Heartstopper: Volume One by Alice Oseman

Boy meets boy.
Boys become friends.
Boys fall in love.

Charlie and Nick are at the same school, but they've never met ... until one day when they're made to sit together.
They quickly become friends, and soon Charlie is falling hard for Nick, even though he doesn't think he has a chance.

But love works in surprising ways, and Nick is more interested in Charlie than either of them realise.

I am a gay man in my 40s who grew up as a child and teenager in a small Conservative town. Growing up in that toxic environment as a gay boy was very difficult. You couldn't come out for the risk of rejection and violence from multiple sources.

Although I kind of knew I was gay at a very young age, it was made absolutely clear when I developed a mad crush on a boy in High School. That didn't develop into anything. He was straight, of course.

I wanted to watch the Netflix series, but not before I read the original source material. I love these feel-good coming of age (and coming out) LGBTQ love stories because I think back to that crush and wish I was able to experience that when I was a boy. To just... be. I lost so much of my life because I couldn't do that.

It is nice to see that the current young generations are in a much more accepting society of fluid sexualities and genders. That's not to say that it's not bad in a lot of areas, but it is drastically better than when I was a boy.

This graphic novel perfectly captures that young love.