Title: Heartstopper
Issue: Volume 4
Publisher: Scholastic / Graphix
Date: 2021
Writer: Alice Oseman
Artist: Alice Oseman
Nick and Charlie are on Summer break, and Charlie is trying to figure out how to say "I love you" to Nick for the first time. Nick is trying to find a way to help Charlie with his mental health issues.
Charlie's mental health journey becomes the major plotline for this volume, and it's handled with a good balance of realism and hope. There is also more emphasis on family relationships, after the focus for the last two books have been more on friends. The friendships are still there, and the author is very good at keeping us caught up on relationships with minor characters through small, quiet moments.
The parallel journal-based approach to narration which takes up much of the middle of this book can sometimes feel a bit clinical, although the messages are good ones and well-handled. The is some very effective family drama to end things, and a couple of bonus features at the end are charming, particularly a one-panel-per-page minicomic on the relationship between two teacher characters.
This was a good treatment of serious issues that still kept the delightful character interactions that have made this series stand out.
Rating: 8.5/10
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