Even if you have already binged I Am Not Okay With This on Netflix you may not know that the show has some excellent source material in the comics by Charles Forsman (who also wrote the comics that led to the creation of the other Netflix show The End of the F***in World. I Am Not Okay With This was originally published in 2017 before making its television debut in 2020.
The show is all set up to begin shooting season two, but there is only one graphic novel in the world at this point. Whether you've read the source material or not there is, as usual, quite a few differences on the page versus on the screen. Here are just a few to be aware of.
10 Extra Death On The Page
When I Am Not Okay With This opens we see Sydney running down the street covered in blood. This is, as viewers learn, a flash-forward. When we actually meet Sydney she has yet to use her newly discovered telekinetic abilities to kill anyway.
This is a surprise for fans of the book where it is revealed (though this could be a SPOILER for later seasons of the show as well) that Sydney killed her father after he begged her to do so. Anyway, the Netflix show gives us a little time to learn to like Sydney before she starts exploding people's heads and generally causing destructive and murderous mayhem.
9 No Suicide Mystery
Due to the fact that Sydney actually takes part in the death of her father on the page, there is no mystery as to "why" her dad killed himself (at least not to Sydney).
She never has to interrogate her mom or sneak around the basement looking for answers about what finally pushed her post-war father over the edge. It certainly helps the audience grow with Sydney, rather than being forced to sympathize with her without knowing her.
8 Brad's Death
While the graphic novel may have a higher body count than the Netflix show, Netflix certainly saved its one death for an overly dramatic ending. While Brad does die in both versions of the story his head only completely explodes on television.
In the book, Sydney just gives him an aneurysm, though she does so on purpose, in retaliation for Brad's getting Dina sent to the hospital. So there seem to be two different balancing acts going on in the show and the book. The book if more violent, but the TV show is more graphic.
7 The Head Explosion
While Brad's head does not explode in the original comic that does not mean that no heads explode in the original story. In fact, going along with the much darker tones of the source material, Sydney actually causes her own head to explode at the end of the book.
Obviously there's guilt and depression involved, as Sydney has been fighting both for the entirety of her storyline on screen and on the page. But, had her head exploded on television there would not have been room for a second season.
6 The Character Of Stanley
Stan plays a much larger role in the Netflix series than he does in the original novel. He is still a stoner in the book, but he's more of a slacker and less quirky and fun.
He and Sydney also spend most of their time working on their physical relationship, rather than the one and only scene Netflix shows before moving them onward toward a more substantial and meaningful friendship. Fans of Netflix Stanley may not enjoy the source material very much.
5 Sydney's Stalker
While the book ends with Sydney dying, the first season of the Netflix show ends with the mysterious shadow stalker who Sydney has seen following her throughout the first few episodes, catching up to her.
He tells her everyone should be afraid of her. He seems like a very real entity who will have a prominent role to play in the coming seasons. At the end of the original book, however, readers learn that this stalker has only been a manifestation of Sydney's overly stressed mind and imagination.
4 Sydney Already Has Her Powers On The Page
In I Am Not Okay With This on Netflix, fans get to learn, along with Sydney, what her powers are, and watch them develop. From her making Brad's nose bleed to cracking her bedroom wall, everything is a surprise to Sydney and the viewer.
When readers meet Sydney in the comic, however, she is already aware of her powers and knows that, at the very least, they can be used to make people hurt.
3 Humor
Calling I Am Not Okay With This a comic may be misleading to some who are not familiar with the medium. A comic as a book or graphic novel is different than a movie that is "comic". I Am Not Okay With This is not a book filled with much humor of any kind.
The Netflix shows tries to rectify this by adding some characterization to Stanley, some extra heartfelt scenes with Syd's brother Liam, and all the 80s movie throwbacks make the TV show far more uplifting and humorous than the source material.
2 Keeps Her Powers to Herself
In the Netflix show, as part of expanding Stanley's character, Sydney admits she has telekinesis and Stanley tries to take on the task of being her mentor. He may not have powers, but he's an oddball with a mild obsession with comic books, so he thinks he can be helpful.
While these scenes are delightful on the show, they exist nowhere in the book. Other than her father, no one knows that Sydney has telekinetic abilities. And Sydney never shares that news with anyone.
1 Sydney Sees The Ramifications of Her Actions
While Sydney struggles through incredible suffering in the graphic novel, most of it is internal. She struggles with depression, anxiety, the death of her father, but she doesn't talk about it (except to her diary and the reader).
The Netflix show allows Sydney to embrace characters around her (like Stan and Dina) and also gets to explore not only the ramifications her new powers have on her personally (having to hide them, breaking her bedroom, etc) but what her powers can do to the people around her (Brad's head). This is important because on the show Sydney has people she does care about.
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