Why the Netflix series “Heartstopper” is generating so much anticipation

A romance on Netflix, yet another… While romantic series follow one another on the platform at the same rate as the flight of subscribers,

, available this Friday, has aroused rare expectation.

For weeks, it's THE series that everyone.

is the adaptation of the webcomic by Alice Oseman.

After finding success with her novels

and

, the young British author finally caught the attention of the streaming giant with

.

If the story told in the comic strip is quite banal (Charlie likes Nick, except that Nick is straight), that of the release of the book is much less so.

The author managed to publish her work by building the loyalty of a community of fans, from scratch.

It was through crowdfunding that she was able to raise the necessary funds for the publication.

The initial goal was to raise enough money to publish 500 copies.

The objective has largely been achieved with today four volumes of the saga published, and distributed in tens of thousands of copies around the world.

A success long before Netflix

The author's career was well launched with her old novels, which nevertheless did not make much noise in France.

“She was followed by a lot of young adults in the United States, but very few in France,” says Michael Mathieu, bookseller at the Paris bookstore.

adventure

started online on the Tapas application, a web comics platform.

Michael Mathieu says that the rhythm of publication also made the success of

“There were only 4-5 boards per month, it was very slow.

We had to wait between each episode, each twist in the plot, and the fans naturally talked about it among themselves… ”Word of mouth did the rest.

“The Booktok (literary Tik Tok) and literary influencers talked about it and it led to a new rebound in sales.

» After a new call for contributions, the comic was published in paper version, followed by a resounding success abroad, in particular in France when the comic was translated there.

Attentive fans

The release of the adventures of Nick and Charlie in series obviously had a marketing effect on the sales of the book.

Fans of fiction like Michael Mathieu are eager to discover the series.

And a little worried.

If the filmed version seems rather faithful to the boards of the author, a notable difference had made the fans react: the absence of Aled, a very popular character.

Alice Oseman was quick to reassure her fans that the new character will be just as interesting.

What fans expect above all is that the touching relationship between Nick and Charlie be perfectly transcribed on the screen.

If the series addresses contemporary themes such as biphobia, forced coming-out or even anorexia, it is the love story between Nick, the rugby player and Charlie the musician, who does all the

salt

.

Much more than a meeting between two boys with different sexualities, it is also the confrontation between worlds: that of slightly marginal artists and that of popular sportsmen.

Charlie, who is openly gay, develops feelings for Nick that he prefers to bury to preserve their friendship and because he knows he is heterosexual.

However, "the rugby player with the sunny smile" will be confronted with the quest for identity in adolescence, which involves curiosity and questioning about sexuality.

Will the fragile subtlety at work in the pages of Alice Oseman survive the Netflix machine?

Answer this Friday.

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