Review: Strugglers

Strugglers is the revised and enlarged new version of Tim Fish’s Meet Me in Saint Louie, his 2001 shortish graphic novel.
A kind of prequel to Cavalcade of Boys (also recently republished as one 550-page book), it follows Tighe, one of the main characters from CoB, as he, well, struggles with his being gay while entering college and sharing a flat with Tracey and Alison, two young women.
With now more than 100 pages (instead of 56 in the first version), Fish takes the time to develop each character, including Mike, another young gay guy who lives in the same building as Tighe, but who’s already out of the closet. The new chapters are drawn in Fish’s current style, which is rounder than his older style, but it seems to me the differences in style suit quite well a story which is about young adults wondering about what their life will be, and what they want it to be.
Apart from those welcome additions, this edition boasts a very good printing quality, with thick, white paper and an afterword by the author where he details what happened to his characters afterwards, as well as the winding road that lead to the current version, from what began as a personal journal but quickly morphed into fiction.
CoB‘s new version is also printed on good, white paper, and includes notes and miscellaneous art by the author. I’m very happy to see Tim Fish’s moving and funny real-life drama collected in two books which, in my opinion, should be on every gay reader’s shelf. Go to Fish’s site for details about where you can buy those books (including Amazon).