Graphic Novel Review: Zeroed Out: A Sci-Fi Rom-Com by Jim Munroe and Eric Kim

Posted on October 16, 2025 at 6:47 am by Gene Ambaum

Zeroed Out: A Sci-Fi Rom-Com by Jim Munroe and Eric Kim (artist). At Bay Press, 2025. 9781998779673. 163pp.

Offworlders and their tech have improved life for most folks on Earth. But Matias lost a girlfriend to one of the shapeshifting offworlders. Now he has a job working for them that’s so boring that all he can think about is how lonely he is. (He spends all day overwriting hard drives with zeroes.) But things start to change after his offworlder boss, Sam, introduces himself. At work, Sam looks like a neanderthal, and finds it refreshing how honestly Matias talks to him. Sam offers Matias overtime as an advisor, and Matias accepts. Matias soon finds out that on weekends Sam chooses to appear as an incredibly attractive young woman, and that Sam is lonely, too.

The whole story is super weird, a not-quite-romance that goes in unexpected directions and which I thoroughly enjoyed. Between this graphic novel and Munroe’s prose novel We Are Raccoons I’ve become a fan, and plan to continue seeking out his work in books and other media.

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