Originally published on Set The Tape
Us is an autobiographical comic memoir by Spanish artist Sara Soler, which tells the story about her relationship with her partner Diana. What makes her story interesting is that her partner is a trans woman, and this story begins before Diana came out, and charts not only her journey to womanhood and acceptance, but Sara’s own journey of self discovery in regards to her identity.
Before now parts of US were produced as a small fanzine that Sara created for a comic con in 2014. But since then the book has expanded, becoming this new graphic novel. This is the first time that the book has been produced in English, and it offers a whole new audience the chance to discover a lovingly crafted, beautiful looking, personal story about what life is like both as a trans person, and as someone who loves a trans person.
I feel a small disclaimer is needed before going too deep into Us: I am a trans woman. I’ve made no secret of that on this site, and have talked about it a number of times, but thought it would be worth mentioning here as I feel that reading Us felt very different for me than it would to a cis reader, especially one who might not know much about what it’s like to be trans, or the trans experience. My review will absolutely be coloured by my own experience (as would anyone’s review), and I think that I’m going to connect with this book in a different way, but one that made reading Us a very special experience.
Us begins with a couple of pages that gives the reader a lot of info up front; Sara doesn’t bury the lead here. It explains that Diana is a trans woman, that some of the stereotypical experiences of being trans in the media are not going to be present here, that all types of gender discovery journeys and expressions are valid, and gives a little history on the book. After that, we begin with what is to many trans people one of the most frightening and nerve-wracking experiences: Diana’s coming out. Most of the time these scenarios are presented from a trans perspective, so seeing it from the point of view of the person that’s on the receiving end is an interesting change. Sara knows her partner well, and knows when something is bothering her, and slowly teases the information out of her, encouraging her to open up. The way that the fear and the panic around Diana is drawn feels incredibly relatable, that aura of pain and worry that leaks off of you.
This sparks an interesting part of the book – Sara’s own journey. Whilst Diana’s initial coming out doesn’t go very far, and she represses her feelings for two years and pretends to be a perfectly fine and happy cis guy, it doesn’t stop Sara from having to think about what this would mean for her. She begins to question if she’d stay with Diana, if that would make her gay, if there had ever been any signs of her being queer in the past. In some ways Diana’s coming out changed who Sara was, though it wasn’t until Diana couldn’t keep pretending anymore that she came to a firm conclusion about her own queerness.
After this somewhat rocky start, of Diana not knowing if she wanted to come out or not, of the two of them not knowing if they could even stay together if she did, they come to an acceptance that Diana is a trans woman, and that Sara is bisexual, and that their love and relationship would continue.
From here the book covers a lot of the things that you would expect: Diana beginning to medically transition, having to come out to family and friends, having to deal with both open and veiled bigotry, and about finding the kind of person you always were meant to be. But again, this story also has Sara there, going through the same, supporting her partner, and dealing with those same issues. It’s rare to see a duel coming out story like this, and whilst much of the focus is on Diana and her journey the book never forgets to show you Sara’s perspective, and her feelings.
Sadly, as with most trans stories, the book has to deal with some dark things. Diana and Sara’s journey isn’t a smooth one at times, and bigotry does rear its head in Us. It can be hard to write about such things in a way that doesn’t feel full of doom and hopelessness, and talking about experiencing bigotry can easily bring the mood down because it’s an awful experience. But somehow Sara Soler has managed to make these moments not as bad as you’d expect.
Yes, they were painful to read at the time, in part due to having experienced the same and it bringing up those memories, and trans people being targeted by hate is an incredibly common occurrence (I’ve literally received messages on social media whilst writing this very article where I’ve been called a paedophile and a groomer just for being trans). But, thanks to Sara being there for Diana, and thanks to the way the book is presented, these moments are a fleeting speck of darkness in what is otherwise a wonderfully bright and hopeful narrative.
Sara isn’t just the writer of the book though, she’s also the artist. The art on Us is very, very pretty. The artwork on the front cover is absolutely gorgeous, but isn’t what you’re going to be getting throughout the book 100% of the time. There are several moments that have that style, but for the most part Sara uses a much simpler style, with stylised and cartoonish versions of characters. And this style works wonderfully for the story.
Thanks to the kinds of emotions running rampant during Sara and Diana’s story, it could be a lot less fun to draw in a more realistic way then you’re drawing yourself and your loved one in panic mode, going through fear and heartbreak. As such, the more stylised version means that it’s easy to convey these emotions without having to go deep into them. It also means that the flip side is easy to do too, and the moments of pure joy, the times of gender euphoria and love are represented in wonderfully fun and clear ways. And the moments when Sara and Diana break the fourth wall to talk to the reader directly feel right for the tone too. Plus, the colour palette of pink, white, and blue works perfectly too.
Us is the kind of book that brings me very mixed emotions when reading it. The lows feel really impactful, the moments that remind me of my own journey’s stumbles and pains hit hard, but it also means that the moments of happiness and joy grab me too. There’s a lot of love in the pages of this book, not just in how they were made, but in the people this story is about. Sara and Diana are a beautiful, wonderful couple.
Their love story isn’t just engaging, it’s inspiring. With so many people casting loved ones aside when they come out as trans, and with some women who leave their partners for being trans being so disgusting as to call themselves trans widows, seeing a story of such unconditional love, of such deep affection and caring for a trans person is the kind of story we all so desperately need right now.
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