Fence by C.S. Pacat & Johanna the Mad follows the journey of underdog Nicholas Cox as he earns a coveted spot on the Kings Row fencing team. Unbeknown to his teammates and his rival/roommate Seiji Katayama, Nicholas is the illegitimate son of world-renowned fencer and Kings Row alum Robert Coste. Against all odds, Nicholas is driven to become a fencing legend to finally reclaim his place in the world from his half-brother and current champion Jesse Coste.
Why does fencing play such a big role in defining Nicholas’s identity?
One would think that Nicholas would want nothing to do with fencing. His father, the world-famous fencer Robert Coste, was nothing more than a deadbeat that left his mom and never recognized him as his son. While Nicholas grew up alone in poverty, his father doted on his legitimate son Jesse with all the opportunities money and status could afford. In spite all of this, however, Nicholas wanted desperately to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a fencer even from an early age. This might seem contradictory and even pointless for some, but it demonstrates the nuance behind Nicholas as a character. The seeming contradiction is explained when the real target of his resentment becomes clear.
Credit: C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente & Jim Campbell
A six-panel page.
First panel: An action shot of Nicholas and Seiji fencing, lunging at each other.
Nicholas (thinking): —He’s been chasing Jesse.
Second panel: A referee is making an announcement. The scoreboard in the background shows Seiji is winning 0-14.
Referee: Halt! Break for one minute!
Third panel: Nicholas takes his fencing mask off in frustration. His face is tense, teeth clenched and eyes wide. His lower lip is still scuffed from his fight with Seiji before.
Nicholas (thinking): It’s not fair. Jesse has everything.
Fourth panel: Nicholas, still pained with frustration, is seething in thought with an image behind him of Robert Coste patting Jesse Coste on the shoulder.
Nicholas (thinking): He’s always had everything. Fencing. Family.
Fifth panel: Nicholas turns toward Seiji, who’s on the opposite side of the fencing piste.
Nicholas (thinking): I’m not going to let him take Seiji, too.
Sixth panel: An action shot of Nicholas lunging and Seiji parrying.
Nicholas: I’m the one you’re fencing. Look at me.
Seiji: I know you can fence like him. Show me!
In chapter 10, Nicholas and Seiji engage in their fated rematch, but this time Nicholas is fighting for a position on the Kings Row fencing team. Making the team would secure his scholarship at the prestigious school as well as his journey to become a top fencer. Nicholas not only has to deal with that pressure, but also with the his frustration at Seiji not regarding him as a rival but simply a proxy of his half-brother Jesse. The panels above help clarify Nicholas’s paradoxic desire to fence, his well-founded resentment towards his father is actually depicted to be mostly targeted at Jesse because Nicholas considers himself just as worthy of receiving all of the privileges Jesse has, including Seiji’s respect and rivalry. However, Jesse’s mere existence robbed him of everything at every turn. This doesn’t mean that Nicholas doesn’t resent his father at all, but rather that by resenting Jesse due to him being the living proof of the life he was denied, he can shed a different light on his father.
Credit: C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente & Jim Campbell
A five-panel page.
First panel: A close-up of Nicholas, his mouth and eyes, with stars in them, are wide in amazement.
Nicholas: What is this place?
Second panel: A close-up of Aiden and Kally, they’re both smiling and welcoming.
Aiden: This is our clubhouse. Kings Row Fencers have been coming here since before any of us attended this school.
Kally: They passed the secret down to us, and now we’re passing it on to you.
Third panel: A close-up of Harvard as he continues the explanation with a small wave of his hand.
Harvard: We hang out here, but it’s also the place where we make our pledge to the team. We’re carrying on the tradition, just like you will with future fencers.
Fourth panel: Eugene is talking excitedly, fists balled up close to his chest.
Eugene: The fencing team pledge! It’s always been my dream to take part! I heard rumors about it every year...!
Fifth panel: Tanner is pointing with his thumb to a wooden beam behind him, carved with various initials.
Tanner: Once you’ve made the pledge, you carve your initials into the wood.
Credit: C.S. Pacat, Johanna the Mad, Joana LaFuente & Jim Campbell
A seven-panel page.
First panel: The team members are huddled together, with their right hands on an epée.
Harvard: Now repeat after me: I pledge to fence my best, honor my opponents—and stand with my teammates together as one.
Second panel: The team continues hundred together as before while they take their oath.
The team in unison: Together as one!
Third panel: A close-up of Harvard’s profiled face.
Harvard: Now carve your name.
Fourth panel: Nicholas and Harvard are seen from behind as they look at the beam carved with initials.
Nicholas (thinking): Everyone’s initials are here. T.R.... That’s Tanner. H.L. Harvard... and Aiden... Kally...
Harvard: F.J. was the captain when I was a freshman . I really looked up to him.
Fifth panel: A close-up of Nicholas’s left hand touching the initials R.C. on the beam.
Nicholas: And the first name... R.C.... Robert Coste?!
Harvard: That’s right. It might just be a legend, but they say he’s the one who discovered this place.
Sixth panel: A close-up of Nicholas’s face, lost in thought.
Nicholas (thinking): I made the team, just like my father did. And just like him...
Seventh panel: A close-up of the initials N.C, S.K., and E.L. carved on the beam.
Nicholas (thinking): ...I’m carving my name into the wood.
In chapter 12, after Nicholas makes the team, he is taken to the team’s clubhouse for his official initiation. It’s here where the figure of Robert Coste and what it means to Nicholas becomes even clearer. Robert Coste, the world-renowned fencer, is Nicholas’s destiny. If not by name, fencing is irrevocably in his blood; it is his connection to his father and his claim to who he is in the world. In his eyes, he is more Robert’s son than Jesse is since, through his own merit against all odds, he is the one following Robert’s footsteps by joining the same high school team his father belonged to. Unlike Jesse, Nicholas fences because it is an integral part of who he is, not because he was expected to.