12 Reasons Why I Love Her . . . NOT a mushy, gooey, valentiney mess.
I had never read a Romance comic in my life until this year. Strange, considering that Romance comics were created by Jack Kirby, the Alpha and Omega of this wonderful visual art form we call comics (well, maybe Eisner is a little more important,but that is a debate for another post). Sure, I own that issue of X-men where Jean and Scott tie the not, but really, that probably had more to do with me being 16 and Andy Kubert drawing all those foxy ladies in that issue. Beyond that I've only experienced Romantic dramas in the pages of Daredevil, and those always seem to end up with a lot of blood and revenge talk.

Then I picked up 100% by Paul Pope. Gah. Wow!!!!! I was in love with the art, the story, and each one of the characters. I realized that not only was I ready for more mature and emotionally interesting work, but that my favorite story telling medium was more than capable of wowing me with amazing visuals AND bringing me almost to tears by tugging at my heartstrings while never getting too sentimental.

12 Reasons Why I Love Her by Jamie S. Rich and Joelle Jones is a more recent example of this same wonderful kind of story. The book takes twelve vignettes from the relationship of two lovers, Gwen and Evan, and explores how they relate to each other and how they come into conflict. The vignettes are not in chronological. This means that story lacks not only a happy ending, but any ending. And, in fact, this lack of closure is what made the book resonate so strongly with me.

We've all had those relationships that we think fondly on for one moment and then groan and drop our head into our hands the next. Dating and love are nt simply bubbley sugar coated adventures full of flowers and making out (though that is part of it as well). 12 Reasons avoids those saccharine moments almost entirely and spends most of its time pitting one character against another in debates about religion, film, and gender roles in dating. But there are also the lovely meditations upon the seasons and a magical dream.

12 Reasons is a Romance, but it explores its characters as human beings having a relationship, not as a cookie cutter man and woman seeking each others perfect embrace. We care about Evan and Gwen. By the time we emerge from the fog of the non linear narrative, we feel almost as though we were part of their relationship. That's because we have all had a relationship like this one. Full of struggles between egos, disagreements over petty things, dirty jokes, and maybe a few flowers and a little making out.