Heartstopper: Volume One: 06/13/22

Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman is the webcomic in print. Originally it was printed through a Kickstarter campaign and later republished by Hodder Children's books in the UK and Graphix in the United States.

Charlie is a year ten student at an all boys school. He's openly gay but in an awkward relationship with a boy who also has a girl friend. Nick is the softie on the rugby team. The two meet when they're sat next to each other in a class and Nick's fountain pen explodes all over his hands.

There's chemistry and more importantly, friendship, from the get-go. Soon they're finding all sorts of reasons to hang out. Charlie joins the rugby team. Charlie's friends begin to worry that he's going to get hurt again.

This first volume is mostly about introducing characters. If you've seen the Netflix adaptation there are characters, mostly family members, that were cut from the show. Charlie has a younger brother, for instance, who adds to the chaos of his home life.

There's also time to set up the world and build up the tension. Everything comes to a head at the end of the volume, leaving things uneasy and unresolved to start off volume 2.

Mostly, though, this is a sweet, funny, realistic high school romance. It's like the Georgia Nicholson series but with Charlie replacing Georgia.

The second volume was released in 2019.

Five stars

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