Ukazu says, a rising tide lifts all boats, including the S.S. Check, Please! She’s hopeful that the success of Heated Rivalry, as well as another queer romance graphic novel-turned-TV show Heartstopper, will make the dream of seeing her work onscreen into a reality: The book has been optioned for adaptation. — Vanity Fair
Check, Please! has been optioned for a film/television adaptation. A while ago, actually—and that’s lovely. Nevertheless, the vast majority of options do not become television because it takes a million things going right to get projects off the ground.
That being said.
Ahem.
Speaking of getting projects off the ground...
From when Bitty first stepped out into the rink at Faber, to when he kissed the ice at graduation, we've all been part of this fun, weird, magical world of Samwell hockey. But when I left the world of Samwell hockey, I left knowing Jack and Bitty's story was done. Bitty's journey as the first openly gay NCAA Division I hockey captain was done. We baked the last pie; we shut off the lights at the kegster; the story was complete.
…But as I looked around I realized, I had one more story to tell.
Which is why I'm thrilled to announce that a brand new volume of Check, Please! will be serialized in 2026. Dozens of new comics, exciting update drops, your favorite characters with brand new storylines, and characters you've yet to meet.
Hello, Internet Land—SMH is coming home.
This fifth year of Check, Please! will be filled with shenanigans, drama, hockey, pies, Haus parties, and a new message of acceptance that is near and dear to me. And it's been brewing over the last year and half! But with the latest boom in queer hockey stories, I figured, hey! ¯\(ツ)/¯ Here's another one to look forward to. :)
Marginalized athletes still face harmful bigotry, and for this reason, queer sports stories are more important than ever. I love Samwell hockey and how each of you has embraced this roster of athletes.
There's so much more to come.
Ngozi
🏒🥧❤️
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MORE NEWS? SURE:
I’ll be at Emerald City Comic Con 2026, and yes, I will be dropping exclusive details about Check, Please! Year Fived during my spotlight panel: Ngozi Ukazu - From Check, Please! to DC and Back! (Be there!)
Follow me on Patreon for behind-the-scenes on the making of Check, Please!: Year Five. I'm gonna livestream...a lot.
If only there were an original mm romance that you could read right now while you wait for more Year Five updates! Good news—John Rich & The Big Picture is very cute and laugh-out-loud funny and you can read it now, for free.
My latest graphic novel FLIP has made the best-of lists for the New York Public Library, the A.V. Club, Kirkus Books, School & Library Journal—and more. Get it here.
saw this wedding photographer’s post about a group of groomsmen who insisted on doing a first look photo shoot with the groom and honestly? big smh vibes
i love the concept of bitty absolutely demolishing the chirp game with his southernism insults and slowly the entire team keeps incorporating them into their gameplay. which just blindsides their opponents because the blending of canadian and southern insults is just too fucking cruel to handle
bitty: bless your heart, twenty four, you look like you fell out of the stupid tree and hit every branch on the way down!
holster: god love ya, bud. you’re as lost as a fart in a fan factory out there, three-two!
shitty: don’t piss on my leg and tell me it’s rainin 56 you know that was a dirty hit! try that again and i’ll check you so hard you’ll see tomorrow today!
ransom: nice one timer there, bud. bet you could throw yourself at the ground and miss!!
“tater you can come over for dinner, it’s fine - I didn’t know that you wanted to - no, really it’s fine just tell me when you’re free - I didn’t think you needed an invite-”
“nice goal, eh? that wasn’t sarcastic”
“he can say what he wants about me, it’s not going to make him better with a puck”
*to everyone he passes* “I’m mic’d up don’t say anything stupid”
*random french muttering*
“they’re all just using me for food”
*sees someone take a shot during training* “that was a good one. I really liked that one”
“does that guy even know how to play? someone should tell him”
*lets teammates on the bench beside him get halfway through a weird/embarrassing story within range of his mic* THEN “you know I’m mic’d up, right?”
This stupid cake, made with potatoes ... is delicious! It's so sweet, moist, and decadent, just like a brownie! And I don't even like chocolate or potatoes!
The recipe from the tiktok was pretty much impossible to find. I looked high and low, but everyone posted recipes that I KNOW he didn't use because the ingredients and methods were different. After some searching, my grandma and I came up with our own recipe.
