Welcome back! Queer Comics from a Queer Perspective is back, and I'm excited to see you. This time I want to discuss some Manga. I don't usually read it. I was raised on Western comics, and honestly, I'm not sure how I first discovered My Brother's Husband by Gengoroh Tagame. It's a book I think more people should read. As always, keep in mind that I'm one person discussing my own thoughts. I can't speak for everyone. There's no way to do that, nor would it be a particularly interesting world if anyone did. Okay, disclaimers out of the way… Let's sit down with a cup of tea and a nice slice of coffee cake and chat.
My Brother's Husband is a two-volume book about Mike Flanagan, a burly, bearded Canadian widower. Mike's husband, Ryoji, passed away, and Mike has traveled to Japan to meet Ryoji's twin bother, Yaichi, and Yaichi's daughter Kana. It's partially Mike's story and partly Kana's, but it's mostly about Yaichi. While I've often read Queer writers' stories about straight people, they tend to be superhero stories. When it's a more personal slice-of-life story like this, it's usually focused on the Queer character. But here, Tagame places Yaichi front and center.
Yaichi starts the story as a reluctant host, whose not even willing to imagine that Mike is his brother-in-law. Through Kana and his ex-wife, Natsuki, Yaichi begins to understand that he and Mike have more than Ryoji in common.
It's a sweet bit of storytelling, in some ways, maybe even formulaic, but it's wonderfully done. And it's not a quick mountain climb. It stops and starts like it is in real life. Tagame shows that long-held beliefs aren't so easily overcome. As superhero fans, we tend to think in terms of a big story. When we see hate, we imagine slurs and attacks, but homophobia (all hatred) comes in little forms as well. I don't want to hug that person. I don't want to see you kiss someone. I don't want to know that you're in love.
Sometimes feel-good stories can be preachy and moralizing. Not this book. It's simple and sweet and a slow and beautiful build about discovering what family is. Is it funny and sweet? Yeppers! Is it also heartbreaking? Yes. I'm not usually a crier, as anyone who's ever met me will tell you. But there are two moments. One in the first volume, which is where Mike breaks down over finally visiting Ryoji's home without him. One in the second, which is a panel of Mike sitting in a train car after meeting a schoolmate of Ryoji's.
Ryoji is a haunting presence, but not in a cruel or scary way. It's more like he's a gentle ghost. It's a good contrast to Gotham Central's "Half a Life." But while Renee Montoya's two lives collide in pain, anger, and violence -- Ryoji's come together in a beautiful symphony of writing and art. It's the best of what comics can do.
I don't know Tagame's personal story, what he's been through, or what his life is like. The pieces I've read about him have been mostly about his working process. I don't know if he's gone through something similar, and I don't think it would make the book any more touching if I knew. It's Queer storytelling at its best. Even more important than that, it's human storytelling at its best. What's more universal than family and falling in love?
Should you read this? Yes. Is it perfect? If it's not, it's really, really close.