Episode 017: Heartstopper
“Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they’ve never met … until one day when they’re made to sit together. They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn’t think he has a chance.
But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more than interested in Charlie than either of them realised.”
Oseman originally started this comic by publishing it as a webcomic on Tumblr and Tapas in September of 2016 before launching a Kickstarter campaign in June 2018 to help fund the publishing of a physical copy of the comic series.
This week we are reviewing “Heartstopper” by Alice Oseman, a comic about two teenagers meeting at a British grammar school, quickly becoming friends and falling in love. I wanted us to look at something dealing with figuring out “Am I bi?” and showing it in a very healthy way since September was all about bisexual awareness. And this podcast will never stand for bi-erasure!
You can either listen to the podcast above, or you can read below for a majority of the transcript of the podcast! Now as always, our discussion will begin with a brief summary of the comic followed by spoiler free thoughts and feelings. This will be followed by an in-depth discussion of some of the key plot points that occurred and we will then finish off with my overall rating of the comic and a heads up about what we are looking at next time. If you have not had a chance to read Heartstopper and don’t want to hear any spoilers, then please feel free to skip the detailed section and listen to it afterwards if you so wish.
For this review, I have read the four available volumes of the comic at the time, which covers the story up to chapter 6. The fifth and final volume is due to be released in February 2023. On top of this, there are two short novellas that take place at various places within and after the story told via the comic series.
The key characters of Charlie and Nick first appeared in Oseman’s debut novel Solitaire as supporting characters, with the author saying she “fell in love” with the characters while writing that novel and really wanted to explore their story. Initially planned as a novel, they realised that the story would work more episodically and so it transformed into the graphic novel / webcomic format we now have before us.
The characters in the story all do feel like believable teenagers, with traits such as staying up late to message each other, feeling unsure of yourself around your crush, and not knowing who you fully are yet. And I know that some comments have been raised around how Nick and Charlie feel fairly sex-less and that this isn’t normal of teenagers, but guess what? It actually is for some! Not every teenager is jumping into bed any chance they get, especially when still discovering one's sexuality, and so for me it was really refreshing to see teenagers that weren’t your stereotypical portrayal.
When I first started reading this comic, I will admit that I was maybe being a bit of a snob when it came to the art style and felt slightly apprehensive when I cracked open the first volume as it maybe wasn’t a style of illustration I was used to reading. However once I did start reading the story, the art style did grow on me and I got over my prudish idea of what a comic should be presented as. And I am glad I did as Oseman does play about with how to present the story and uses the panel set up in interesting ways along with what details need to be focused on in some of the panels.
In terms of representation, I think the comic does manage to give us a variety of LGBTQ+ experiences for teens, whether that is being in the closet as your not yet ready to be out, whether you're not willing to be out and instead cheat on your partner, or are out but have been subject to being bullied for it. At the heart of the story, it really helps show that coming out is not easy for everyone and it's a very personal journey with its ups and downs. And on top of this we get to have representation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transexual characters, giving us the first four letters of LGBTQ+.
Lastly, each of the comic volumes doesn’t just contain the story of Nick and Charlie, but they also have a bunch of little bonuses for the reader. From uniform breakdowns of some characters, to mixtape playlists from Charlie to Nick, to even diary entries from the two boys or even character sheets to give you a quick overview of our main players. There are even some mini-comics dealing with side characters, such as when Darcy and Tara finally get together, to Mr Ajayi and Mr Farouk doing coupley things together.
Final Feelings and Recommendation
Who would I recommend this to? Well bloody everyone! It's a really sweet boy meets boy story that has some serious issues that are addressed, so the only reason for not picking this up is if you hate comic formats, and even then I encourage you to give it a try!
