Comics Will Break Your Heart

December 15, 2018
Two heirs to a comics franchise find love and low-stakes drama in a small Nova Scotia town.Quiet Miriam works in a down-and-out comic-book store to save money for college. Cute rebel Weldon walks in one day and buys a painting depicting the Marvel-esque TomorrowMen. Awkward sparks fizz between them, but it's soon revealed that they're the heirs to a years-old family dispute. Miriam's grandfather helped create the TomorrowMen but signed a bad contract with his co-creator--Weldon's grandfather. The two men spent the rest of their lives in a legal battle over the rights to their characters, which eventually resulted in Weldon's father's taking the creative helm and Miriam's mother's accepting a settlement. Even though the issue is largely settled, both teens still feel the need to exorcise their family demons, at least long enough to delay their happy ending for a few hundred pages. The family drama and resulting tension between Miriam and Weldon never feel substantial, with little risk involved for either of them; misunderstandings work mostly to beef up the plot and are tritely brushed aside in an underwhelming climax at Comic-Con. All major characters are white. The narration feels flat and strained throughout, with none of the rich color and movement that explodes out of the superhero genre that provides this story's backdrop. Read a comic instead. (Romance. 12-15)

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Starred review from March 1, 2019

Gr 7 Up-When Miriam meets Weldon in the bookstore where she works, it seems like the beginning of a relationship that was meant to happen. They are smart, have similar senses of humor, and are both fans of the TomorrowMen comics. But their grandfathers cocreated the TomorrowMen, and after they split apart, their families spent decades resenting each other. Now Weldon is the heir to a fortune, while Miriam's family is just scraping by. Miriam thinks that a romance between them is impossible, but little by little Weldon starts wearing down her resistance. Over the course of the narrative, she reexamines her feelings about her friends, her family, Weldon, and herself in order to find closure with the past and embrace happiness. Readers will enjoy watching this flawed and conflicted character evolve, and they will be glad that she has a support system around her to help her deal with her grief and anger. This is Hicks's first prose novel, but like her previous graphic novels, it tells a tale that is filled with humor and heart. VERDICT For fans of realistic fiction, family problems, all-too-human characters, and star-crossed love stories. A must-have.-Andrea Lipinski, New York Public Library

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2019
Grades 7-10 Before TomorrowMen was a megapopular comics series about to become a feature film, it was a tiny strip cocreated by Miriam's grandfather. But for Mir's family, the TomorrowMen are a thing of the past. Her grandfather, in a bad but legal deal, signed away his rights to his cocreation before it ever got big. Mir lives in a tiny Canadian town, works at a failing comics store, and wonders how she'll ever afford college. Then a boy comes in while she's working. He's cute, and he likes Mir's mother's artwork, but there's one huge problem, and that's his name, �Weldon Warrick?as in Warrick Studios, makers of the TomorrowMen movie. As in Joseph Warrick, Mir's grandfather's old partner, progenitor of the family that stole everything from hers. Graphic novelist Hicks makes her YA fiction debut with this charming novel that celebrates nerd culture and family loyalty. The sweet though somewhat standard romance plot is elevated by thoughtful characterizations, and the plentiful references to comics and conventions will delight fans new and old.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)