920London is due out June 10, 2020. — **920London** is due out June 10, 2020.

By Kirin Xin — Sharpie fumes. Striped hair extensions. MCR. Gloomy bear. Neon black humor in the face of existential angst.

‘Wow… Google analytics is really going to clock me for looking up all this emo kids stuff…’

That was my first thought while reading 920London by Remy Boydell.

A new and eye-catching addition to Image’s growing lineup of OGNs, 920London saunters out of the gate with a level of apathy known to anyone who grew up in subculture of the early to mid 2000s. Skinny jeans, RAZR flip phones, the occasional RAWR. All old monoliths for emo and scene kids now well into their twenties and thirties. And yet, with a touch of Remy’s brilliant watercolor and nudge of a furry twist, these things and more are revitalized into a world that is relevant and recognizable once again.

The book capitalizes on that revitalization with an opening line that would be cheesy in its angst if it weren’t so accurate: Happy people don’t start believing in the end of the world. It immediately sets the tone for the bare depressing, but strangely cozy story that follows. Two subculture kids, Hana and Kiki, try to grow shrooms before the end of the world.

That’s it, that’s the story. At least on a surface level.

Within the twisting dregs of everyday life that is somewhere near London in 2005, the author weaves a story about identity, paths through depression, and finding both. While black-clad Hana stumbles through her days via escapism and a fear of change, scene queen Kiki longs for a different, more interesting life that won’t always blow up in her face. Together, they paint a picture of casual despair, the feeling of being both within, and without.

With life for many people right now stopped in stagnant waters, the struggles of the characters in 920London seem interchangeably familiar. What do you do when you feel alone and weird, but not in the cool, charming way of so many peers? Why do little mishaps kick off bouts of massive, uncontrollable dread? How does one cope with a life that moves at the deadest pace imaginable, but still too fast?

Those are the questions Remy reflects back at us by means of dull house parties, emotional bus rides, reflective shopping trips, and one slowly dying relationship that perhaps never hit a real stride. And while none of them are ever directly answered, leaving the story without a solid sense of completion, its subtle nuances guide both the main characters and reader through tangible lowkey conflict to a place of development.

With pages interspersed by Skelanimal plushies and bargain-bin Garfield tossers, 920London throws the reader into a tailspin of early 2000s emo and scene culture that is at once cringe, cooly nostalgic, and currently relatable. It doesn’t offer a direct solution to anything, but it does do something that will be sure to please both your longing teen and angsting adult selves: hold your hand through the hardships of one more day and offer hope that things will get better. Or the world will end. Whichever comes first.

920London
Writer/Artist: Remy Boydell
Publisher: Image
Price: $17.99
North of London, 2005. A doomed romance between an emo kid and a scene kid. More than friends, less than lovers, they're trying to grow shrooms before the world ends. Send help.
Release Date: June 10, 2020
Buy It Online: Click here

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Kirin Xin is a graphic designer, band freak, and comics writer and illustrator working out of the Midwest. They could have been prom king but devoted their life to making comic books. They can be found at kirixin.com or on social media @kirixin