Heart Shaped Tears

by Abby Jame

In the age of the Anthropocene, girls are tired and jaded. And yet, they are the last reminders of glittering purity. Not dumb sexual purity, but light and love, laughing in beds, sneaking out like the most important thing in the entire world is on the other side of their driveway. They feel deeply; they express when they feel like it; they cry heart shaped tears.

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Graphic Novels Comics

108 pages, Hardcover

Published June 5, 2021

About the author

Abby Jame is a cartoonist and animator based out of NYC and LA.
In animation, she has worked at various projects for Adult Swim series Teenage Euthanasia, as creator and art director. In comics, she is best known for her graphic novels Heart Shaped Tears and Emotional Data published by Silver Sprocket.

Reviews

[Dave Schaafsma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Abby Jame is super smart in her loving and funny satirical send-up of new century life, principally seen through the eyes of “bad” and bored teen girls, pink hearts everywhere. Here’s a key to the humor: Abby Jame, it says on her website, “is heavily inspired by the crushing weight of existence, dying alone, and flavored chapsticks.”

Also, this image: A girl holds a heart-shaped pillow to her chest; on it reads “an asshole’s approval.”

So it’s all girly friendship at Apocalypse High (referencing Buffy), a blend of humor and pathos that could not exactly have been made any time but now.

So what, exactly, like, is it? Some short comics but mostly cartoons of bored girls saying things like this:
*Boys suck, it's so boring.
* I feel so many things that I feel nothing at all
*I am my only God
*I live to upset him
*I’m sorry what I did with your brother. I’m a Gemini rising and it makes me really slutty sometimes.

Reminds me a bit of Buffy, though more cynical, though Jame does love these girls, it’s end-of-the world, yeah, but let’d do our nails first stuff. With some aliens thrown in. And almost never do we actually see boys! But they text and talk about them quite a bit.

Read this now on Hoopla and I dare you to say it is not complex and interesting and fun. It’s a wonderfully funny and insightful set of cameos of Now. Free on Hoopla, via Silver Sprocket, yay.

[Steph · Rating 2 out of 5]

i like what this cartoon collection is trying to do. reveling in the greasy, tired malaise of girlhood - what else is a lady to do when the world is crumbling all around?

but the book feels disjointed and repetitious. there are a few multi-page stories, and i think the book would be stronger with more of these. the vast majority of the book is comprised of single-page art pieces.

also, so much of the subject matter is... girls talking about boys, girls thinking about boys. i appreciate that it's shameless in its realness, but it almost reaches the point of boy-crazy obsession. some more variety would be nice.

the colors are pretty and the aesthetic is wonderful. grimy cuteness. i also appreciate the powerful use of simplistic phrasing. brevity is fitting.

[Rod Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, I am definitely not the audience for this Instagram cartoon collection. The humor in the word balloons is either very mild or completely over my head, and the art consists mostly of snake-eyed, pouty-lipped teen girls looking up to the left or right as if into space (unless they are looking down at their phones).

Chalking it up to an author/reader mismatch and moving on.

[em · Rating 2 out of 5]

Wtf

[Katherine · Rating 2 out of 5]

A weird (compliment) little collection of mostly one-page art pieces all about the grim, gross, and girly realities of being a teenage girl in the 21st century.
While I certainly was a goody two shoes who never dated in high school, I can still appreciate and understand the various characters constantly trying to get the approval of a man while simultaneously admitting he’s trash.

While I would have loved to give this a higher rating, there are two main things that kept me from that:
1) the comics felt incomplete and a little boring; I would’ve enjoyed more of the multi-paneled stories
2) it’s hard for me to fish out the root of the message. It’s no secret my generation kind of has a “I make the worst decisions hahahaha, I go back to the same man who hates me and I only drink iced coffee hahahaha”, and I can’t decide if that’s how the author is writing this, or if she’s more of the “No really. We have a problem, and it’s all hidden under lace and cute underwear and ribbons”.

I think more of the latter, but the humor makes me feel like the former. If it is the second, I don’t think it’s as affective as she would desire. Girls probably pick it up and just laugh at the snakey gals sending nudes to a guy they don’t even really like, and then most likely send the comic to a friend with the message “wait this is so me”.

[Adam Schmersal · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.7 rounded up. I first read Jame’s “Emotional Data”, and I don’t think I “got” her style then, but I definitely do now, with this, and the biggest thing keeping this from being a solid 5/5 is that I wish it were a full narrative story, or maybe even never-ending samples of work. There are some very powerful thoughts and feelings here, with nuances of the modern world combined with an alien, sometimes surreal art style. It’s very engaging and insightful.

[Eva Steepe · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this graphic novel about what it means to be a woman and the crushing weight of existence sometimes.

[juliette]

a diaristic collection of mostly full size, one-page comics that depict what it's like to be a greasy, depressed, internet addicted, appropriately narcissistic, straight girl in your twenties. it's not a world i inhabit, but it's one i have long been privy to and closely orbited/observed like an unbiased, curious, slightly envious/wistful bystander. for the girlies. iykyk.

[Celine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this. Make sure you read the foreword! I read this on Hoopla but I definitely need to get a physical copy now.

[Alanna Paris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I picked up this book after realizing Abby Jame is the art director for Adult Swim’s Teenage Euthansia and seeing some of the snippets on the publisher’s Instagram. It’s definitely more of a collection of art prints and comics which may not be everyone’s favorite thing, however the humor and strange little world she created are rather intriguing to me and it certainly won’t be for everyone. It’s definitely in the realm of ironic humor that is for a certain audience. It’s something I’ll definitely go back to and it would be fun to read on Valentine’s Day with my friends for sure. I generally like the projects Abby has done that I’ve interacted with and hope to see her do more and possibly a graphic novel set in the world this book created that’s a longer and more linear story like the taste we got in some of the comics throughout.

[Jacquelyne Hernandez · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up. The forward really set the reading mood for this collection. It really did feel like rotting in bed while doom scrolling, but solely through the following tab. Though not all the comics were relatable, they did all contain relatable elements. I liked the feminine rage and sadness, and it was all in the background details. I will have to check out her HBO Max show.

[Averil *rat emoji* · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’s not a book exactly, and each vignette is so boy crazy, it’s a little shallow. I was hoping for something a little deeper than girls talking about boys. I liked the poem “she will end up like her mother”.
Weird, and cute. Has potential

[Emma · Rating 3 out of 5]

It’ll say it’s an in between book. Can’t say bad things about it, nor the opposite.

[Isabella Giampaolo · Rating 4 out of 5]

is it corny asf? yes. is it true asf.. yes ….

[Bria]

Boy this sure made me feel sad.

[Amber · Rating 5 out of 5]

Girls over it all, except being pretty. Making vapid cool.

[Sylvia Ndusha · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hilarious!

[Keelie Grasley · Rating 3 out of 5]

Cool illustrations. Very girly, apocalypse, guts, imperfection, fantasy, realness.

[Apollo Renwick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Relatable for any girl's girl

[Rubis Lantier · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5💖

[Sammi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pure genius. Iconic.

[no elle · Rating 2 out of 5]

cute drawings, not much substance tho. perhaps for those still in the midst of a boy crazy girlhood..

[c · Rating 4 out of 5]

(4.5)

[julita · Rating 4 out of 5]

omg!!!!! not super relatable to me but i appreciate the author’s authenticity. fun, cute, and silly. love!