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Abby Denson

Tough Love: High School Confidential Paperback – June 13, 2006

by Abby Denson (Author)

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"Abby Denson's teen romance has the simplicity and heart of a secret love note on lined composition paper."—Howard Cruse

"Abby Denson is a pioneer . . . doing something that few others have even thought of doing."—Manga News

Inspired by shounen-ai manga—melodramatic Japanese comics by girls about gay boys—Tough Love is a teen romance and coming-out story about a shy boy named Brian. More realistic than Japanese manga, this story centers on the relationships Brian develops with the boy he likes, Chris, and Julie, the girl who befriends him. Serious issues like gay bashing, suicide, and coming to terms with one's own sexual identity are depicted with an honest, gentle touch. Socially relevant, fun, immediately accessible, and a bit of a soap opera, Tough Love helps gay teenagers to be more comfortable with themselves and less troubled, especially when they’re feeling alone and misunderstood.

Abby Denson has been drawing and writing comics for XY magazine since 1996. She has also scripted comics for The Powerpuff Girls, The Simpsons, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, Disney Adventures, and Nickelodeon magazine. She has a BFA in illustration from Parsons School of Design. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Print length

144 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Manic D Press, Inc.
Publication date

June 13, 2006
Dimensions

7 x 0.4 x 9 inches
ISBN-10

1933149086
ISBN-13

978-1933149080
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Derived from Japanese boys' love comics (yaoi/shonen-ai), this tells the story of Brian, a newcomer to his suburban high school, and his budding romance with Chris, a classmate. Denson substitutes reality for romance, confronting issues of adolescent homosexuality with a self-conscious sincerity. Often times, the boys are suspended between cold reality, as when the jocks in the school assault Brian, and bliss, when Chris and Brian are able to act as a couple. Denson's jagged illustration evokes a punk rock aesthetic that harkens back to the anti-establishment sentiment of adolescence. Unfortunately, true to adolescence, much of Tough Love is portrayed with an awkwardness that flattens intense moments of confrontation. For instance, in Brian's coming-out scene with his mother, she expresses disappointment but remains relatively unfazed. While Denson attempts a more realistic portrayal of teen homosexuality than is seen in Japanese comics, sometimes the real-life elements of the story feel the most fantastic. However, as the first book to combine the cute guys of yaoi manga with the American sensibility of gay pride, Tough Love becomes a shy, anxious testament to growing up gay in suburbia. (June)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Abby Denson lives in Brooklyn, NY. She has been drawing and writing comics for XY Magazine since 1996. She has also scripted comics for The Powerpuff Girls, The Simpsons, Sabrina the Teenage Witch, Josie and the Pussycats, Disney Adventures, and Nickelodeon Magazine. She has a BFA in Illustration from Parsons School of Design.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Manic D Press, Inc. (June 13, 2006)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 144 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1933149086
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1933149080
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 10.1 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.4 x 9 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #6,190,504 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #9,282 in LGBTQ+ Demographic Studies
- #20,645 in LGBTQ+ Genre Fiction (Books)
- #505,353 in Science Fiction & Fantasy (Books)

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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/

Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5

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Cary

Heartwarming and Entertaining!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 6, 2006

Verified Purchase

I don't generally read comic books; I bought this to donate to my local gay youth center. But then I read it myself and loved it so I bought my own copy. Despite the fact that it's centered around teens, it's got universal appeal (I am in my mid-forties and had no trouble relating). Looking forward to a sequel!

2 people found this helpful

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Caroline B.

I Love this in a Tough Way

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on February 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

This book is a masterpiece.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 19, 2015

Good book. Happy to have received it as a gift.

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David Alston

All in one volume at last!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on September 25, 2006

An old favorite 'zine - I collected the original run of this series in the 1990s - I was very happy to see it collected into this nice single volume.

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

One person found this helpful

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BStrong11

Awful. Absolutely awful.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on December 20, 2014

Awful. Absolutely awful.

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.

One person found this helpful

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J. Wehry

For teens of all ages...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on July 5, 2006

When I first picked up "Tough Love", I was curious about the title and cover art. But after thumbing through some pages I couldn't put the book down. It was like watching a well-crafted soap opera. I had to find out what happened next.

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.

4 people found this helpful

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Russ Turk

YOU MUST GET THIS AWESOME BOOK!

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 16, 2006

TOUGH LOVE is the best! best! best! Graphic Novel I have ever read in my entire life.

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!!!!!!!!!

2 people found this helpful

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