Overall, I would give this comic a solid 10 out of 10! It is such a lovely, heart filled comic that details such a wonderfully positive boy meets boy story while also addressing several serious issues.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Now, just a reminder that at this point, I will be going into a more detailed analysis of the comic which means there will be spoilers! If you haven’t managed to read Heartstopper yet and you don’t want anything spoiled, then this is your last chance to avoid the discussion. Or you can go ahead and close the page, go read the comic and then come back afterwards to finish reading. I promise I won’t mind. Still here? Well then, don’t say I didn’t warn you.
The comic starts us off with Charlie meeting up with Ben, someone who is willing to make out with Charlie before school but hasn’t come out and actually has a girlfriend. Charlie is quite mature, understanding that he can’t be mad at Ben for not coming out as he gets how it can be hard with how people will treat you, but he also realises his own self-worth and will decide to no longer be someone's dirty little secret once he spots Ben’s girlfriend with him.
So as Charlie starts a new form class, he is assigned to sit next to Nick and at first they are unsure around each other, but slowly they strike up a friendship with each other. At some point Nick spots that Charlie is quite the runner, and so invites him to join the rugby team. It’s an interesting position to be in since Charlie admits some of the older boys remind him of the people who used to bully him and Nick has to call out some people who are not sure about him coming along under the false belief that being gay makes you bad at sport. P.s. of course it fucking doesn’t.
The friendship grows closer after Nick also helps Charlie deal with Ben who is trying to force himself on him, and he even follows up that evening with checking Charlie is okay and offers an ear if he ever needs to talk. We then notice some head pets being given when arriving at school, and they arrange a day to hang at Nick's house one weekend. It is here we meet Nellie the dog, the real heartstopper of this series, such a cutie! They have a day of playing games and going out in the snow, and it finishes with Nick being sweet and letting Charlie borrow his hoodie since he is wet and cold.
It’s a great slow build up, with them starting off as friends and having these little moments that show how easy it can be sometimes for friendships to blossom into something more. This trend continues as they hang out at Charlies and end up sitting close to each other doing homework, wrestling with each other, and even falling asleep on the couch as they watch a film together. It is here Nick has a bit of the queer panic as he starts contemplating holding Charlies hand while he is asleep.
Now while Charlie may be aware he has a crush on a supposed ‘straight’ boy, and Nick is starting to ponder on who he actually likes, other people are not nearly as blind to what’s going on, which can sometimes be the case since outside eyes can read situations clearer sometimes. Tori, Charlie's older sister easily spots he has a crush on Nick and that Nick may not be as straight as people assume, while Tao calls his best friend out for fancying Nick as he is nervous and wants to make sure his friend doesn’t end up getting hurt again.
Some of Nick’s friends, specifically Christian, Otis, and Sai, do manage to work out that Nick has a crush on Charlie before he is aware of it due to how they act around each other and are supportive and make an effort to get to know Charlie. But they also have some stereotypical comments that get challenged by a teacher that overhears them since 1) You can’t tell someone's sexuality just by looking at them, 2) It’s not a nice thing to speculate about peoples sexuality cause it doesn’t matter to you, and 3) Gay and Straight are not the only bloody options available! Well said Mrs Singh!
Eventually the boys have a situation where Charlie is able to ask if Nick has a crush on anyone, where Nick playfully questions why Charlie assumes they would be a girl. Sufficed to say there is then the awkward gay panic, with Char asking if he would date or kiss someone who wasn’t a girl before finally going for broke and asking if Nick will kiss him. Their first kiss was so sweet and awkward, and you get the sense of them enjoying it as the background becomes more floral and elaborate.
Yet this then comes crashing down as Nick soon rushes out the room after someone is calling for him while Charlie is left feeling sorry and stupid for getting his hopes up. It’s a sleepless night for both of them, and Nick does take time to start searching online for how to work out if he is gay, with some of those infamous online quizzes and other forums. In the end though it's the classic romantic story of the boy showing up in the rain to talk to the other person, and they actually clear the air between them both, with Nick admitting he is just confused and needs time to figure things out and Charlie is so sweet and understanding, saying he doesn’t need to know right away, take your time figuring you out, and maybe you could be bisexual. Like everyone needs someone as lovely as Charlie in their life.
