Graphic Novel Review - 'Mismatched' by Anne Camlin (Writer), Isadora Zeferino (Artist), Jess Lome (Colourist)

For once I regret borrowing a library book, because I want my own copy of 'Mismatched' right now!

I am very surprised by how much I ended up liking 'Mismatched'. I've read it described widely as "chaotic", and the reviewers are not wrong. It is a messy and chaotic teen romance comedy drama, with too many players - there are so many characters that I had to keep track of some names, especially of those who are more minor than others, and sometimes I got confused by similar character designs and could not tell who was who - and too much relationship drama to keep up with, and not everyone is always likeable, most notably the protag, Evan Horowitz.

All of this should have been my kryptonite, and at the beginning, it almost was.

BUT...

Somehow, 'Mismatched' grew on me the more I read. It grew and grew, and developed into one of the most charming, endearing, adorable, precious, colourful, and positive queer YA graphic novels I have ever happily devoured in one sitting.

Its chaos and its flaws - its characters' flaws - end up becoming it - becoming part of its charms. One of its biggest positives and triumphs is that it IS queer AF. It is massively, unapologetically, wholeheartedly queer. Practically every character is queer. There is a Pride Parade scene, and it is beautiful.

I think it works well as a contemporary retelling of Jane Austen's 'Emma', and I could tell Anne Camlin must be a fan of another loose 'Emma' adaptation, 'Clueless'; among other inspired similarities, 'Mismatched''s Emma character even shares Cher Horowitz's last name.

Which brings me to Evan, our modern day Emma Woodhouse. Evan is a gay teen boy, a popular Instagram makeup model, a ballet dancer, the president of his high school's Gender & Sexualities Alliance club, and a self-styled-and-professed queen in every respect. Sure, he is not particularly likeable - he is an arrogant, selfish, judgemental snob who tends to look down on or ignore anyone who doesn't match his tastes and perceived values, he is a hypocrite, and a very poor judge of character - at first. He learns and grows into a better person as the graphic novel progresses. He sees the error of his ways. He goes through something called character development, like Emma Woodhouse herself and her consecutive incarnations.

It turns out Evan Horowitz is not a narcissist, but a young person just learning more about the world and the people around him, and who is accepting and liking those whose personalities are different to his. He does genuinely care for his friends and family, and has a good, supportive heart.

And heaven forbid a queer person be unlikeable and flawed and human.

To paraphrase a famous Jane Austen quote from another and more, *ahem*, obscure novel of hers: 'It is a truth universally acknowledged, that "minorities" deviating from the cishet white male default and demographic, must be in want of "likeability", never straying, never allowing to be flawed and messy members of the human species.'

Well, fuck that.

Let's move on.

Other notes:



• Sadie, the only Black person in an otherwise good diversity pool of characters, is unfortunately given the least page time and least to do in the teen cast. She is a Black "butch-ish" lesbian, and Evan doesn't like her for stupid reasons. It's a shame to see a gay white male character dislike and ignore his only POC lesbian "friend", just saying.

• The only trans rep in the cast is Aryan, who is nonbinary. They're cool, sensitive, complicated and secretly depressed, and they're said to go to counselling.

• Through all the LBGTQ+ rep, there is no asexual or aroace portrayal in this teen romcom cacophony comic. Typical.

• I think Anika, Natalia and Davi are my favourite characters. They are adorable sweethearts, and deserve better than being associated with immature, judgey and crap starter Evan.

• 'Mismatched' makes it clear that kissing someone without their consent is never okay. For a "silly" and "fluffy" graphic novel, it knows when it should take certain, heavy topics seriously.

• It was hard to keep track of Evan's family at first. I kept forgetting he has two older sisters - one, Leah, is married to Davi's brother, Cadu, and has a cute daughter, Lily, and the other, Tamar, who actually has a presence and adequate page time, is dating Ben, the brother of Evan's first crush, Luca. The family members are very minor, and they look too similar to each other and other characters, and their names escaped me regularly as I read.

• Spoiler - though it shouldn't be if you know anything about 'Emma' - I came to like neighbours and "best friends" Evan and Davi as a couple. Opposites attract, and they're sweet.



Yeah, 'Mismatched' is far from perfect, but who cares? I like it. It's like a new guilty pleasure comic. A really sweet, cute, heartwarming and funny guilty pleasure.

It's like if 'Heartstopper' was American, and 'Clueless' was 70% more gay and diverse.

Between this, 'Clueless', and the 2020 film adaptation, I've come to realise I like 'Emma' adaptations more than the 'Emma' novel.

'Mismatched' - sometimes imperfection is the point, ya know? Especially when it's queer.

Final Score: 3.5/5