I've gotta be honest... the last storyline in True Story Swear to God was a little disappointing to me. I wasn't anywhere near the idea of dropping the book, and I still enjoyed it, but the story of Lily stuck in the hurricane while Tom was stuck in Napa Valley didn't quite resonate with me the way the rest of the book had. I was starting to think that maybe I couldn't connect with his story at the same level, that the weird magical nature of their relationship might start to fade into a more conventional (if still highly entertaining) love story. Then True Story Swear to God #8 came out and just 'effin floored me again.
Reading this issue, I think I finally got the importance of the hurricane story, something I had missed before. The last story took away one of the great treasures of True Story Swear to God, the obvious chemistry between Tom and Lily, and I thought that was a mistake in storytelling terms. Now I see that Beland was trying to share the feeling that he had, the one that pushed him into a life-changing decision that's perhaps even braver than telling the world about your relationship in a comic, or telling someone you're not sure you'll ever see again how much you care about them. He was showing the reader what it felt like for this relationship to suddenly seem about so much more distance than it had, and showing how impossible it was to be without that chemistry in his life.
During this issue, Tom and Lily aren't really together in the same physical space either. However, the connection is back, because we start to see that Tom is starting to think in terms of "we" when it comes to Lily. In addition, Beland does an excellent job of conveying the pure torture that Lily goes through in trying to get to him. Sitting in an airplane, missing a connecting flight, sleeping in an airplane, these aren't brutal tortures nobody else has gone through, but they are extreme situations and it's easy to see why this kind of thing might make either partner question whether it was worth it. And when one or both of them decides that yes it is, and realizes that the other one feels that same way too? Well, it's pretty easy to see why Tom makes the decision that he does, because that's as close to a sure thing as you get in a romantic relationship.
As always, the relationship is at the heart of the book, but it's by no means the only attraction. The situation between Tom and Lily is pretty dire, which makes Tom come off more grumpy than pleasant for a lot of the story, but Beland wisely includes some dashes of humor to keep things light when necessary. Tom's argument with his editor about his column, talking about the use of "hip" words, is hilarious. For the most part, though, the biggest moments in this issue are the more heart-wrenching ones, from his brother's selfless and very touching speech about Lily to the window we have into Tom's mind as he mulls over his life-altering decision. As with almost every other issue of TSSTG, I was moved pretty close to the point of tears, something of a rarity with comic books.
This is one of those buzz books you've all heard of, but all too many people aren't reading it because they don't think they have an interest in romance books, or black and white comics, or whatever. To those people I say, you don't know what you're missing. True Story Swear to God brings the reality and fantasy of romance together into a story that can be appreciated by those in love and those wanting to be in love alike. It's the kind of classic romantic story that great books and films are made of, and it's made all the more effective by knowing that it has a real life, honest to God happy ending.
