Ngozi Ukazu’s two volume Check Please! graphic novel series is set against the backdrop of Samwell University’s Men’s Hockey team. The series has a large cast of supporting characters all of whom the reader comes to meet and discover to be interesting in their own rights as they come and go between the “haus” they share as roomies, to practice, to games, and their general wandering about. Check Please! is a story about friendship these young men and how they support one another throughout their college careers and likely beyond after graduation.
Most importantly though, Check Please! is the story of two of these hockey players, incoming freshman Eric Bittle and junior & team captain Jack Zimmermann, falling in love. Like many romances theirs starts as anything but romance. Ukazu indulged, delightfully one imagines, in the “opposites attract” trope to build the foundation. Indeed they are opposites with seemingly only the sport in common though the story reveals to the reader that there is more below the surface.
Blond and short, Eric Bittle comes from the small town of Madison, Georgia where his father is a local high school football coach GET HIS NAME and his mother Suzanne is a homemaker. Bittle’s athletic background began when he was around seven and began to figure skate. Like many queer kids he was picked on by other students. The most heinous incident happened during seventh grade when the football team locked him inside a utility room overnight. That incident prompted the move to Madison though the harassment continued to a lesser degree at the new school. Along the way Eric has shown a passion for and real skill at baking pies and creating other tasty food from scratch. His outgoing and charming personality shines through on a daily basis and especially in the vlog he started which is mainly about cooking though he does talk about his life and plans. Eric is able to attend Samwell University in Massachusetts thanks to a full athletic scholarship and is so excited that he arrives ten days before classes start.
Tall, dark haired, and lean muscled, Jack Zimmermann was born in suburb of Montreal, the capitol of Canada’s Quebec province. Jack’s father “Bad” Bob is a hockey legend in his own right while his mother Alicia is an actress and model. Jack has dual citizenship because his mother is an expat American citizen. Jack has been on skates for most of life, starting quite young around 3 years old. Jack continued to play and with each passing year the promise he showed increased until he played in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and he became overwhelmed and overdosed on anxiety medication. The cause of Jack’s anxiety? Fear of not living up to his father’s expectations and immense records. Rehab delayed his hockey playing it but it was worth Jack’s effort. Despite the gains in insight during rehab, Jack can still be guarded, even oblivious, about his emotions.
Bittle’s strategy to present home baked pies and other goodies as a good introduction to his teammates turns out to be a wise choice. Bitty is shocked by how his fellow housemates consumed his home made pie: “[..]the things they did to the pecan pie were felonious.” Soon he is given Bitty as a nick name honoring an important hockey tradition. Team Captain Jack is the last person Bitty greets in the haus.
Their meet cute begins like this…
Unsurprisingly the friction continues to charge the “opposites attract” dynamic of the pair until one day Bitty accidentally overhears a conversation in French between Jack and his father. Sensing that Jack is upset by the call, Bitty offers an empathetic voice and ear and Jack begins to open himself up to Bitty. It’s the initial turning point between the two men and has a positive impact on Bitty’s performance later that day when Samwell plays against Yale and makes a significant goal. Now if you’ve read enough romance novels & graphic novels and movies or BL series you know the plot moves one foot forward and two or three steps back. It’s the same for these guys. Bitty admits to himself he shouldn’t have fallen for a straight guy. Meanwhile Jack is shocked by two of Samwell’s hockey coaches when they tell Jack they’ve moved Bittle to play on the same line as Jack in the upcoming playoff with Quinnipiac because they’ve noticed Jack is a better player when Bittle is around. Another telling moment that Jack is coming around is Bitty being checked (similar enough to a football tackle) during the Quinnipiac game. Time stands still for all the players. It’s a poignant moment for the team and especially for Jack to see Bittle’s body on the ice. The only word that escapes his lips is “Bitty.”
Until this incident Jack had never called Eric by his hockey nick name. As significant a change as it is, Jack still doesn’t fully realize or accept what his heart is telling him.
While Jack softens up and they become friends it’s more pie baking from Bitty, and generally hijinks and angst free haus drama that follows in the rest of the story until senior graduation day. Ukazu created a particularly beautiful scene to close volume one. Many promises to keep in touch are made and farewells said on the campus grounds. Jack is one of those making the same promise because that same afternoon he will leave Samwell for Providence where he accepted an off to go professional. Jack and Bitty’s farewell is very tender. Bitty is on the verge of openly crying as he walks away. A person who is well acquainted with both men pulls Jack aside and quietly reassures Jack to “…Go say goodbye…If that’s what your heart is telling you, you should go…Go really say goodbye.”
And so Jack runs to find Bitty.
And they kiss. And Jack has to depart for Providence.
In volume two Ngozi Ukazu shows Jack and Bitty in a new and charming relationship. Now that the men admit their love for one another, Ukazu puts other obstacles in their path – starting with the challenges of navigating a long distance relationship while Jack tries to concentrate on his new pro career and Bitty becoming a very important figure for the hockey team. Another question they’ll face is whether and how to come out to their families…Bitty’s parents, Jack’s parents, and their Samwell family at the haus where they met. As if all this wasn’t enough Jack decides to put out some feelers whether or not coming out even to a limited degree with his new team is at all possible. In creating all these hurdles for the couple, Ukazu was able to show Jack and Bitty change and grow by being vulnerable, honest, trusting, and supportive with the other.
Now, dear reader, you may think a one paragraph summary of an entire graphic novel is unfair and you may be right in some way. I’ve spoiled enough of book one for you as it is. As fun as book one is with its opposites attract dynamic, book two is an unfolding romance that should be experienced with each page turn.
Eric Bittle and Jack Zimmermann each appear first in Check Please volume 1 published in 2018 by First Second.
Interested in reading Check Please? Find your copy with Bookshop and volume two. Your local library may have copies or Hoopla. Check Please! can be read on the Check Please! comic site too but you may want to own a copy.
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