Roam like home.
If you’re Canadian, you’re probably familiar with this quote. Rogers Communications uses it for its long-distance plan, which works with U.S. carriers to minimize foreign long-distance charges. Because without it, calls and data transfers can be incredibly frustrating. Sometimes, some Canadian carrier phones aren’t even compatible with U.S. networks.
It’s interesting to think about a time when we weren’t completely tethered to our smartphones. Gee, it’s so fun to think back to a time before smartphones. It wasn’t that long ago actually, although it feels like forever. But I guess in the scale of things, almost twenty years is one generation. The entire process of a person from growth to adulthood. Or at least adult age, since many of us are still fumbling like newborn deer at that age.
To quote LP Hartley: “The past was like a foreign country.” I think this fits the themes and storyline explored here. Both allegorically and literally. How technology like the cell phone has become a cultural touchstone of the past, representing a fragile lifeline and the fragility of the familiar failing to function in a truly foreign country.
“We are gorgeous. we are young. We’re in New York City. Now put on your damn shoes!
Set in 2009, roaming go through virtual tokyo and Gillian Tamaki It tells the story of three Canadian college students who travel to New York. The two childhood friends are reunited. The third one is a new friend I met in college.
It follows the long-awaited journey of two childhood friends, Danny and Zoe, who meet in New York. The reunion was canceled only because Dani brought along another friend, Fiona. Third wheel dynamics bring conflict into the journey in many ways, especially when personality conflicts are evident. Another unexpected indulgence. It’s interesting to explore how these relationships change and how emotionally in control each woman feels overall. Ultimately, despite the anticipated high cost, Zoe decided to turn on the material on her phone.
Jillian Tamaki used a two-color approach in this book, bathing the pages in blue and almost coral colors. It suits her minimalist character style very well and really helps make the more detailed drawings of life pop when the story turns to museums and nature. It’s an interesting contrast between detail and simplicity, reality and exaggeration. I think it’s interesting that slice-of-life, semi-autobiographical stories often feature variations on this visual style. Almost like a shorthand.
“I felt like I meant nothing to her.
Nowadays, it seems like we can’t live without our devices. They do everything. We carry multimedia kits, communication devices and cameras in our pockets and bags at all times. Like discovering that this work won itself an Eisner Award for Best New Graphic Album, a Mariko Tamaki Award for Best Writer, and a Tamaki Gillian Award for Best Artist, all while reading by the pool late at night, just by scrolling through social media.
For anyone who grew up in the analog days, where if you stepped out you were on the moon (if you didn’t encounter a pay phone), this is a sea change. roaming Tamakis doesn’t exactly take us back to that era, but it does give us a transitional period between periods when it wasn’t always connected to the grid. Sometimes it can be difficult to find someone. It cleverly uses this analogy to represent the state between childhood and adulthood, exploring new and changing relationships while roaming an unfamiliar country.
Classic Comics Compendium: Wandering
roaming
story: Mariko Tamaki & Jillian Tamaki
Art: Gillian Tamaki
Publisher: Sweepstakes and Quarterly Magazine
release date: September 12, 2023
Read past entries in the Classic Comics Compendium!
