Alice Oseman has always been an author on my radar, but i’ve only really got involved with her novels and other works in the last year or so. I put a tweet out quite some time ago now, asking for comic or graphic novel recommendations, and someone told me about Heartstopper.
Heartstopper started out as a free online webcomic series by popular YA author Alice Oseman. She started this project based on two of her characters and their backstory of them getting together. I checked out a little bit of it online (i struggle to read online) so figured i’d dip in and out of it every so often. Luckily for me, Alice announced a Kickstarter for the first volume of the Heartstopper graphic novel. I jumped at the chance to back it and grab a physical copy of this story.
A few months later, it arrived through my door and i started reading right away. Talking about the Kickstarter edition solely, it’s absolutely stunning. Alice herself has written, designed, drawn and pretty much made the entire book herself. I cannot believe one person has the capability of doing that to start with. I’m incredibly impressed with the quality of it and how lovely the artwork is.
The first thing i noticed about this graphic novel was that i absolutely adored the artwork. Alice draws absolutely wonderful characters that are fun and quirky. Her artwork is simplistic but detailed and really nice to follow scene to scene. To have a whole book of her artwork makes me very happy. It takes a lot for me to love a comic artwork and i definitely fell in love with this instantly.
Also the story of Heartstopper is absolutely excellent. The story follows Rugby boys Charlie and Nick as they figure out their relationship and what falling in love with each other means. It’s filled with so many lovely moments and it is complete and pure fluff. It’s such a comfort read and makes me so happy. I think that’s the general feel for the series with everyone. I think you have to read it for yourself to really appreciate the story of it. But Alice has some wonderful themes in this graphic novel and also has great LGBTQ+ representation.
Thankfully, her Heartstopper series has been picked up for the first two volumes to be published in 2019. I cannot wait for this series to spread and more people to know about Alice and her work. It’s truly special and i’m so happy i was introduced to this. Make sure to check the first and second volume out when they’re released!
The Little Contemporary Corner 