I am a very big fan of Gale Galligan and am a member of their Patreon, so I’ve been eagerly anticipating this book for quite a while and enjoying all of the behind the scenes process information. It’s really fun and at the same time sobering to see all of the work that goes into making a book — doing the pitch, the script, page layouts and thumbnails, pencils, inks, colors (by K Czap, who always crushes it), editing, the cover — I always take my hat off to all cartoonists as I whip through several years worth of work. Fresh Start is a semi autobiographical story that uses elements of Galligan’s own life. Ollie’s father is a diplomat, so her family moves countries regularly and she likes the fresh start that the moves offer. Whenever she messes up at school, she doesn’t have to worry about it because she will never have to see these people again. They move from Germany to Virginia and Ollie has a rough first day when she embarrasses herself badly, but gets through it with the knowledge that they’ll move at the end of the year. However, her parents sit her and her sister Cat down and tell them that they will be buying a house and spending the rest of grade school in place so that they can have some stability. This crashes Ollie’s world and she has to get used to developing deeper friendships and working through embarrassment without the safety net of moving.
I loved this, no surprise. The art is perfect, the character arc is thoughtful and has an emotionally earned payoff, and Galligan does a pitch perfect job of capturing what it’s like to be a giant nerd and the joy of finding friends who share your interests. Ollie’s friend group’s experience of making a fictional world together, getting enthusiastic about art and cosplay, and getting to go to a con, really touched my soul and reminded me of my own fun times in middle and high school going to cons and dressing up. This book was made with a lot of love and care and it shows. I liked that Ollie calls out her parents for treating her and her sister differently, and their sibling bond was refreshing after so much media portrayal of siblings who fight and hate each other. They do squabble but Ollie really has Cat’s back, even when their parents are unfair. I always am a fan of books that show that adults can be fallible and need to grow as well. It was also a fun little treat to spot the panel where Gale drew their own family! I also thought that Ollie’s overall arc of learning to apologize to friends she hurt was valuable and realistically portrayed. There are so many other good elements here that I haven’t even touched on — Ollie’s struggle with her mom over wearing dresses, the experience of being mixed race (very relatable for me!), friend group bullying, impact of social media, getting a hedgehog — which is a testament to how packed this book is. Again, I loved it and look forward to re-reading it in years to come. Super excited to wait a few years for whatever book comes next!