Now that Hugo voting, and more importantly Hugo reading, is behind us, it’s past time for me to turn my attention to a recent anthology in another genre.
If you don’t follow my Bluesky thread where I track my annual reading, you might think of romance as being a bit of a departure for me. Until recently, it was! But my wife is a dedicated reader of contemporary romance in prose, and she encouraged me to explore the genre too. And it turns out it’s cool, smart, and fun, and I really like a lot of it? Who knew?!
(Yes, all romance readers, who’ve been trying to explain to the rest of us not to be snobs about the genre since forever, that’s who. Ahem. Let’s move on.)
In other words, I was more than ready to bring romance comics into the mix.
So when I received a review copy of a new anthology of gay male romance comics that, per the publicist, “…hearkens back to the days when romance comics topped the sales charts and it enlivens romance novel collections with a fun genre mix, all while joyfully celebrating Pride with its unambiguous focus on cis- and trans men in love by creators who know exactly how it feels.” …
Well, I was sold. So let’s have a look at Young Men In Love: New Romance!
(Note: This review contains spoilers!)
Young Men In Love: New Romance
Published by A Wave Blue World
Editors – Joe Glass, Matt Miner
Cover Artist – Ricardo Bessa
Creators – Greg Anderson Elysée, Chase Bluestone, David Booher, David Brame, Bradley Clayton, Joe Corallo, Josh Cornillon, Noah Dao, Al Ewing, Giopota, Joe Glass, David Hazan, Auguste Kanakis, DJ Kirkland, Konner Knudsen, Ilias Kryriazis, Xavier Lavagnino, Jarrett Melendez, Matt Miner, Anthony Oliveira, Patricio Oliver, Jacoby Salcedo, Hamish Steele, Daryl Toh, Josh Trujillo, Luciano Vecchio
GLAAD Media Award Winner-Outstanding Original Graphic Novel/Anthology
Ringo Award Winner-Best Anthology
Gayming Award Winner-Best LGBTQ Comic Book Moment
Hearts are aflutter as the swoon-worthy romance anthology returns with more superheroes, more demons, more monsters, and most importantly . . . more young men in love! This delightfully imaginative, palpitating, genre-spanning collection celebrates love between men in unexpected tales from some of the most talented creators in comics, who all know exactly how it feels.
Featuring stories and art from AL EWING, HAMISH STEELE, ANTHONY OLIVEIRA, JOSH TRUJILLO, LUCIANO VECCHIO, and many more, YOUNG MEN IN LOVE is a heartwarming, uplifting, and vibrant return to the glory days of romance comics!
This anthology, a follow-up to the previous Young Men In Love collection (which I haven’t read) is charming and fun throughout. Because it’s intended to be Safe For Work (and for teen readers) it’s also deliberately sweet throughout, rather than (in the parlance of the romance genre) spicy. There are kisses, and breathless declarations of love, but the protagonists mainly keep their clothes on.
The focus on new love means that most of the stories — which are mainly about meet cutes, first dates, cuddling, first kisses, and occasional early-relationship struggles and angst — are fundamentally happy and optimistic. And that’s, to be clear, excellent. Romance as a genre category foregrounds the happily-ever-after, but more importantly, while there’s never a bad time for stories that are optimistic and positive about gay love, this is probably a particularly good time for that kind of take.
art by David Brame
That being said, the mostly-upbeat tone makes the exceptions stand out all the more, with ‘How the Mighty Fell’, a mournful, elegiac retelling of the Biblical story of David and Jonathan written by Anthony Oliveira with art by Auguste Kanakis, emerging in powerful contrast as probably my favourite story in the collection.
There are, as advertised, a range of genres in Young Men In Love: New Romance, with slice of life, more traditional romance, superhero, and fantasy all strongly represented. There are also a perhaps surprising number of genre bait-and-switches — stories that seem to be of one genre, only to pivot part way through to surprise the reader.
Sometimes this works well, as with ‘Tyrone & Jamal: Date Night’ (written by Greg Anderson Elysée with art by David Brame), which starts off reading as a straightforward rom-com about a young Black man stressing about being late to his first date with his crush, only for us to learn that what has him running late is his duties as a Buffy-esque demon-slayer. Sometimes, it works… less well, as in ‘Final Boys’ (written by Matt Miner with art by Daryl Toh), which begins as a backstager set at a reality dating show — a now-classic setting in the contemporary romance genre — and then somehow turns into a slasher story? While staying a romance? But because of the overall tone of the anthology, there isn’t any blood or significant violence, so it doesn’t really work as a slasher story. And because of that, I assumed the whole thing was a set-up for a further reveal that what the protagonists think is a murder spree is fake, all part of the show, but that never happens and the story ends abruptly with the apparent killer approving of the new romance and just walking away. It’s a clever idea, but there are too many complications and too genres in too short a story for it to come together.
It seems as though every time I review an anthology, there’s a common thread not only to my praise of the individual contributions, but also to my criticisms, and that’s the case here too. In this case, the stories that make up Young Men In Love: New Romance are between eight and twelve pages, averaging about ten. And in comics, that’s not a lot of narrative real estate to introduce characters, present an engaging romance, and serve multiple genres in the same story. Several pieces, despite their merits, also feature hasty and insufficient world-building and/or infodumping and/or rushed endings that don’t quite hit.
That’s not universal, and to be clear, even the stories that don’t land perfectly are still entertaining. And others are superlative. Besides ‘How the Mighty Fell’, other standout contributions include the genuinely profound ‘Care’ (written by Josh Trujillo with art by DJ Kirkland) about a very new relationship suddenly and horribly complicated by a cancer diagnosis; ‘On That Grind’ (written by Jarrett Melendez, art by Jacoby Salcedo), a funny meet-cute about a barista who finds sparks flying with a new customer; and ‘Party of Three’ (written by Hamish Steele with art by Giopota), which interestingly is both one of the more effective fantasy stories — two adventurers are hoping to collect the bounty on an alleged rampaging troll so they can afford to get married — and the only one that explicitly centres non-monogamy.
The business of the comics industry, and how it might impact the books I review, is something I try to address only when it’s necessary. In this case it is, and for unfortunate reasons.
Mostly, you should buy Young Men In Love: New Romance because it’s good — it’s a smart, kind, upbeat book, and I think we need more like it. But also, it was distributed by Diamond Comics Distributors. As many readers will know, Diamond served as the distributor for many publishers of comics and TTRPGs until their recent bankruptcy, which was followed by a complicated series of legal battles over competing attempts to purchase the company. Unfortunately, Diamond is apparently attempting to address their financial shortfall in part by selling the stock they have on hand from a number of publishers without paying them for it, with potentially devastating impacts on a number of small publishers. All of which is to say, if you wanted to purchase Young Men In Love: New Romance, directly from the publisher A Wave Blue World, then please do. They could probably use the money.
This book isn’t without flaw, but it’s a fine anthology, and I’d like to see more like it. I recommend it.
Disclosures: I have no personal or professional relationship with the creators. The publisher provided me with a complimentary electronic copy of the graphic novel for review.
