Graphic Novel Reviews: 20XX Volume 1

In a not-so-far-off future, society hangs on a delicate balance between those who are infected, and those who are not. Bethel Virus (causing the humans of this book to wear masks… feels very current with the COVID threat) has an only 1% survival rate. If you contract it and survive it, you become a Sym, gaining abilities beyond human. Using STS (Selective Telekinesis and Sensing), Syms are able to telekinetically control only certain aspects of humanity.

Mer is a new Sym, gaining the power called “Soft Tissues”, which she only discovers when an accident, involving a gang and her cousin, causes her to blow the skin and muscle violently off of someone trying to kill her. What unfolds: a gang war rekindled; new love for Mer found in Nuon, a fellow Sym; a bliss drug called Blight; and Mer learning to control her powers leads to a powerful story about what happens when everything you knew falls away and you are reborn into the society you’ve been taught to fear.

Jonathan Luna (author of the wonderful ALEX + ADA) brings a new world to life in 20XX VOLUME 1, the first of what I hope will be a long series. Published solely in black and white, the colors of the world fade away and we are left with only detailed and rich narrative, complicated but complex in all the best world-building ways.

Given it’s graphic violence and sexual content, this one is for Adults only.