Of all the binging of comics I've suddenly been on recently, 'Mall Goth' is one of the few I remember the most. It really stuck with me after reading, and quite literally overnight I realised just how endearing, human, real and intense it is for a "cartoony" slice-of-life graphic novel set in the early 2000s about a bisexual goth teenage girl. It can be relatable to a lot of people, and helpful to a lot of people, to both teens and adults, in dealing with their own issues. Also, for its dark and potentially traumatising and triggering subject matters it explores, 'Mall Goth' is oddly adorable. You certainly won't be able to forget its realistic and charming cast of characters.
Openly bisexual fifteen-year-old goth girl Olivia "Liv" Holme has just moved into a new town with her mother, and this is her story. It's about her navigating her new school, trusting others enough again to gradually forge new friendships, her strained relationship with her mother in the midst of her absent father and her parents' potential divorce, and her getting into a relationship with a fellow goth boy... and her English teacher (child grooming, and internet chatrooms with adults, in the early 2000s... oh goddess, but at least this is dealt with seriously at the end of the comic). Oh, and she gets a job as a costumed bunny at the local mall, where her mum also works, along with Liv's new "boyfriend"'s security guard aunt.Yeah, for a comic titled 'Mall Goth', Liv exploring and finding solace in a mall doesn't factor into it much. At best it's a regular hangout for the cast, and for fast foods, video games, arcades, and Liv's humiliating job.
'Mall Goth' is all about the goth girl's stresses at home, at school, and with other people, taking place over the winter period. Again, trust issues, messy relationships - not to mention inappropriate, predatory and illegal student-and-teacher relationships - are subject matters here, and it can be triggering (nothing too explicit is shown, however, which is appreciated), yet maybe kind of cathartic towards the end. I mean FFS, the teacher actually hands the student a copy of 'Lolita' - he couldn't be more on the nose if he tried.
It's not all gothic doom and gloom, though, for there is fun to be had in some good, well-written humorous moments, and in video games, dance pads, rad goth jackets, cute early 2000s pop culture references (plus references to Lydia Deetz, Morticia Addams, Evanescence, and other goth girl paraphernalia), showing acceptance in someone's sexuality via pins, the message of being yourself, female friendships (all the female characters are brilliant, it has to be said), and a solution to a love triangle that is like a spiritual successor (or, since it is set in 2003, maybe its predecessor?) to Korrasami.
Liv wears a 'Sailor Moon' pajama top at one point! How could I not adore this!?
Finally, the part where the heartbroken, confused, stressed and depressed Liv says "Why can't my brain ever just shut up?", I felt that so hard. Tragically, everyone goes through moments like these in their life, at any age. Happiness, contentment and stability are in fact very difficult to come by, especially these days, and in the early 2000s.
One noteworthy negative criticism: the lack of POC characters. There's Shea the mean-girl-turned-friend, and she barely manages to escape the background, and I think the goth boy Jake and his aunt Alice are POC?
'Mall Goth' - recommended to all goth girls, and goths of all genders (this comic by nonbinary/genderfluid author Kate Leth does acknowledge other genders existing, which is an awesome statement for its time period), and lovers of the gothic. Who just want to live their lives, and find hope that things will get better.
Final Score: 3.5/5
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