Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks
Miriam's family should be rich. After all, her grandfather was the co-creator of smash-hit comics series The TomorrowMen. But he sold his rights to the series to his co-creator in the 1960s for practically nothing, and now that's what Miriam has: practically nothing. And practically nothing to look forward to either-how can she afford college when her family can barely keep a roof above their heads? As if she didn't have enough to worry about, Miriam's life gets much more complicated when a cute boy shows up in town . . . and turns out to be the grandson of the man who defrauded Miriam's grandfather, and heir to the TomorrowMen fortune.
In her endearing debut novel, cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks pens a sensitive and funny Romeo and Juliet tale about modern romance, geek royalty, and what it takes to heal the long-festering scars of the past (Spoiler Alert: love).
I picked this book up for the cover, okay? It’s beautiful. And the premise sounded great. A girl who was cheated out of her grandfather’s comic book legacy bumps into the guy who stands to inherit the entire empire.
The issue is that the book doesn’t focus on the comics enough. In an effort to diversify its reach to non-nerds, the story has so many normal YA plot points that it becomes undistinguishable from every other novel. Instead of being a book about two people obsessed with superheroes, it’s about two people, one of whom is rich and the other is poor. There is no Rome-Juliet style family feud. In fact, both families seem eager to heal the wounds of the past, and no one stops Weldon and Miriam from hanging out.
In total, this book is mainly about Miriam, and her “coming of age” story, as she tries to figure out whether she wants to go to college (This was a nice change of pace because every single person I know has known they were going to college since they knew what college was). The majority of the book is her angst over leaving her friends behind if she ends up going to college, and moaning about how poor she is. There is really not that much going on for Weldon, except that he doesn’t want to go into comics like his dad, and … that’s really it. The thing is that he’s not under any kind of pressure to make a decision anytime soon, because he can afford to take his time and figure it out.
I have to admit, the small-town setting was written in a refreshing way. I can’t recall reading about a teenager who grew up in a small town and loves it, but still wants to go away and explore. Mostly all I hear is “the troubled adult who comes back to their small hometown to uncover secrets that have been long been buried and is forced to confront what happened on that night seventeen years ago” or something along those lines. As someone who’s happy with where they live, but aware that there is more to world, reading about Miriam’s sentiments toward Sanford was a welcome change of pace.
I came for a book about superhero nerds fighting a bitter conflict, but what I got was a bunch of college decision-making, which I’m already facing enough of in my day-to-day life. For such a wonderful premise (and title! and cover!) Comics Will Break Your Heart turned out to be a little disappointing. Although, it did fuel my desire to someday visit SDCC (San Diego Comic Con, for you fake nerds
In her endearing debut novel, cartoonist Faith Erin Hicks pens a sensitive and funny Romeo and Juliet tale about modern romance, geek royalty, and what it takes to heal the long-festering scars of the past (Spoiler Alert: love).
I picked this book up for the cover, okay? It’s beautiful. And the premise sounded great. A girl who was cheated out of her grandfather’s comic book legacy bumps into the guy who stands to inherit the entire empire.
The issue is that the book doesn’t focus on the comics enough. In an effort to diversify its reach to non-nerds, the story has so many normal YA plot points that it becomes undistinguishable from every other novel. Instead of being a book about two people obsessed with superheroes, it’s about two people, one of whom is rich and the other is poor. There is no Rome-Juliet style family feud. In fact, both families seem eager to heal the wounds of the past, and no one stops Weldon and Miriam from hanging out.
In total, this book is mainly about Miriam, and her “coming of age” story, as she tries to figure out whether she wants to go to college (This was a nice change of pace because every single person I know has known they were going to college since they knew what college was). The majority of the book is her angst over leaving her friends behind if she ends up going to college, and moaning about how poor she is. There is really not that much going on for Weldon, except that he doesn’t want to go into comics like his dad, and … that’s really it. The thing is that he’s not under any kind of pressure to make a decision anytime soon, because he can afford to take his time and figure it out.
I have to admit, the small-town setting was written in a refreshing way. I can’t recall reading about a teenager who grew up in a small town and loves it, but still wants to go away and explore. Mostly all I hear is “the troubled adult who comes back to their small hometown to uncover secrets that have been long been buried and is forced to confront what happened on that night seventeen years ago” or something along those lines. As someone who’s happy with where they live, but aware that there is more to world, reading about Miriam’s sentiments toward Sanford was a welcome change of pace.
I came for a book about superhero nerds fighting a bitter conflict, but what I got was a bunch of college decision-making, which I’m already facing enough of in my day-to-day life. For such a wonderful premise (and title! and cover!) Comics Will Break Your Heart turned out to be a little disappointing. Although, it did fuel my desire to someday visit SDCC (San Diego Comic Con, for you fake nerds
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