YMMV / The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl

• Jerkass Woobie: Kyra is an abrasive jerk, but you can sympathize with her (mostly because she's had a legitimately hard life, and her paranoia and trust issues don't make it any easier on her). Fanboy can seem a bit too self pitying in the first book, but he gets better through character development.
• Tear Jerker:
  • Fanboy likes a particular issue of X-Men because it's the comic that his dad gave him. He sees it at the convention but can't afford it.
  • Fanboy's mental breakdown after Bendis breaks it to him gently that a comic writer can't publish a fan's graphic novel, and Kyra flashes Bendis. He decides to put Bendis on the list for a few hours.
  • At the end of Astonishing Adventures Kyra punches Fanboy in the gut when he comes to talk to her in the middle of her breakdown, and then sends a selfie of her flipping him when she learns he told her dad about his suicidal tendencies. Fanboy's more relieved that she's alive and that it's better that she hates him than feels nothing.
  • Also for Kyra's dad, his reaction when he gets a call from a stranger who claims Kyra is suicidal again and that maybe her sister can help. "Kyra doesn't have a sister."
  • All of Kyra's letters to Neil Gaiman which she never sends.
• Unintentional Period Piece: The characters use AIM as a method of communication. The book was written in 2006, when AIM was on its way out the door with the rise of Social Media sites like MySpace and Facebook.
• Values Dissonance: Invoked in-universe. Kyra tells Fanboy that he'd get in more trouble for bringing a bullet to school than she would for driving with a learner's permit.
  • Rumors being spread that you're gay are considered a source of humiliation. In this day and age, you'd more likely get accepted than mocked for being gay, regardless if the rumor is true or not.
• The Woobie: Kyra's father, Roger. He lost his wife because of his own smoking habit, his daughter is rebellious, and he often worries about her killing herself.