For the Cake:
1 cup mashed potato
2 cups sour cream
1 3/4 cup flour
1 3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup softened butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
Pinch of salt
For the Drizzle:
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbsp corn syrup
2 tbsp water
A lot of recipes called for a mixer or a processor, but my grandma and I wanted to make an every-man kind of recipe, since we know not everyone has those things. Plus they're heavy and a pain to clean anyway, so bowls it is!
Instructions:
1. Peel and boil the potato, then mash it. Set aside to cool. Go to the bathroom, do your homework, then come back. That should be enough time.
2. Set oven to 350°F.
3. Cream butter. This means putting the sugar and butter into a bowl and mashing it together with a fork until it's thoroughly mixed.
3. Put everything else in the same bowl, including the mashed potato. Mix and stir well. Work those muscles!
4. Grease a pan (doesn't matter what kind you use) and spatula batter into pan. Even out if necessary.
5. Bake in oven for 40 minutes.
6. Test cake with pick. If nothing sticks, it's finished. If batter does stick to pick, let it bake a bit longer but make sure it doesn't burn. Remove and set aside to cool.
For the Drizzle:
1. Cut chocolate into tiny squares.
2. In a small pot, mix sugar, corn syrup, and water.
3. On medium heat, wait for mixture to sizzle and stir it. Do NOT let it boil.
ranking SMH members based on their ability to flirt
jack: 6/10 he doesn’t flirt that often, but when he does on purpose he absolutely nails it. however, his first instinct is to tell his crush to “eat more protein” in response to being flirted with, so he loses some points for being a jock over anything else.
shitty: 7/10 shitty is surprisingly smooth as fuck and is generally pretty good at flirting with people, except when actual feelings are involved. he gets a lot of points for confidence and charisma, but loses some because it took him 2-ish years to get his shit together about lardo.
holster: 2/10 as ransom once said, this man has no game whatsoever. he thinks that tv show based pick-up lines are cool and showing off how many eggs he can fit in his mouth is somehow attractive. he gets some bonus points for being 6′4
ransom: 9/10 this man just gets it. in complete opposite fashion of his d-man, ransom actually knows how to flirt and wink in a way that doesn’t look incredibly forced. plus that jawline? no words necessary to get the point across.
lardo: 9/10 although you might not expect it, lardo is smooth as fuck and is easily one of the best flirts on the team (her and ransom share tips and completely exploit their friendship with holster because he makes them look so much better by comparison). she doesn’t flirt often, but her beer pong skills somehow do the work for her. minus 1 point because she manages the hockey team (sorry lards).
bitty: 7/10 he has that sweet southern charm down to a science, but get some points docked since his confidence dropped after freshman year winter screw (rip). he gains some points back because he managed to seduce literal hockey robot jack zimmermann
chowder: 8/10 his genuine smiles make all of his flirting attempts land every single time (by junior year once his braces are off his score gets bumped up to a 9/10. farmer is one lucky lady)
nursey: 5/10 a surprising score, but nursey’s either on fire when it comes to flirting or completely cold. when he’s intentionally flirting, it’s a disaster (re: attempting to flirt on the ice and breaking his arm) but when he does it without thinking is when his natural charm shines through.
dex: 3/10 dex, by nature, is awkward as fuck. he doesn’t really flirt and when he does try it’s pretty stiff and he’s very unchill about it. he still ranks higher than holster because 1% of the time when he does nail it (re: sporting his sleeves rolled up, backwards snapback handyman look), he really nails it.
whiskey: 4/10 he gives off ‘bad boy’/mystery vibes so that usually helps in the flirting department, however he gets a lot of points docked because he’s cheated on his girlfriend and no matter how good of a flirt you are, that shit ain’t cool.
tango: 8/10 tango’s got wheels. (by the time his senior year rolls around, he’s a 10/10 on the flirt scale and it drives ford insane). for all the questions he asks, he’s also insanely observant and knows exactly what pickup line to use and when to wink that even ransom’s impressed. nursey has asked him for pointers. so has dex
ford: 6/10 ford doesn’t really use pick up lines when she flirts (gets some points docked cause she always uses the super cliche ones when she does use them) but her smiles manage to make the 3 people nearest to her swoon.
ellievsbear
romaincrisis
tangentwithtanner
origamiaround