Once the boys figure out they like each other, things take on that typical rom-com sort of feel, with the weeks at school being the same as before but with more secret kisses. However they also fall foul to Charlie’s siblings walking in on them not once, but twice with Oliver the lil brother and Tori, but neither make a big deal about it. For the moment Nick isn’t confident enough to come out, and Charlie is so supportive of this and helps keep this secret until he is ready, and he does flag up the hypocrisy from society where if your straight you are never expected to announce it, but for some reason every LGBTQ+ person has to always tell the world. It is a very valid point that we should stop just assuming straight is the default and also stop expecting everyone to tell us things about them that honestly, we don’t need to know in our day to day lives.
When Nick comes out to his mother, she comes over and hugs him and thanks him for telling her. She even then says that she is sorry if she has ever made him feel that he couldn’t tell her this. I think it’s a very beautiful way for a parent to take on that information about their child without making it a major song and dance. There are instances before where she has commented on how much Nick seems like himself and happy with Charlie, but in this moment it is all about letting Nick feel heard and supporting him as he opens up about himself to her. Nick’s mom is a legend.
His brother David on the otherhand, is an arse about it and definetly gives us that perspective of having a homophobic family member always sniping away at you. His introduction is him being sceptical his brother is gay (he’s not, he is bi) and even invading his brothers privacy to find pictures of Charlie and him making out. He makes it even worse by lying about mum telling him about this which could have caused further tension in the family, and spends most of his time in the series being an utter prat about the boys relationship. But we do also see people call him out on this from his mom, to Tori kicking his phone into the wall, to Nick finally telling him to fuck off.
And on the topic of families, Charlie’s parents are supportive of their son which is great to see a positive family dynamic that supports their child, with us joining the story with him already being out with his family. And they are typical parents in that once Charlie does tell them about him and Nick being boyfriends, they tell him no more closed doors when he is around and no more sleepovers together, you know, reacting like typical parents who don’t want their kids having sex. And although things become tense with his mom over the story, she does eventually apologise for not trusting him more.
With characters dealing with the issue of coming out, we also have the character of Elle reminding us at one point of how the experience of LGBTQ+ people can differ country to country, highlighting that they have not seen their family in Egypt anymore since it is dangerous for them to be there as a trans person. Again it helps to show the different experiences we can all have as part of our coming out stories and how that can not always be the safest thing for us to do depending on location.
As well as the challenges of figuring out one’s sexuality and the difficulty of coming out to people around us, the comic also focuses on the difficulties of having an eating disorder. Oseman skillfully crafts this into the story where it's not explicit at first but over time as we progress into the story it becomes more obvious until it is called out and becomes a focus.
Nick is so supportive but also shows us how hard it can be for one person to support someone they love through illness, and his mom is a voice of wisdom saying that “sometimes love is knowing a person needs more than one person to support them”. Eventually it does get to the point where Charlie needs to go to a psychiatric hospital, due to his eating habits getting worse, skipping school, and even having a self-harm relapse. And when Charlie is out, he is clear it's a step in the journey and things like these are not just magically fixed for good, there will be good days and bad days. And I really appreciate the author being very realistic and sensitive in their portrayal of dealing with an eating disorder.
And just before I wrap up, cause there is so much to talk about in this series, I also just want to shout-out the following:
Tori is a legend of an older sister, not just with her ability to appear out of nowhere but she is a supportive and loving sibling such as when Charlie tells her he has fallen for a straight boy and she just hugs him.
Aled is such a good friend who just seems to know everything and is so supportive of his friends no matter what.
Darcy not getting along with her family really helps show that you never actually know what’s going on in people's lives, so just be nice to people.
Charlie telling Harry that he shouldn’t need to forgive him for making his life hell and well done for realising that gay people are real people, damn right!
The trip to Paris and all the things covered there, c’etait parfait!