SATA
ENTRY TYPE:
WORK TITLE: Escape From St. Hell
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY: Portsmouth, England
STATE:
COUNTRY: United Kingdom
NATIONALITY: British
LAST VOLUME: SATA 393
RESEARCHER NOTES:
PERSONAL
Born in St. Helens, England.
EDUCATION:Attended St. Helens College.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Writer, illustrator, filmmaker, and comedian. Independent creator of comedy videos; cocreator of film project My Genderation; featured in TV series My Transsexual Summer, Channel 4.
AWARDS:Positive Role Model Award for LGBT nomination, National Diversity Awards (U.K.), 2022.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Lewis Hancox is a British comic artist, writer, and online influencer who wields humor and heart in his recurring affirmations of his trans identity. Citing his small-town origins and the absence of trans role models during his youth in a Stonewall Scotland profile, Hancox explains: “I thought I was the only one who felt the way I did. I didn’t even know what it meant to be trans. All I knew is that I felt male and should have a masculine body.” Having always conceived of himself as male, Hancox would openly declare that he was a boy during his early youth. Societal pressures led him to try being a “normal” girl as a teenager, but the further along through puberty he got, the more wrong things felt. He was eighteen when he first met others with cross-gender feelings and experiences, and in college he was accepted among the rainbow-alliance community as a “lesbian.” He would finally be able to align his feelings and body in beginning a gender transition at age twenty. With a gift for performativity and a penchant for making comedic videos that he posts online, Hancox has gradually amassed an audience in the hundreds of thousands on TikTok, in addition to tens of thousands of YouTube subscribers. Especially popular are his characters British Mum, an impersonation of his mother, and the sassy Prinny Queen. He and trans activist Fox Fisher are the cocreators of My Genderation, an ongoing film project celebrating trans lives.
In another creative vein, Hancox has been fond of drawing since childhood. In an interview with the LCR Pride Foundation, he remarked: “When I was a little kid my Granddad … would buy me The Dandy comic every Friday. I couldn’t get enough and wanted to create my own wacky characters like that. I was obsessed with anything on Cartoon Network, and the Calvin and Hobbes books. All of this totally influenced my dream of being a comic creator.” Downtime during the pandemic inspired Hancox to try his hand at telling the story of his teen years in graphic-memoir form. About the audience for his debut book, Hancox told the LCR Pride Foundation: “This isn’t just a trans story … it’s for anyone who’s ever been an awkward teenager going through awkward puberty, having high school dramas and trying to get a snog.” He added, “I want to fill trans teens with hope, and for anyone who isn’t trans they get to learn about it while also hopefully seeing a part of themselves in my character.”
Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure, Hancox’s debut memoir, is narrated by his adult self as addressed to his younger self, with the bearded elder figure occasionally entering the narrative to support the youth. By age eight, the youth—then named Lois—tells her mother that she feels like a boy, and yet she feels obliged to try to behave like a girl. (In treating this period of his life, Hancox uses the name Lois and she/her pronouns in the text.) Puberty heightens the confusion, as body changes feel wrong, and Lois experiences anorexia as well as an exercise disorder. For her high-school uniform she chooses a skirt instead of pants, but only to avoid bullying. College years finally bring a welcoming community, gender-affirming care, and the beginning of a path to self-discovery. The artwork is in black and white.
In School Library Journal, Alec Chunn affirmed that a “winning combination of British slang, pop culture references, and technology” helps set the early 2000s scene in Welcome to St. Hell, while the transition process is “brilliantly depicted” as video-game-style boss battles. Chunn noted that Hancox “maintains a frank yet humorous tone without shying away from painful moments.” A Kirkus Reviews writer observed that beyond the moments of “angst and self-loathing,” the memoir is “overall a positive account.” The writer added that the “emotionally brutal yet stripped-down art helps create immediacy and intimacy” in the course of Lois/Lewis’s “honest and personal journey.” A Publishers Weekly reviewer appreciated how the author’s parents’ “honest and empathic” reaction to his coming out highlights “the importance of familial support to his evolution toward adulthood.” The reviewer praised Welcome to St. Hell as “earnest, sincere, and at times heart-wrenching.”
On the occasion of his being recognized as a positive LGBT role model by the 2022 National Diversity Awards, Hancox told Paul McAuley of Echo: “I pride myself on educating in a relaxed way, through humour and relatability. Across all my work, my message is that we all have a lot more in common than we realise, we’re all human and we’re all on our own journey.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, April 1, 2022, review of Welcome to St. Hell: My Trans Teen Misadventure.
Publishers Weekly, May 16, 2022, review of Welcome to St. Hell, p. 51.
School Library Journal, June, 2022, Alec Chunn, review of Welcome to St. Hell, p. 92.
ONLINE
Echo, https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/ (August 24, 2022), Paul McAuley, “St Helens TikTok Star, Who Punished Himself for ‘Being in the Wrong Body,’ Nominated for LGBT Award.”
LCR Pride Foundation website, https://www.lcrpride.co.uk/ (May 24, 2022), “Chat With: Lewis Hancox, Author, Illustrator & Film-Maker.”
