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When you about to eat him up

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C.S. Pacat & Johanna The Mad on their new comic series Fence!

Writer C.S. Pacat (best known for her Captive Prince series) has been mercilessly teasing her fans with a new Top Secret Project™ for the last few days. Well, the wait is finally over, as the L.A. Times just broke the announcement for her new comic series, Fence!

Teaming up with the ridiculously talented artist Johanna The Mad, Fence follows Nicholas Cox as he joins the world of fencing at an elite boys school and becomes embroiled in the drama of competitive sports, team romance and rivalries, and good old self-discovery.

On finding inspiration for Fence, C.S. Pacat says, “I got really into sports comics in Japan, where I lived for about five years. I love the intense rivalries, the striving, the way you can take characters to their breaking point. Haikyuu!! and Hikaru no Go are easily some of my favourite comics of all time. Fence is like my love letter to the genre.

At the same time, I’m interested in female gaze and queer gaze art. I wanted to make something that had all the drama and intensity of a sports comic, while also being joyously and unabashedly queer.  I was really inspired by Ngozi Ukazu’s fantastic hockey web comic Check, Please!, and the recent Japanese animation Yuri!!! on Ice. I started to wonder, what happens when those energies come out in a combat sport—when you add in the danger and stakes of fencing?”

“Fence means the world to me,” says Johanna The Mad. “It has always been one of my biggest dreams to draw comics, but I never thought I’d be able to work on one that I’d end up fangirling about!”

“Johanna’s artwork captures everything that is hot, dangerous, and exciting about fencing,” adds Pacat.