25 March, 2002
Blue Monday: The Kids Are Alright
Chynna Clugston-Major
2000
120 pp
I was feeling pretty bummed out this weekend, and reading Night didn't help. So, in a sure-fire bid to cheer myself up before I went to sleep last night, I flipped through Blue Monday again.
This is a great comic. The author's called it "Archie on crack." That's a good description, although incomplete. There is something ineffably Archie-esque about it, although it's certainly not like any Archie comic I ever read: these high school kids curse, smoke, and obsess about sex, just like real teenagers. Perhaps it's the general "high-school hijinks" atmosphere which puts me in mind of Archie.
Really, the comic bears as much similarity to Japanese shoujo manga ("girls' comics," usually set in high school) as to the Archie Comics of my youth. Clugston-Major is clearly influenced by manga; she uses a lot of stylistic conventions which are clearly drawn from the Japanese style. However, this isn't a case of an American blindly imitating something that's been done in Japan a million times. The content (as opposed to the style) is wholly American, and the material as a whole is something original: American shoujo manga.
I guess I better summarize the plot, or something: Bleu (the main character, who bears more than a passing resemblence to the author) learns that her musical idol, Adam Ant, is going to give a concert in her town. She sets out to acquire tickets by hook or by crook. In the course of her quest, she must contend with annoying boys, a dreamy substitue history teacher, sexist DJs, and Shriners. The volume also includes several stand-alone pieces, including a hilarious short about Bleu's attempt to become the school mascot, Studley the Badger.
While I was looking up the page count for this book on barnesandnoble.com, I noticed that the sequel is now available! Woo-hoo!
Here is an interview with Chynna Clugston-Major.