Blue Monday Vol. 2: Absolute Beginners

Pity poor High-Schooler Bleu Finnegan. In addition to the usual Teen angst she's suffering through, she's just been secretly taped in the shower by a couple of sneaky boys.....and now the tape is making the rounds at school. Will poor Bleu get revenge? Will the tape spoil her hopes for romance with teacher of her dreams? Will Bleu's pal Clover finally admit that she can see the giant kilt-wearing Otter too? These questions and more are answered in Absolute Beginners.... Creator/Writer/Artist Chynna Clugston-Major does her usual great job of making the kids seem like real people, and her art hops effortlessly from semi-realistic to ultra cutesy, depending on the situation. Absolute Beginners is a true joy to read. And Bleu and Clover are babes!

This graphic novel collects Chynna Clugston-Major's second mini-series about Bleu Finnigan and her circle of friends in a northern California high school during the 80s. This volume is even stranger and more raucous than the first one, with events getting kicked off by Alan and Victor covertly taping Bleu while she takes a bath, followed by a "hooligan rules" battle-of-the-sexes soccer match, with everything coming to a head as the combination of Erin's manipulations and the sudden appearance of a Pooka who follows Bleu everywhere, leading to a "date from hell" between Bleu and Alan.Clugston-Major's cartoony, Japanese-inspired art style is easy on the eye, although at points the characters look too similar to fully tell apart... but the confusion is usually quickly dispelled by taking a closer look at their dialogue; each of her charactes has a unique voice and personality that comes through clearly in the writing. And her characters are all very likable and charming--one might say that she has the making of an American Rumiko Takahashi!One interesting note, to me at least, is the fact that the book is referred to as a "teenage sex comedy" on the back. Huh? What's a "teenage sex comedy"? If it's something along the lines of "American Pie" or "Porky's" then I think the marketeers failed to do "Blue Monday: " proper justice. Clugston-Major is never has to resort to the sort of crude humour that marks those films--even if her characters are hilariously foulmouthed at just the right moments. The characters populating "Blue Monday" are like the kids *I* went to school with, and therefore nothing at all like those found in "American Pie" and the like.I highly recommend "Absolute Beginners," as well as the first volume in the series, "The Kids Are Alright," which revolves primarily around Bleu and her best friend Clover's quest to attend an Adam Ant concert.