“Show them our soccer.”
Fantagraphics is a publisher with thousands of emotional and impactful stories spanning decades across the industry. The latest installment of this is the English translation of French illustrator Chloè Wary’s Season of The Roses, which manifests as your typical sports-focused teenage coming of age but slowly turns into a personal love letter from Wary herself. The book is an artistic wonder, one that Wary puts a heavy emphasis on a certain type of nostalgia with her choice of coloring with markers rather than most industry-upheld tools. She wants the reader to feel as if they’re reminiscing on their teenage years and the marker-heavy art emphasizes that brilliantly.
Fantagraphics
The book’s aesthetic lends itself to the main story which follows Barb, a high school senior, who is in tight water between her club manager and soccer team. Barb is your usual troubled teenage girl – she’s a tomboy, she hates dresses, she dislikes skirts, and she loves sports. The simplicity of her character alone makes her relatable.
Wary’s inspiration echoes that of many female empowerment stories as a theme of how Barb and her team fight and struggle to secure funding against the men’s soccer team. Barb’s upbringing is her attempt to achieve that dream of captaining her team to the championships and overcoming the obstacles that follow it. All of Wary’s writing has an emotional connection to her own time with the women’s team she once played with. Barb doesn’t just reflect the emotions of those awkward teenage girls we used to be, but she reflects the feelings of Wary herself.
Fantagraphics
Wary’s writing is translated perfectly by Jenna Allen, who has done some brilliant work in the past. Personal favorites of mine include, Slash Them All (originally written and drawn by Antoine Maillard), and Peter & Liza (originally written and drawn by Miroslav Sekulic-Struja). Allen’s dedication to translating comics is commendable and without the aid of translators like her, the world of international comics would cease to influence the western industry.
All of this to say, Season of the Roses is a beautiful comic and so far my favorite release from Fantagraphics this year alone. Wary’s work is admirable as she aims to push for feminist stories that uplift the reader to fight for what they believe in whether it’s with her style of art or her deeply relatable writing. I am excited to see what Wary has in store for the future as her role in the industry is becoming more and more beloved by fellow creators and readers.
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