Diary of Manny Heffley: My First Journal (referred to as Manny’s First Journal or MFJ) is a comic/LLB created by u/HensonSnowDude on r/LodedDiper, who has already created Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Into the Wimpy-Verse and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Cult of Fregley. The first pages were released on April 21, 2024, and currently has 83 pages as of January 31, 2025.
Though mainly told from Manny’s perspective, the perspective often changes to Greg and Rodrick’s as well, to see their side of the main story.
A short Christmas LLB titled A Manny’s First Journal Christmas was released on December 25, 2024.
Plot[]

Susan giving Manny his first journal.
Chapter 1[]

Manny with his new “best friend”.
Susan Heffley gives Manny Heffley his first journal, as he is about to start the first grade, and states he his nervous about it. Manny comments how his family has been acting “not normal”, with Greg annoyed that he “ripped him off”, Rodrick “talking to a woman while touching his ploopy”, and Frank just being a slob around the house, drinking and watching football. Manny is worried that he will not make many friends, due to everyone avoiding him in preschool, but Susan ensures him that everything will be okay,
The next day, while at breakfast, Rodrick suddenly punches Manny in the face as revenge of him snitching on. Manny throws his toy train at him, and Rodrick continues to beat him up with Greg joining along, but then Rodrick knocks him out. Rodrick tells Greg that they’ll tell Mom that they’re taking when to school, but in reality they’re just dropping him in. An alleyway. Greg is not too keen on the idea, calling it crazy, but Rodrick ensures Greg that their parents will never find out.
Manny wakes up in a box labeled "free brat". Manny is convinced that Rodrick must have dropped him off at the wrong place instead of school, Manny goes across the street into a cafe. The people in there are concerned about Manny, and asks him if he needs to go to hospital or does his father “hurt him”. Then, a man named Jerome “Jerry” Leopold IV says he could take Manny to get some food, and Jerry states he did not have parents growing up, but he’ll help Manny find his.
In Rodrick’s perspective, he recaps the past events that have happened, including putting Manny in the "free brat” box. It turns out Susan has also given Rodrick as journal as well. Meanwhile with Manny, him and Jerry have had a fun day, going to the playground, going to the Old-Timey Ice Cream Parlor (the place where Rodrick formerly used to work at), and Henry Hippos. Jerry says he has a “surprise” awaiting for Manny at his house.
Greg tells Rodrick that they have to go out and find Manny, but Rodrick is just unconcerned about the whole situation, as he believes Manny had it coming. So Greg goes over to Rowley’s house, who is shocked about what has happened. Initially, Rowley refuses to get involved with Greg’s ordeal with Manny, but Greg manages to convince him by putting on a sad persona.
At Jerry’s house, Jerry goes and gets the “surprise”, just as the news comes on. The news anchor says that Jerry is a kidnapper and child predator, shocking Manny, who tries to leave the house, but Jerry is already at the front door. Manny yells “STAY AWAY FROM ME!” causing a chase to ensue between the two.
It’s now 8 PM, and Susan has gotten back from the Snella’s house. Susan asks Rodrick where is Manny, and Rodrick initially responds with saying “He’s been kidnapped”, before quickly changing up to say that Greg will find him. Susan thought that Greg and Manny went to Rowley’s house, and Rodrick correctly says that is the answer.
Manny, now hiding in a room in Jerry’s house, is scared, until he sees a pistol (which he believes is a “Nerf gun”), picks it up, goes out of the room, and shoots Jerry in the stomach, killing him. Meanwhile, Greg and Rowley have had no luck looking for Manny, going around multiple neighborhoods until they see him on the side of the street. Greg is relived, but then Manny hugs him and says “Bubby… C-can we please g-go home?”
Chapter 2: Brawl in the Family[]
Greg and Manny are walking back to the house, while Rowley went back to his home. While walking, Manny asks Greg if he hates him. Greg says that although he’s kind of annoying, they have to look out for each other, as they are brothers, and he saved him from being kidnapped, despite Rodrick uncaring. Manny then asks why him and Rodrick beat him up, and Greg goes silent. The brothers get home to an angrily drunk Frank awaiting them at the door. Frank states that he knew that Rodrick lied about going to Rowley’s house, and thinks something happened to Manny. While drunk, Frank still spews random things such as Stephen Hawking’s death being faked. Susan comes in and asks what is all the commotion. Greg decides to come clean and tell the truth, but before he can, Rodrick comes into the living room.
Characters[]
- Manny Heffley: the youngest of the Heffleys who has recently received his first journal.
- Jerry Leopold: the main antagonist of the LLB. He is an escaped convict who loves to abduct children.
- Greg Heffley: the middle child of the Heffleys.
- Rodrick Heffley: the eldest child of the Heffleys.
- Susan Heffley: the matriarch of the Heffleys.
- Frank Heffley: the patriarch of the Heffleys, who's also an alcoholic as a result of losing his job.
- Rowley Jefferson: Greg's best friend.
- Wesley Stringer: A student in Manny's class and Manny’s friend.
- Ms. Dorelle: Manny’s first grade teacher.
- Nipples: One of Manny’s classmates who can only say, well, “Nipples”.
- Bill Walter: lead singer and guitarist of Loded Diper, and Rodrick’s friend.
- Landon: One of Manny’s classmates who likes it when his mother deep fries his boogers.
- "Free brat" box: A box that Manny was sent to.
Trivia[]
- The first edition of the cover was made in October 2023, and was originally uploaded to Reddit, but u/HensonSnowDude deleted immediately it afterwards.
- Starting with Part 15, the new and current cover of MFJ debuted. This cover included Mr. Booklo in the top right corner, the font at the bottom being changed from the Wimpy Kid font to Caricaturista, (which is also used for the text) but the major change is with Manny, now having one tooth instead of two, and his pose, while somewhat similar the former cover, now shows him facing from with his arms out. Henson stated the reason for cover change was him not noticing that Manny had two teeth, while in the story he is shown to have one.
- The font used for the text MY FIRST JOURNAL is Cooper Black.
- MFJ was one of the LLBs to be featured in the collaborative LLB, Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Across the Diaries.
Gallery[]
