.
- Meaningful Name: Ciel means "sky" in French. Ciel chose it because everytime they look at the sky, it feels like home.
- Mistaken for Gay: Steph was thought to be a gay boy by her friends and family before she came out. In truth, she's bisexual.
- Only the Knowledgable May Pass: Stephie asks for a passphrase from Ciel so that she can allow the latter to enter her house, but Ciel doesn't know what it is. Eventually, Steph reveals it to be "Do you want a hug?"
- Sobriquet Sex Switch: "Stephie" is simply the feminine version of "Stephen".
- Trans Tribulations: The comic is mainly about Stephie dealing and confronting with many the issues trans people face.
