• “A book so alive with possibilities that it makes my heart swell… Rhea’s own path to reckoning with their own gender and the emotional and physical milestones that mark this path, are presented here in parallel with a panoply of experiences from a broad swath of genders, lovingly collected, that glow with a sparkling visual and textual clarity…Thank you, Rhea, for this kaleidoscopic archive."

    —Bishakh Som, author of Spellbound: A Graphic Memoir, and Apsara Engine

  • “There’s great documentary power in Rhea Ewing’s collection of interviews on the question of what gender is. The respondents blow the inquiry wide open with their particular and varied voices, and Ewing’s own story provides an intimate through line. FINE is a significant and highly readable contribution to our understanding of the gender spectrum.”

    – Alison Bechdel, author of Fun Home here

  • ★ "Recommended for everyone who cares about better understanding the complicated, varied, gorgeous mess that is gender."

    -Sarah Rice, Booklist starred review

  • “Ewing's warm, kaleidoscopic debut blends an oral historian's active empathy with a memoirist's relentless search for meaning... I felt welcomed to this fiercely intelligent book, and I think readers of all genders will feel welcomed too."

    – Isaac Fellman, author of Dead Collections

  • “Fine is a valuable resource for anybody who has questioned their gender but was afraid to compare notes. Ewing infuses every interview with nuance, dignity, and respect for the stories being told.”

    – Blue Deliquanti, author of Across a Field of Starlight and O Human Star!

  • “It's a wonderful and ponderous thing to examine, and you have done it with such sensitivity and thought… I was very moved and given so much to consider. Thank you for your honestly and vulnerability, and for sharing so many of these perspectives. I think this book is going to help a lot of people who grapple with these concepts.”

    – Lucy Knisley, author of Kid Gloves, Relish, and Something New

  • “I was absolutely blown away by FINE... This book serves not only as an incredibly valuable resource to anyone who has ever examined their own relationship (or non-relationship) to gender, but a beautiful time-capsule of the way language and concepts around gender identity have shifted and changed even in such a comparatively short period. The way FINE moves back and forth through time using the interviews as anchor points evokes the fluidity of gender and identity in a way that is deeply comforting and resonant. Rhea, this book is fantastic and I can’t wait to share it with everyone I know.”

    — Leigh Pfeffer, Host & Producer of History is Gay podcast

  • "Rhea Ewing has done a masterful job of weaving their personal memoir with stories they collected from interviewing others about their experiences with gender identity, emphasizing the value of community and interpersonal connection in coming to a deeper understanding of one's own relationship to gender. The medium of comics brings these stories to life in a unique and engaging way, and fosters a deeper connection to the people depicted in this book."

    — Dylan Edwards, author of TRANSPOSES

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For fans of Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home and Meg-John Barker’s Queer, Fine is an essential graphic memoir about the intricacies of gender identity and expression. As Rhea Ewing neared college graduation in 2012, they became consumed by the question: What is gender? This obsession sparked a quest in their quiet Midwest town, where they anxiously approached both friends and strangers for interviews to turn into comics. A decade later, their project has exploded into a fantastical and informative portrait of a surprisingly vast community spread across the country. Questions such as How do you identify? invited deep and honest accounts of adolescence, taking hormones, changing pronouns—and how these experiences can differ depending on culture, race, and religion. Amidst beautifully rendered scenes emerges Ewing’s own visceral story growing up in rural Kentucky, grappling with their identity as a teenager, and ultimately finding themself through art—and by creating something this very fine.

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About

FINE: a comic about gender was the product of thousands of miles traveled, dozens of interviews conducted, and nearly a decade of work. Learn more about how FINE came to be.

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Resources

Looking for help? This page includes a hub of resources for health services, guides for allies, and emergency funds for transgender folks.

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Support the Community

Connect with the amazing projects and brilliant works of those who participated in the project.

“It's a wonderful and ponderous thing to examine… done with such sensitivity and thought.”

— Lucy Knisley