LDCOMICS ONLINE COMIC FAIR 2025! Chie Hosaka’s LDComics Fair offering Tia and Guthrie loosely fits into the romcom category, albeit a succinct one-act one. It’s the story of the relationship between the two titular characters, students who are best friends just beginning to realise their connection might be stronger than they had previously realised. Tia is currently living in university halls while Guthrie is in a shared house. Events in these 18 or so pages take place in Guthrie’s student room over the course of a visit Tia makes to hang out with him.
There’s something very sweet about Tia and Guthrie and the way it catches the awkwardness and trepidation of two young people gradually becoming closer. A day watching DVDs and chatting takes a difficult turn for Tia when she realises she needs to make an urgent toilet trip. But so enamoured is she of Guthrie that she feels too self-conscious to do just that. What follows is an exercise in scatological humour and social embarrassment, as truths are revealed and a friendship evolves.
Hosaka has a good ear for natural-sounding dialogue with the sparky back and forth between the characters feeling realistic and unforced in its delivery. What really impresses here though is her comedy timing and pacing which through mostly tight-panelled pages employs a perfect build-up to one key moment. A scene that in its own idiosyncratic way almost defines the whole enterprise.
Stripped back visuals help us to invest in the two characters all the more fully, with depicted body language being a key ingredient for our almost immediate empathy with the duo. Hosaka is planning a full-length graphic novel that will pick up on Tia’s story some years down the line. On the evidence of this delightful character set piece that will be well worth looking out for.
Chie Hosaka • LDComics Online Comics Fair, £3.00
Review by Andy Oliver
The LDComics Online Comics Fair runs across the month of July. Read all our coverage of the comics on offer here at BF.
