Nothing breaks like a… comic?

This world can hurt you, it cuts you deep and leaves a scar.

Things fall apart, but nothing breaks like a… comic!

Faith Erin Hicks’s debut novel is here just in time for the start of warmer weather, and it will make for a fun beach read.

Prior to Comics Will Break Your Heart, Erin has been writing and drawing original graphic novels for over ten years. Her next graphic novel, Pumpkinheads, is a collaboration with writer Rainbow Rowell.

Comics Will Break Your Heart

CWBYH is a dual narrative- it jumps back and forth between the perspectives of Miriam Kendrick and Weldon Warrick. At the start of the book, the sole thing they have in common is The TomorrowMen, a superhero comic co-created by their grandfathers. Weldon’s family benefits financially from TomorrowMen merchandise and from an upcoming movie based on the comics. However, Miriam’s family doesn’t see a cent of the profits. This fateful legal battle ended years ago, shortly after the death of Miriam’s grandfather.

Out of the surviving family members, only Miriam herself and Weldon’s Mother are holding onto any ill will. Wait what? Weldon’s family won, right? Well… they have their reasons to be a little bitter. As for Miriam, she’s starting to think about college, so it’s natural that she would worry about loans and then dream of what she could do with heaps of TomorrowMen merch money.

Weldon’s dad has sent him to his aunt and uncle in the small Canadian town of Stamford for the summer. If he stays out of trouble, he will get to join his dad at San Diego Comic-Con’s TomorrowMen panel. Weldon tries to lay low and mind his own business, but that’s a lonely way to live. He’s pretty excited to meet Miriam, an interesting girl his own age, with common interests. Like The TomorrowMen. It doesn’t take Miriam long to catch on to their shared history and, once she does, she thinks she’ll be done with him.

Miriam probably would have had her way if her family hadn’t bumped into Weldon at the park and if her mom hadn’t insisted on inviting him to dinner. It’s at this dinner, after some initial urging from her mom, that the two become friends. There are some underlying feelings of romantic attraction, though they aren’t explored until later on. Weldon simply wants to know Miriam better and even asks if she’s okay with that- things start off slow and sweet.

By the end of their summer, Miriam and Weldon learn similar lessons that spoke to my core: there’s more to life than the where or the what. Your people are your home.

Thorough details like the steadfast support from Miriam’s family or the descriptions of life in small town Canada separate Comics Will Break Your Heart from the typical, crowded YA pool. If you’re looking for something a little different, inspired by modern geek culture, this is your next read.