{"id":34871,"date":"2026-02-04T17:44:32","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/?p=34871"},"modified":"2026-02-04T17:44:32","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T17:44:32","slug":"i-am-not-okay-with-this-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/2026\/02\/04\/i-am-not-okay-with-this-2\/","title":{"rendered":"I Am Not Okay with This"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\nBy Charles Forsman<\/strong> (Fantagraphics Books)
\nISBN: 978-1-68396-193-2 (FB PB) 978-0-57135-012-4 (Faber & Faber PB)<\/p>\n

PUBLIC SEVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: It\u2019s ten days until the big romance confluence. Start thinking now, don\u2019t think your significant other or intended likes just what you do – and for every god\u2019s sake don\u2019t \u201cshare\u201d drugs with them without informing them first!<\/em><\/p>\n

Teenage rites of passage are an evergreen source for dramatic material – and comedy too, if you\u2019re fortunate enough to survive the inescapable maturation process relatively unscathed and not too warped… especially when viewed from a bit of distance and with the right perspective. That said, it certainly seems that the problems faced get worse for each successive generation. I can remember my lot facing peer and parental pressure, sexual and\/or gender confusion, a war against conformity, political despair and general powerlessness, all while trying to stay sober enough to finish exams and ponder employment futures, but trolls and invisible bullies you can\u2019t escape or confront? No, thanks.<\/p>\n

Today\u2019s issues have a unique (devil\u2019s) advocate, however, in a brilliant cartoonist who combines keen insight, devilish imagination and an uncanny ear for dialogue to make stories it\u2019s impossible to not respond to, no matter your specific age or circumstance. Charles Forsman is a multi-award-winning graduate of Vermont\u2019s celebrated Center for Cartoon Studies, whose previous releases include Celebrated Summer<\/strong>, The End of the Fucking World<\/strong>, Hobo Mom<\/strong> and self-published minicomics such as Snake Oil<\/strong>, Revenger<\/strong> and Slasher<\/strong>. He\u2019s been sadly quiet of late but we live in hope…<\/p>\n

Subject to many printings and international editions, readily available digitally and the basis for an equally evocative – but by no means identical – TV adaptation, I Am Not Okay with This<\/strong> is rendered in a powerfully deceptive, underplayed cartoon primitivist manner which deviously disguises the fact that this yarn has the shock value and emotional impact of a chunk of concrete chucked through your windscreen from a motorway overpass.<\/p>\n

A tale for our times opens with troubled outsider Sydney<\/em> reluctantly complying with a school counsellor\u2019s urgings to start a journal to catalogue and confront her feelings. Syd is 15 and confused: she\u2019s so far from pretty, a poor student, and recently lost her war-veteran dad in a most unconventional manner.
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\nShe\u2019s fighting with her mom – who wastes all her time at her crappy waitressing job – and idiot little brother Liam<\/em>. Sydney\u2019s only friend Dina<\/em> is now ghosting her, having just discovered boys in the incomprehensibly form of vile jock Brad<\/em>. He wants to keep the freak away from his \u201cproperty\u201d and calls Syd a dyke. Maybe she is? So what?<\/p>\n

…And now – as if sexual confusion, family insecurity and disgusting body breakouts aren\u2019t enough – Syd discovers a hidden and uncontrollable ability to cause harm and destruction with her mind. She also thinks someone dark and dangerous is dogging her heels and knows all her secrets…
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\nSimilarities to the broader elements of Stephen King\u2019s epistolary landmark Carrie <\/strong>or Kazuya Kud? & Ryoichi Ikegami\u2019s Mai the Psychic Girl <\/strong>soon vanish here, however, as a progression of diary entries intimately expose a succession of poor decisions and relationship mistakes that reshape and transform Syd and everyone she knows. Sadly, the choices made by one lost soul are increasingly irredeemable. They will never get the chance to live down or move away from the events that soon overtake them all, bringing tragedy and disaster in their wake…<\/p>\n

Potent and moving, I Am Not Okay with This <\/strong>is a devastatingly affecting variation on a teen theme, and an unforgettable exploration of becoming human everyone with a heart and mind must read.
\n\u00a9 2018 Charles Forsman. This edition \u00a9 2018 Fantagraphics Books Inc. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n

Today in 1920 historical illustrator and comic book artist Fred<\/strong> (Superman<\/strong>, Tomahawk<\/strong>) Ray<\/strong> was born. In 1951 comics writer\/editor\/publisher\/sound Yorkshire son Dez Skinn<\/strong> arrived too.<\/p>\n

In 1957 Mel Lazarus<\/strong>\u2019 Miss Peach<\/strong> first appeared, just like Dik Browne<\/strong>\u2019s H\u00e4gar the Horrible <\/strong>did in 1973.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Charles Forsman (Fantagraphics Books) ISBN: 978-1-68396-193-2 (FB PB) 978-0-57135-012-4 (Faber & Faber PB) PUBLIC SEVICE ANNOUNCEMENT: It\u2019s ten days until the big romance confluence. Start thinking now, don\u2019t think your significant other or intended likes just what you do – and for every god\u2019s sake don\u2019t \u201cshare\u201d drugs with them without informing them first! … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “I Am Not Okay with This”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[66,215,148,123,254],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-34871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-horror-stories","category-lgbtqia","category-romance","category-tv-adaptations","category-young-adult"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4AFj-94r","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34876,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34871\/revisions\/34876"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.comicsreview.co.uk\/nowreadthis\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}