Comics Will Break Your Heart by Faith Erin Hicks

Summary from Goodreads:

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).

Review:

I was really excited for this one. I’ve enjoyed Hicks’ graphic novels. And after reading the summary for this book, I was excited enough to mark the book’s release in my calendar. I’ve become a bit of a comic geek over the years. And I’m certainly getting married to one too. Nick has hundreds, possibly thousands of comic books. I love all of the super hero movies, particularly the Marvel ones. And I grew up watching all of the animated tv series. Needless to say, this book spoke to me on a deep comic level.

Unfortunately, I think my expectations were too high. There were some really great elements to this book, but it just wasn’t enough for me. I have to say too that I started this book right before a long-lasting sinus infection. And it’s not the book’s fault that I struggled to read because of headaches. But, headache or no, it should never take me more than 2 weeks to read something…

I loved the idea for it all. I loved the drama of the lawsuit, and the rights to the story. There’s not many YA books today that tackle copyright issues, and I always find that stuff fascinating. I also loved the store Miriam worked in. I loved her weird parents and their attitude of letting things go.

I did not love Miriam. She was too wishy-washy for me. Sometimes she read like the teenager she was supposed to be, and sometimes she read way too young. I get that not all teenagers are the same, and some will come off as younger….but, it was enough of a problem for me that it took me out of the story, and confused me. Some of the girl’s thoughts and logic read more like that of a nine year old or ten year old. And adding to this, sex was never brought up. Miriam and Weldon have a bit of a whirlwind romance that’s just too innocent to be believable. Not that all teenagers are having or wanting sex…but, this felt more like first crush 10/11 year old territory…like chapters of debating whether or not hand holding was okay….

I also never fully understood Miriam’s attachment to her grandfather and what was due to him. Her parents didn’t feel this way, and they knew him. And clearly they were trying to teach Miriam to feel the same way. Miriam never met her grandfather, but talked about him like she did. She was also not a very materialistic person, so I can’t see missing out on the money as being her driving motivator.  I feel like all of this would have been drastically more believable if she had a relationship with her grandfather (even just as a young kid) that inspired her actions.

Also, not a lot happens, plot-wise, until the very end. And at the end, everything kind of seems to happen too easily. Weldon’s mother magically gets involved at just the right time. Miriam happens to meet the one person her boss wanted her to. She also just happens to get the one thing that makes the lawsuit seem okay…Too many things “just happen” to work out perfectly for my liking, especially after a full book of “what ifs?” and postponements of any decision making.

Also, do that many kids in Canada decide not to go to college? Miriam was the only one in her friend group going to college? That seemed strange. I get that money is a factor, but everyone I know has student loans or attended community college, or state schools…none of which were mentioned as possibilities for all of her friends.  Are Canada students not all driven to attend college, like we are here?

All in all, this book was a bit of a disappointment. The concept was there. There were a lot of interesting elements. These just didn’t outweigh the problems for me. I never liked the main character, who often seemed more like 10 or 11 year old, than a senior in high school. The romance was too innocent. Miriam’s motivations didn’t seem believable. And too much magically just worked out in the end. I give it a 6/10.