Colossal

Gr 9 Up–High schooler Jade, the daughter of a cash-poor but aristocratic French family, is on the lookout for an auspicious matchup to help turn the family’s fortunes around. But her heart is truly in powerlifting. Working out in a secret gym in an unused room in the mansion’s basement and sneaking out to lift with professional trainers, Jade is not trying to lose weight. She just wants to build bigger muscles and feel strong. Everything is complicated by her deepening crush on hunky Alexander, the slightly older equine-obsessed groom from the stables of wealthy arriviste Eloise. The current volume, initially a popular webtoon, closes with a first date, at a horse show, naturally, setting up a sequel. Truc’s page designs can be provocative and often complex, with sparse use of muted color and mangalike layouts incorporating shifts in perspective, sudden closeups, and overlapping panels. Rutile, a native of Mauritius, is the author of more than a dozen comics in France.