My girlfriend hails from a small town not far away, and she's incredibly close to her family. Her background is radically different from mine, and while I adore her, sometimes, I find it difficult to put myself in her shoes. That's a universal experience that Tom Beland taps into for this issue, and once again, he impresses with his shocking honesty and heartfelt emotion. True Story is billed as a romance comic, but it's about more than being in love with someone. It's about how the process of growing up is a never-ending one, about how we can always find new strengths and flaws in ourselves, long after we thought we'd reached point when we are the people we think we are.
Adjusting to life in Puerto Rico continues to be a trial for Tom. He hasn't been paid for his freelance cartooning work for months but that doesn't stop his non-paying clients from demanding more work from him. The heat is unbearable, and English is spoken so infrequently that he feels disconnected from his own culture and anything remotely familiar. But the capper comes when two angry young Puerto Ricans, on their way home from a protest against the U.S. Navy, focus their anti-American sentiment on him, prompting Tom to question his decision to join Lily in San Juan.
Beland's cartoony style certainly captures the emotive elements in the story, and there are plenty of them. But for the first time in this series, there was a scene in which I felt his style didn't serve the tone of what the creator was trying to convey. The slow-motion scene in which Tom encounters the two angry protestors seemed to call for a hyper-realistic quality, something more detailed than Beland usually offers. What happens in the scene is certainly clear, but the harshness and ugliness of it doesn't shine through as strongly. I know, I know... readers aren't used to finding criticism of Beland's work in one of these reviews, and believe me, it's not a major criticism. Throughout most of this issue, his line art serves the story as well as ever. I particularly enjoyed how he portrays himself in the coffee house, straining to listen to snippets of English. The silhouettes of protestors lining up to protest a U.S. naval presence in Puerto Rico also serves as a powerfully symbolic representation of what is clearly a larger effort.
Nitpicky little item: There seems to be a narrative caption that halts in mid-sentence, or even mid-word in the middle of the book. It didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the issue, but I remain curious as to what happened and what the remainder of the thought was.
Once again, Beland opens my eyes to life in Puerto Rico. I know next to nothing about the place, and one of the most interesting things about this series is its celebration of the culture, history and people of Puerto Rico. My knowledge of the place is limited, but I always saw it as an American place given its status as a part of that country. But really, Puerto Rico is a nation in its own right despite lacking the designation. The notion of Americans as outsiders or aggressors really hadn't occurred to me.
The cover would seem to indicate the main focus of this issue is that political and social issue, but in reality, it's still all about the relationship and Tom's journey along a path of change. I like that in the end, it's not just about Tom being impatient and intolerant about his new circumstances, but about Lily realizing just how isolated and confused he is. Falling in love is easy, but being in a relationship is difficult, and perhaps the most difficult aspect is to change one's thinking. It's no longer about oneself, but "ourselves." 9/10
