In

???In??? is about detachment. Nick walks through life, past millennial-y named coffee/tea/lifestyle shops feeling??? or rather, not feeling at all. He has a sister who, when he asks her how she is, tells him not to bother. A mother who he calls to help with leaks. Seemingly meaningful relationships of any sort. I know ??? so far this has the incredible potential of being an extremely self-indulgent story about an emotionally constipated 20-something-year-old where boy who goes through life not understanding why no one likes him. But then... it???s not that. At all.

One of ???In??????s strong points is the fact that it doesn???t try to hang its main character???s issues on anything. Considering he???s supposed to be a millennial, the potential for making social media and phone-to-hand connection the Big Bad seems imminent. But it???s not. Nick longs for solitude. No, that???s not entirely true. He longs to be unobserved. To feel without necessarily having that feeling be seen and approved by others. He uses an example from his childhood, the experience of being in a water park and going through the tunnels alone. He feels great there, feels the desire to share that feeling with his friends. And as soon as they???re there, it???s not the same anymore.

A ripple effect, then, and Nick is 20-something and doesn???t know how to share anymore, because what will that lead to? What???s that invisible barrier that stops him from talking to family, and to anyone, really? For us as readers the barrier is manifested literally, each frame bordered by a dark, solid line. That is, until Nick - fragmentarily - starts to open up, and the lines of not only the border, but also his own person start to blur, and we as readers start to actually learn more about him and his family. And he/we learn(s) that even if you try, it still might not be easy. In a conversation I think most children will have, whether internally or in real life, as they grow up and learn to start to see their parents, Nick says to his mother, ???I???m trying to talk about you.??? She says, ???You weren???t asking about me.??? He says he was, and she says, ???I???m not just who I am to you, Nick.??? And his world opens up.

There are stories that work when they are made into graphic novels. Then there are stories that are made to be told as graphic novels. This is definitely the latter. The art style, the use of framing and colour, the layout are all meaningful and intentional at every turn of the page. The feeling of emptiness and then space that are created when Nick shifts between not-feeling and feeling become tangible. I love graphic novels that are this purposeful.

And on top of that this book is just really funny. The coffee shop jokes got me every time. It teased millennial culture without being an asshole about the things that matter. I laughed out loud multiple times. A bit cheeky, a bit tongue-in-cheek. It really worked for me.

I think the concept as a whole could???ve been driven further, deeper. I???d maybe have liked it to hollow me out a tad more than it did. But it was really good nonetheless. Not to go full circle here, but now that I think about it, maybe ???In??? isn???t about detachment. It???s about what happens when that detachment ends (because something does).

I received a free ARC of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.