Magdalene "Mags" Visaggio (born September 22, 1984) is an American comic book writer. Visaggio is known for her work on Kim & Kim and Vagrant Queen. Her comics have been nominated for two Eisner Awards and three GLAAD Media Awards. Her comic series Vagrant Queen was adapted into a television series which ran for a single season on Syfy in 2020.
Personal life
Visaggio was born in 1984 on Long Island and grew up in Richmond, Virginia. She attended Virginia Commonwealth University and Seton Hall University.
Visaggio is a trans woman and is autistic. She is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Career
Visaggio's first published work was in 2006 as writer and co-creator of Sanctuary, a series self-published with Martin Krause and Kevin Roberts. The first three issues of the series were subsequently rewritten by Visaggio before being renamed Stronghold in 2014 with a collected edition of the first three issues and the series continuing on under the new moniker from #4. In 2015 Visaggio used Kickstarter to publish the first issue of Andrew Jackson in Space. From 2016 to 2017, Visaggio contributed a number of articles on comic books to Paste.
Visaggio came to wider prominence in the comic book industry with the limited series Kim & Kim from Black Mask Studios. The series was nominated for the 2017 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series and GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book. The success led to Visaggio signing a three-book deal with Black Mask Studios for her next three projects: Quantum Teens Are Go, Kim & Kim: Love is a Battlefield, and Sex Death Revolution.
In 2017, she was chosen to take part in DC Comics' Writers Workshop program, studying under Scott Snyder. Her first published work for DC was for the Young Animal imprint where she wrote several backup features and the limited series Eternity Girl. Short stories from her time in the Writers Workshop were featured in the one-shots DC Cursed Comics Cavalcade and DC New Talent Showcase 2018.
In 2018, her graphic novel The Ojja-Wojja: A Teen Horror Mystery or Whatever, You Know? was bought by HarperCollins imprint Balzer + Bray in a two-book deal, with the first book to come out in spring 2021. 2018 also saw the debut of Vagrant Queen from publisher Vault Comics. In 2019, Visaggio co-write Strangelands with Darcie Little Badger for Humanoids imprint H1. She also published her first work with Valiant Comics that year, a new volume of Doctor Mirage.
In 2020, Visaggio launched a second volume of Vagrant Queen at Vault Comics and her second series at ComiXology, Lost on Planet Earth. Also in 2020, a television series adaptation of Vagrant Queen aired on Syfy (co-produced by Blue Ice Pictures), but after a single ten-episode season the series was cancelled due to low ratings.
In 2024, Visaggio published the graphic novel Girlmode, illustrated by Paulina Ganucheau. The work was a finalist for a 2025 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Comics.
Awards and nominations
- 2017 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series – Kim & Kim (nominated)
- 2017 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book – Kim & Kim (nominated)
- 2018 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book – Quantum Teens Are Go (nominated)
- 2019 GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Comic Book – Oh S#!t It's Kim & Kim (nominated)
- 2019 Eisner Award for Best Limited Series – Eternity Girl (nominated)
- 2025 Lambda Literary Award for LGBTQ+ Comics – Girlmode (finalist)
