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Tough Love: High School Confidential Kindle & comiXology
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherNorthwest Press
- Publication dateFebruary 4, 2015
- File size165481 KB
- Due to its large file size, this book may take longer to download
- Read this book on comiXology. Learn more
Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
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About the Author
Product details
- ASIN : B09FPBVY5Y
- Publisher : Northwest Press (February 4, 2015)
- Publication date : February 4, 2015
- Language : English
- File size : 165481 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Not enabled
- Enhanced typesetting : Not Enabled
- X-Ray : Not Enabled
- Word Wise : Not Enabled
- Sticky notes : Not Enabled
- Print length : 147 pages
- Best Sellers Rank: #4,251,364 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #3,923 in School Life Manga
- #82,267 in Manga Comics & Graphic Novels
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Abby Denson is the author of Kitty Sweet Tooth (illustrated by Utomaru), Cool Tokyo Guide (which garnered an IPPY Award), Cool Japan Guide, Dolltopia (which garnered an International Manga Award and a Moonbeam Children's Book Award), and Tough Love: High School Confidential, which was originally serialized in XY Magazine. She has scripted comics for Amazing Spider-Man Family, Powerpuff Girls Comics, Simpsons Comics, Sabrina The Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, Disney Adventures, and many others. She has taught and lectured at various venues including the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art, Eugene Lang College at The New School, and Sophia University in Tokyo.
https://www.abbydenson.com/
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The high-school romance (which had me laughing out loud and in tears) is expressed by deceptively simple black and white illustrations. At first glance, the drawings look like a student's handiwork made during a lecture and Ms. Denson's easy, honest style fits the book's subject perfectly - it is playful, engaging and powerful. (Where else do you get to see a Kung Fu jump kick stop a gay-bashing?)
But as you continue reading, you realize the illustrations are more like a well-crafted storyboard for a Hitchcock movie: each picture tells exactly what needs to be said. Anything more would look contrived and anything less would leave you wanting. Kudos to Denson for being able to strike that balance. It takes skill to trust your story, your drawings and your readers.
I was also impressed by the integrity of putting in a resource section for teenagers who need help. Abby Denson's "Tough Love" not only illustrates the problem, but offers some solutions. If only all comic book "heroes" were as brave.
Such a great story,great characters, and the artwork is FABOO!!!
Ever since the comic was published in strip form in XY magazine in the 1990s, the characters of TOUGH LOVE have touched my heart, and I myself have lived vicariously through their gay high school dramas.
Abby Denson is a GODDESS!!!
TOUGH LOVE forever!!!!!!!!!
Before you draw down upon me with the boiling tar and goose-feathers, please understand that my review of this book is in no way related to the subject matter. Rather, it’s what was done with the subject matter that I take issue with. However if you would label me a close-minded, hate-filled, bible-thumpist at this point, you’re not likely to enjoy what follows. In my research on this book, I’ve seen overwhelmingly positive feedback for this story, and I felt some objective criticism was in order even at the risk of my good name.
The story, while no longer as novel as it was when first-printed, takes a deep, meaningful concept and thoroughly ruins it. Real issues that would face a 16 year old boy unsure of his sexuality, and later unsure of how it will be received, are treated with all the weight and concern of wondering whether or not there will be pizza at lunch. While conflict is present, it seems to change multiple times so that a real resolution cannot be fully attained, nor understood. The entire story plays-out more like the crib-notes to a season of a cartoon show, rather than a purposeful, thoughtful story.
The plot focuses on 16 year-old Brian who is annoyed with his high school in the suburbs and his inability to get a date with a girl. I know all this, because Brian’s exposition is forced down my throat within the first four panels. I know little else about Brian though, because there is no more explanation on his background beyond trivialities like his father frequently working away from home, and that he has a mother. Character development ends up being especially easy from here on, because there is so little to Brian to begin with. Other people are treated as mere plot-devices and have all the depth of a soup spoon. The story takes the traditional Freytag dramatic structure, and turns it on its head…by ignoring it completely. Exposition comes in short, fast bursts that answer few questions and create more. The rising action is difficult to pin-down through the multiple disjointed plots. The climax is non-existent, and the story ends (in a confusingly brief epilogue) just before the resolution. The story is simply unfinished, like it had gone from early outline straight to final draft. The artwork of Tough Love helps to reinforce this quality.
The book as-a-whole falls apart primarily on the merit of its artwork. Simple is not a good enough descriptor and the author having been influenced by Japanese shounen-ai comics is painfully obvious. It would have been better, I feel, to have stuck to the fluff and fan-service rather than try to force a social statement here. The style, which is often touted as artistic, is really just severely flawed. Consistency has been thrown out completely, as characters frequently change height from panel to panel. Character poses are excessively unnatural, and character design seems very limited (with a young boy and a middle-aged woman being nearly indistinguishable). Backgrounds are rushed, if not forgotten altogether, and anything that is not of immediate importance to the plot is rendered as a mere doodle. Page 32 shows background characters as stick figures. Finally, the layout of the pages is uniform almost throughout, with six hand-drawn panels per page. It seems to me that the author may have decided to mass-produce 6-panel ‘blanks’ for an hour so as to streamline the project, and it shows. In many pages, usually in the last or second-to-last panel, there are large blocks of text that seem very out of place. It’s as though the author was running out of room, but wasn’t able to widen the panel.
I can only speculate as to how this level of art was green-lit for publication by a company with more than twenty years experience. But given that it was originally published in XY Magazine in 1996, why was there no effort made to update the visuals for a professionally published book? The visuals and story-telling are unpolished at best, but more often are flat-out awkward. Had this been the culminating assignment for a 5th grade student, I would applaud their efforts. However, the author was at least 18 at first-publishing and 28 by the time the book was released in 2006.
As many have pointed out, the book is meant for teens and not adults. This I can understand. But I’ve always had a problem with those who seem to believe that children, and younger teenagers need to be talked-down to or sheltered, lest they become confused or upset. There are several examples of work that is produced for children, but does not choose to dumb-things-down for their sake. The films of Don Bluth come to mind, and even examples in the same medium. For those looking for a deep, detailed narrative for teens, I recommend;
-Anya’s Ghost by Vera Brosgol
-Friends with Boys by Faith Erin Hicks
And
-a+e 4ever by Ilike Merey
(a+e 4ever happens to be a Stonewall Book Award winner.)
The fact of the matter is this. Just as there are good books written about bad or trivial subjects, so too are there bad books written on important subjects. While it could potentially fill a spot in the coming of age gay niche, and could genuinely help young men and women who are confused about themselves, it’s important to know when to call a spade a spade. The book is bad. It was written poorly, drawn without effort, and should never have been published outside of XY Magazine.
That said,
Tough Love is a MUST READ. Everything above I have written still stands. I meant every word. But what Tough Love does, is come full-circle, becoming quite possibly the most unintentionally hilarious book ever published. Where it falls, it falls flat on its face, but I have yet to find a book as entertaining as this. I dare to say that this is the Plan 9 from Outer Space of graphic novels, and I whole-heartedly recommend it. Much like the film, it is best enjoyed with others, so bring a friend along for the ride. I insist.
I await your tar and feathers.
Re-reading through - it's just as fresh today as it was then - Denson is a great, straightforward storyteller, and though you can see at least some of the influences (yaoi), she really has a style of here own; reality is dealt with with a nice directness, though the sense of romance is sweet enough to give the entire series a nice, fable-like charm.
Anyone not already familiar would do well to check this very charming and creative work out.
-David Alston