Greg Means

Meet Mr. and Ms. Average Couple.

Jane's a skater girl and Jack's working a food trolley trying to make ends meet. It's essentially love at first sight.

It's also real world friends trying to make decisions for the new couple. One hundred percent realistic. And I'm not being sarcastic. We've all got friends like that, right? The ones who think they're puppet masters? No. Fine, maybe it's just me.

But Jack and Jane are that couple that are put to the test by a network of meddlesome exes who feel like some men are made to be alone. And Jane has to decide if she agrees or if she wants to make that choice with her own blessed brain.

Wonderfully original. I've already read it more than once.… (mais)

There were a lot of elements to this I really liked, but I just couldn't over the whole idea of a "cute girl network." Even though I've heard of this kind of thing in the real world, I didn't really like how it played out in this book. It would appear that, apart from Jane and kinda-sorta Wendy and Rose, most of the girls in this book--and it seems to imply also the whole town--were willing participants in this network, which I felt kind of furthermore implied that most girls in general would willingly take part in this totally unfair and malicious system. I'm glad Jane articulated what was wrong with the whole thing at the end, but I feel like it came too late. Sure, girls (as well as boys) like to do their fair share of gossiping and the grapevine in particular cities can be fairly pervasive, but I figure you have to be pretty immature to willingly participate in this type of network and take it as gospel. And to be fair, the dudes in this book (at least Jack's friends in particular) were pretty horrible, too.

However, I do appreciate that this is pretty much a slightly alternative chick lit graphic novel, of which there are few to my knowledge, and generally, this is the type of qualm I have with chick lit, so there you go. The art is fantastic (note to self, check more of Joe Flood's stuff), Jane was awesome, and Jack was funny (and while a total airhead, didn't deserve to be dissed so vehemently).… (mais)

This graphic novel gets four stars for two very simple reasons:

1) The illustrative work in this book is adorable, and fits with the story just perfectly.
2) It's about real relationships between both friends and couples. Which is refreshing!

Jane is a bundle of hilarity and opinions. She's a skater girl at heart, and totally pissed about the fact that she isn't taken seriously in the hobby that she loves. Girls are only there to look pretty, right? They love sparkles, and ponies, and want to have a million babies with sexy, smoldering vampyre boyfriends... right? Never say any of that to Jane, unless you're willing to fend off the scathing, wholly intelligent remarks that will come flying out of her mouth. I love this girl.

Jack is a messy, funny, sweetheart who just so happens to be a layabout as well. His current job is working at a soup cart which, as he puts it, is the best job ever because you always get free soup! He's so darn adorable. His whole persona screams "I don't quite have my shit together yet, but I'm honest and sweet". Jack is just too much fun to follow.

Put these two together, and you have fun and kooky banter for days. I loved how this graphic novel doesn't shy away from the fact that we're all major dorks sometimes. Yes, sometimes we say stupid things when we're nervous. Yes, we are all flawed in some way but there's always someone to compliment those flaws. Jane and Jack aren't a "perfect couple" persay, but they definitely fit together like a puzzle.

Hilariously, my favorite part of this whole story was the titular group "The Cute Girl Network". A network of women who are ready and willing to dish all the hateful gossip on a guy to any girl who might want to date him. I don't want to spoil, but watching Jane deal with this was so much fun! I couldn't get enough of the fact that these characters point out so many things that are fundamentally wrong with the way people think "good boyfriends" should act. *wipes a tear* Love it.

This is getting lengthy, so I'll quit typing. Suffice it to say that this was a fun, dysfunctional look into how two people can fit together so perfectly, flaws and all. I adored it.… (mais)