All products are independently selected by our editors. If you buy something, we may earn an affiliate commission.
For LGBTQ+ readers, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki’s newest graphic novel is a treat on par with a classic New York City slice.
In Roaming, now in bookstores from publisher Drawn & Quarterly, three young Canadian friends embark on their first “adult” vacation as college freshmen, excitedly exploring the Big Apple — as it existed in 2009, at least — while grappling with all the insecurities, secrets, and passions that are quietly driving wedges between them. The book marks the cousins’ first collaboration since 2014’s award-winning This One Summer, a coming-of-age story that has faced widespread library challenges from social conservatives over its LGBTQ+ characters and “mature themes.”
Much like This One Summer, Roaming is proof that telling authentic coming-of-age stories necessitates grappling with some weightier topics. In the book, as Zoe and Fiona begin a whirlwind affair shortly after meeting, Dani slowly realizes that the city isn’t everything she imagined it could (or should) be. Together, the trio navigate all the mess, hurt feelings, and recreational drug use that often come with growing up. The title itself has layers of meaning: “roaming” doesn’t just refer to wandering around the city, but also the charges associated with cell phone use while traveling, which were especially painful back in the late 2000s.
The Tamakis, both writers and artists in their own right, have gelled with exceptional skill in their work together ever since their 2008 collaboration Skim. Roaming is no different, marking a return to form for both creators that can resonate with younger and older readers alike. New York natives will particularly enjoy the almost dreamlike depictions of Manhattan locales like Astor Place and Central Park, but the entire novel is a treat for any comic fan, using a two-tone color palette that expertly balances warmth and chill, togetherness and solitude. At a time when LGBTQ+ books are under widespread attack in the U.S., this is a gorgeous book that no reader should miss.
Shortly after the book’s publication, Jillian and Mariko Tamaki spoke with Them via email about their artistic process for Roaming, seeing themselves in their young cast, and how readers can support LGBTQ+ creators in the current political climate.
To what extent are Roaming’s characters drawn from your own experiences becoming adults? Do you each identify with one of the trio more than the others?
Jillian Tamaki: I suspect that a “cast” of characters is going to represent different sides of your personality. I identify with all of them to some degree. It seems kind of impossible to invent a complex character whole-cloth out of thin air. But I guess I’m mostly like Zoe or Dani. But I can kinda be a lil’ know-it-all shit sometimes too [like] Fiona.
Mariko Tamaki: There are definitely elements of each character that feel very personal to me. I came out in university (like Zoe), but I was a very “bunny purse and crinoline” queer, not so much Zoe’s style. There’s also a scene where Dani sips a shot that is the most me thing I’ve ever put in print. Really the whole thing, the story, the characters, all of it, feels very close and it’s hard to dissect any other kind of specific ownership once the whole thing is done.
The book brings to life a non-New Yorker’s love for the city that I really identified with, and reminded me in some ways of From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, one of my favorite childhood books. Did you both share Dani's faraway adoration for NYC growing up in Canada? What was your creative process like in deciding how to visually portray different aspect of the city?
MT: I was obsessed with The Mixed-Up Files! I didn’t go to New York until I was in my twenties, but it always had that big city allure to me. Like, there was something just very serious and grown up about a trip to New York.
JT: I went to New York City for the first time as a first-year student. I grew up in Calgary, Alberta, so New York felt very far away. It’s one of those places that you feel like you “know” even if you’ve never been there. I eventually lived there for quite a while and my attitude became “all the stereotypes about the city are true, good and bad, sometimes within the same hour”. Even though the city is a big part of the book, I think the story is more about traveling anywhere as a young person.
One thing that struck me the most was how the girls’ relationship with and perception of New York City becomes more complex as their own stressors and divisions are laid bare. Can you talk a little about how you worked together on structuring that gradual shift?
JT: Traveling as a group is a unique kind of dynamic! It was juicy digging into the granular experience of a trip: the high when you arrive, the ups and downs, the fatigue, the revelations. As a visitor to a city, there’s a bit of a veil. The city you’re seeing is in some ways not the real place. Especially nowadays, you can have a highly curated and controlled experience. The real place needed to peek through the cracks in the veneer.
MT: There was something very easy about the structure of this book because it could follow this practical pattern, especially for the first two acts, of just what you would do on a trip to New York City. Like, where would you go, what would you eat. And then the fun part was pulling all these micro tears along the way into the third act when it all predictably goes down hill. I think a lot of our work together isn’t overt structuring but more… observing.
The political climate for LGBTQ+ fiction has gotten increasingly dangerous over the past few years, with book bans on the rise especially for queer and trans comics like Maia Kobabe’s Gender Queer. Why is it important to you both to keep telling stories with LGBTQ+ and otherwise marginalized characters? What should publishers (and readers) be doing to better support creators right now?
JT: Keep on reading stories and supporting authors telling those stories. Support your local libraries. Run for the school board.
MT: I can’t imagine not writing queer stories. I grew up in a world of LGBTQIA authors and stories. These works were a huge part of making me the author I am today. I always want to see more, of course. I want to see more books from a greater diversity of queer voices, including older voices, international voices. I want to see more of our history and more stories that have no pressure to represent anything other than our particular corners of the world.
This conversation has been edited and condensed.
Roaming is available now via Drawn & Quarterly.
Get the best of what’s queer. Sign up for Them’s weekly newsletter here.