Pucks and Pies

Because of this, I got to see the lovely @ngoziu talk about all things graphic novels with Adam Ellis. After this panel, there was a signing.

Of course, I did what any normal person would do and bring my books to get signed… as well as a printed copy of @connorwhisksambiguousbisexuality ‘s profile picture.

Here’s a photo of Ngozi and myself (ish) with the artifact.

cr: evolverozanov

Backstage before the hockey romance panel at BookCon 2026, and Rachel tells me she loves Check, Please! and is Kickstarter backer.

cr: evolverozanov

Backstage before the hockey romance panel at BookCon 2026, and Rachel tells me she loves Check, Please! and is Kickstarter backer.

Ok so I’m here to talk about how ridiculously talented Bitty is on ice because the fandom forgets sometimes.

•Bitty switched from figure skates to hockey skates. This is SUPER HARD TO DO. (I asked a friend who figure skates competitively about how skating with hockey skates is different. She immediately said that it was extremely hard.)

•Bitty can do twirls in hockey skates. Again VERY HARD due to hockey skates not having a pick.

•Was the captain of his Junior hockey team for two years. He was made captain after TWO YEARS of playing hockey.

•Got an assist in his first College hockey game

•Scored the winning goal in his third game on a College team(also the only goal of that game)

•After that game he was switched from third line to first line.

•Was awarded the John Carlisle award at the end of his freshmen year(the award is given to the player who’s enthusiasm and dedication best shows team spirit)

•Struggled with the fear of getting checked but woke up at 4A.M. so he could get over this fear and stay on the team (yes he grumbles about it a fair bit but he also acknowledges that it helps him)

•He balances being on a varsity team and school fairly well and takes care of his teammates too.

•He does all of this before he’s 20.

Eric Bittle is attending Samwell on a hockey scholarship. The team is spending money to have Bittle on board.

He got this scholarship based on a tape which was half ice dancing.

And, in case you missed it: in Bitty’s first two years of hockey, Samwell came out of nowhere to make the NCAA playoffs twice in a row.

Like, you add all this stuff up, and … well, I think what you’re looking at is a tiny school - the kind of school that doesn’t pay its coaches a tremendous amount of money, the kind of school that can’t count on enormous alumni/ae funding to pay for scholarships - which has found itself a pair of coaches who are doing exactly what a school in that position needs to do: start with players that their competition cannot even imagine playing hockey, and train them into the best hockey players the NCAA has ever seen.

You Had Me at Hockey: A Look at One of Sports Romance's Hottest Genres

HI! At BookCon2026, I'll be on a panel that will certainly be a riot. Moderated by Bal Khabra!

I’ve decided to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time: combine the comic, blog posts, extras, and tweets from Check, Please! into one document, because I’m crazy.

I read the main comic the night of The Sophomore Year Kiss™ and went back to read the extras shortly after. Going back and reading the extras was a daunting task back in 2016, and it’s much harder today - there’s so much stuff! Not to mention that Bitty’s Twitter was private by the time I started reading the comic, so I didn’t see most of the tweets until Chirpbook was published. Plus, I struggle to find all the blog posts on the official site, and I am a blog post truther! Sophomore Year doesn’t hit the same without the commentary! Nothing emotionally destroys me like: “The secret to drawing a younger Jack is making him smile, the end. Hahaha, now we’re all sad.” Lastly, some of my friends love the comic and find both Tumblr and the official site hard to navigate, so I wanted to make this a resource for them so they don’t miss out on all those delightful ask-a-wellies and sketch jams.

What I always wanted was to have that true multi-platform experience (comics, blogs, tweets, and extras) in order. With that, I present this slideshow.

The extras on these slides are ONLY things that (as far as I know) aren't available anywhere other than Tumblr/the website. Please buy the comic and also Chirpbook and Madison and the Huddles. They’re worth every penny!!!!!! (seriously please please please please this comic is so good you want to give Ngozi all of your money please please please you want to so bad subscribe to the patreon while you're at it)

Also, if you want to help with this project, think anything should be edited, or have ideas on how to make it more effective/better/fun, please let me know! I just love this comic so much!!! I have only done through the end of Year 2 right now.