Disclaimer: There are some spoilers about the show and the comic. There will also be vague mentions of figuring out sexuality and the struggles of mental illness.
Recently, Amanda and I (Jena) watched the first season of Heartstopper on Netflix, which is the live-action adaption of Alice Oseman’s graphic novel of the same name. It is an awesome LGBTQ+ show. We both love the diversity in terms of individual actors and the identities represented in the film.
However, when it comes to live-action adaptations, there will always be scenes from the original piece that are cut out or added to the show. There are moments when live-action adaptations make a show worse than what it originally was. Other times, the live-action adaptation is better or maybe on equal status with the original. Yet, as Amanda and I wrote this article together, we decided that it was not about which one is better than the other. That is more of a personal preference. We want to show why you should consume each version. Amanda will tell you more about why you should enjoy the show. I will let you know more about what to expect from the webcomics. They both are doing amazing things, and we know, based on the first season of the show and the original comic, that the upcoming season will be amazing.
- Watch the Show
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The show blends normal TV with the cuteness of animation that comes from the comics. What I mean by this is that when our main character, Charlie Spring, meets his love interest, Nick Nelson, there are two leaves that float around the two almost playfully before floating off the page. This is when, as the audience, you know something is going to happen between the two, and something does happen between them. Charlie is the very classic shy and nervous high schooler that is outed for being gay while being bullied, specifically by the person that he is in a secret relationship with. Nick, on the other hand, is more confident in who he is as the school rugby guy. However, when Nick meets Charlie, he has a moment of “gay panic,” as Charlie’s lock screen would call it. Overall, the show does an excellent job at depicting the difficulty of someone in high school trying to figure out their identity through Nick, who ultimately decided that he is bisexual. As the viewer, you are able to walk, almost hand in hand, with Nick as he tries to figure this out and the turmoil that he goes through with this. If you are someone that has gone through this, it makes Nick an extremely relatable character because, to a point, you can understand what he is going through.
The show also expands and focuses on Charlie’s friends, Tao, Elle, and Isaac. Overall, Isaac is not in the story much, and when he is, he says only a handful of things, but he’s always reading some book about the LBGT+ community. Personally, I’m hoping that the rumors of season two’s focus are not wrong because it is focusing on Isaac and his asexuality. However, with a recent dive into plots, it seems that this idea has fallen to the side in favor of how the school takes to Nick and Charlie’s relationship, but more prominently, it seems, how Tao and Elle are navigating their relationship.
And speaking of Tao and Elle’s relationship, this is something that you can tell is coming from almost the beginning interactions with Tao but is confirmed when the two are together for the first time. Tao, through most of the season, feels abandoned by everyone because Charlie is being sucked into the thought of Nick and Elle, Tao’s best friend transferred to the all-girls school. This abandonment, or sense of loss, is also shown with Elle since she is a new transfer to the all-girls school as a trans-female. She has no friends and finds it hard to try and make friends because she misses her friends back at Truham (the all-boys school). Also, the casting is done well for Elle since she is played by Yasmin Finney, an openly trans woman who gained popularity on TikTok speaking about her life as a black trans woman.
In my personal opinion, I recommend watching the show over reading the comic because it feels like the plot moves along quickly without rushing it and dropping out any important details. I also tried to read the comic but found the chapter sections to be too short, and as though I was spreading through the sections, I wasn’t progressing in the story at any speed. But also, with the sections being so short and continuously having to click to the next section, it became more annoying to me, and it lost my attention. The show, since it is one fluid episode, kept me engaged with how the story is progressing. And I’m going to be honest, the soundtrack slaps for the show. Even for someone who doesn’t listen to pop music, I found myself recognizing most of the songs.
First Date Hello GIF - Read the Comic
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Sorry, no British accents here. However, if you like the little doodles and aesthetic of the show, you can thank the graphic novel by Alice Oseman. This is a must-read, in my opinion, if you are watching the show. Now that the first season is out, I know lovers of the show must be starving for more. If you have not started the webcomic, this is the best opportunity to do so!
There are benefits to reading a comic. I am not saying shows cannot do this, but the show has some limits. The show has to consider their audience and their attention span. This comic has been going on for quite a while, and it works because the pacing is different. Amanda does not like this, but the chapters on the online comic strips are shorter, which means you have little sections to work through. This helps me section out my reading a little bit better, unlike a show where it might be harder to find a place to break. Moreover, if you look at Alice Oseman’s works, Oseman has created a universe within her own books. You will see characters from one book in her other books.
The webcomic is amazing because you get little short stories that do not exist within the television show. These short stories are either stories in the future of the characters’ timelines or are alternate universe stories of the characters. These are unique ways of interacting with the characters and their personalities. Also, the show is missing a character. In the show, you might be familiar with the character Isaac Henderson. You see him holding books in the show related to asexuality. However, Isaac is a show-only character. He replaces Aled Last, who is a character in Osemen’s Radio Silence. Aled is seen within the webcomic, and like Isaac, he is quiet and sometimes keeps to himself. However, Aled’s character is not asexual, so it will be exciting to see how the show develops Isaac’s storyline arc.
The webcomic is also further beyond the story than the show. Readers of the comic already have a sense of what may happen during the second season. This is where spoilers begin. I will try not to spoil too much, but the webcomic does a better job of hinting at mental illnesses present within characters. We, as the audience, get more confirmation about what it is as we read later chapters. If you do read the comic, Oseman is really great about trigger warnings though!
I see more emphasis on Charlie and Nick’s relationship for sure in the webcomics. It is so sweet, and you get so much more insight into their families. While I watched the show, I noticed they are trying to develop multiple character arcs at the same time besides just Charlie and Nick’s story. That might make it harder to also focus on specific characters’ mental health since there would be too much going on. We don’t get the parallel scenes between Nick and Tara, who are coming to terms with their sexuality and trying to come out at their own pace. They even added more to Tao’s frustrations, but at the same time, they neglected to explain some of the deeper reasons for his overprotective attitude towards Charlie as they did in the book.
Graphic Novel Reading GIF By HannahWitton
As we said, this is not meant to bash either version. We want to highlight what makes this story amazing. The show and the webcomic do so much to represent different sexualities and mental illnesses. Nevertheless, the love story between Charlie and Nick is so sweet that both versions are worthwhile to enjoy. Happy viewing and happy reading!