Portsmouth, https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/ (September 22, 2022), Chris Broom, “Welcome to St Hell Author and Trans Activist Lewis Hancox from Southsea Is Shortlisted for a LGBT National Diversity Award.”
Stonewall Scotland, https://www.stonewall.org.uk/ (November 27, 2022), “Lewis Hancox.”*
Lewis Hancox is a writer, illustrator, and filmmaker from North West UK. Mainly known for his online characters British Mum and Prinny Queen, he's built a committed following and regularly produces viral comedy videos. He has been featured in the Channel 4 series My Transsexual Summer and co-created an ongoing film project about trans people called My Genderation. You can find him on Instagram and TikTok at @lewishancoxfilms, on Twitter at @LewisHancox, and on YouTube at Lewis Hancox. As a longtime fan of cartoons and comics, he's proud to have created Welcome to St. Hell, his first graphic memoir.
HANCOX, Lewis. Escape From St. Hell. illus. by Lewis Hancox. 304p. Scholastic/ Graphix. May 2024. Tr $27.99. ISBN 9781338824476.
Gr 9 Up--In this affirming follow-up to Welcome to St. Hell, Hancox documents his journey to self-acceptance as a trans man growing up in northwest England. While the first volume covered his high school years, this one begins in 2008 with Hancox heading off to Manchester University to pursue filmmaking, starting testosterone, and examining the stereotypes surrounding masculinity. In grayscale illustrations that mimic a video game, a present-day Lewis drops in to give his past-self advice and reassurance, as an anxiety meter on the side of the page documents his fears along the way. This book's strength is in its nuanced exploration of Hancox's insecurities, including his preoccupation with what it means to be a "real man," his experiences dating as a trans man, and the dysphoria that leads to a disordered relationship with exercise and food. Hancox injects humor and levity into the story as he navigates his transition and rediscovers his passion for developing creative content. VERDICT Hancox's relatable portrayal of anxiety is ultimately encouraging, and while the graphic novel is a continuation of his previous work, this book stands alone as a recommended purchase for any library serving teens.--Emily Yates
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 A wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
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Yates, Emily. "HANCOX, Lewis. Escape From St. Hell." School Library Journal, vol. 70, no. 4, Apr. 2024, p. 147. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A790645187/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=0a3858dc. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.
Hancox, Lewis ESCAPE FROM ST. HELL Graphix/Scholastic (Teen None) $27.99 5, 7 ISBN: 9781338824476
A trans teen on the cusp of adulthood grapples with self-expression and acceptance in this graphic memoir.
The University of Manchester may be only a 30-minute drive away from St. Helens, the English town where white transgender teen Lewis grew up, but he's so desperate to leave that it feels like traveling a million miles away. With the move fast approaching, Lewis' anxiety skyrockets and he begins to obsess over finding a new look so that everyone will see him as a "real man." But Lewis soon discovers that leaving home and transforming his style won't solve all his problems. Guided by his future self, who drops in to offer advice, Lewis faces his challenges with his emotions, love life, and self-acceptance as if they're levels in a video game. Convinced that no one understands his struggles, Lewis isolates himself, coping by hyper-fixating on his diet and working out. The more he tries to run from his problems (including academic struggles), the larger they become. The author doesn't shy away from showing his own flaws and how his internalized transphobia has affected his relationships. Finding community with other transgender people and accepting help have both played important roles in his growth and well-being. Although the text can sometimes be difficult to follow across the page, the dynamic layout of the black-and-white panels helps communicate Lewis' angst and discontent.
An unflinchingly honest portrayal of coming-of-age. (bonus art) (Graphic memoir. 14-18)
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
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"Hancox, Lewis: ESCAPE FROM ST. HELL." Kirkus Reviews, 15 Apr. 2024, p. NA. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A789814671/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=178d9a1f. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.
Escape from St. Hell. By Lewis Hancox. Art by the author. May 2024. 304P. Scholastic/Graphix, $27.99 (9781338824476); paper, $14.99 (9781338824469). Gr. 9-12.741.5.
Hancox shares a deeply honest and humorous look at his transitioning journey in this sequel to Welcome to St. Hell (2022). His fears and anxieties--of losing connections to lesbian friends he had before he came out, of not being accepted as a "real man," of failing university, of being denied top surgery, and more--will resonate with many, even though the details of British medical care and early YouTube culture may not be familiar. Young Lewis is visited by a vision of his older self, to reassure him that things will get better, as well as to offer better ways of coping. Hancox shares his deadname and cartoon images of himself pre-transition, in part to highlight his parents' journey toward better support and affirm the aspect of himself that struggled to be seen as normal for years. The seriousness of medical care and inner turmoil is balanced by the video-game concept of leveling up and by Lewis' great relationships with his friends. Overall, a wonderfully vulnerable portrait of a young man forging a path to a happy adult life.--Sarah Rice
Copyright: COPYRIGHT 2024 American Library Association
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Rice, Sarah. "Escape from St. Hell." Booklist, vol. 120, no. 18, 18 May 2024, p. 35. Gale General OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A804017478/ITOF?u=schlager&sid=bookmark-ITOF&xid=92dd0c25. Accessed 17 Sept. 2024.