Webcomic Wednesday - Check, Please!

There can only be one webcomic to review this week, since the book was released this month and my copy arrived on Monday, and that is Check, Please! by Ngozi Ukazu.

I first started reading Check Please as a webcomic a couple of years ago. The artwork is a joy with  thick lines and clear, uncluttered framing that provides a perfect canvas for the expressive, character driven story. It's a sports story based around college hockey, but it's much much more: coming out, fitting in, being different, dealing (or not) with expectations and a glorious slow burn gay romance. Eric 'Bitty' Bittle is the cutest bloody narrator in the history of narrators, and is surrounded by a cast of amazing secondary characters. I love this comic. So much that I bought the book.

Check, Please! Book 1   

Eric Bittle may be a former junior figure skating champion, vlogger extraordinaire, and very talented amateur pâtissier, but being a freshman on the Samwell University hockey team is a whole new challenge. It is nothing like co-ed club hockey back in Georgia! First of all? There’s checking (anything that hinders the player with posession of the puck, ranging from a stick check all the way to a physical sweep). And then, there is Jack—his very attractive but moody captain.

A collection of the first half, freshmen and sophmore year, of the megapopular webcomic series of the same name, Check, Please!: #Hockey is the first book of a hilarious and stirring two-volume coming-of-age story about hockey, bros, and trying to find yourself during the best four years of your life. This book includes updated art and a hilarious, curated selection of Bitty's beloved tweets.

Amazon Buy Link


This book combines Year 1 and 2. Years 3 and 4 will be combined in a volume due out 'Fall' 2019. But of course I couldn't wait until then to have more printed Check, Please! in my life. I've bought Year 3 from the Kickstarter (although I'll probably buy this combined volume too. Don't tell anyone).

Link to the start of the webcomic: Check Please 

There's also a store if you want other bits and pieces, or the book in Year format. 

That's Bitty in the middle there. Bless his little cottons

Check, Please is a slow-burn romance. Very slow burn. But there is swearing and talk of drinking and carousing as you would expect from a book set around a group of (mostly) male 18 to 23 year olds. I'd say it is definitely YA and probably teen suitable, depending on your teen.

This comes highly recommended. If you read the webcomic and want to shell out for the physical book I can confirm that the quality of the book is exceptional. I have the softback, which has beautiful glossy, raised artwork on the cover and clear, gorgeously coloured glossy internal pages. Each page features two panels from the comic.