Paper Planes

One of the most confusing books I've ever read.
The good: i liked the art style. Cricket (side-character with way too little impact on the story) was my favorite because she was a genuinely cool, funny and considerate person and i wish more would have happened with her. I also liked how diverse the characters were (bipoc and queer) (and even a romanian character which probably no one cares about but i do cuz hey that's me). I also liked how passionate Dylan was, about Leighton and about becoming an astronaut.
The bad: this book has dual POV (Leighton and Dylan) and the scenes would way too often switch from present to past which made it hard for me to understand what's going on. I also felt like some of the flashbacks were unnecessary and weren't 100% chronological. The ages of the characters make no sense. All the action happened before they got in highschool which makes them 14 at most. They were sent to a summer camp for troubled kids because they had a car accident after Dylan stole a car because they ran away after they pushed Mandy (the bully) into the pool who hit her head and lost consciousness temporarily. Besides that, Dylan (who's supposed to be the poor kid) got a permanent tattoo of a rocket on their hand. Also, Leighton being rich feels like such a random trait because it doesn't influence her that much.
The worse: In the present we're shown how Leighton is playing hot and cold with Dylan. In the past, we are shown how they were best friends and how BOTH of them caught feelings for each other. Leighton initiated the first kiss with Dylan. Later on, Leighton takes a picture of them kissing. And suddenly, Leighton ghosts Dylan and goes to a school dance with a random guy she has no feelings for. And now Leighton is asexual. Asexuality is NOT the same as aromanticism. If she truly became aromantic we don't know how and why. And if she truly was asexual, that shouldn't have been a problem for someone who is still in middle school.
The cherry on top: remember Mandy? Stereotypical long blonde haired, blue eyed, pink dress girl bully? The story ends with her in the first day of high school looking very badass (half shaved head, black dress) and being genuinely nice to Dylan for no reason.

Paper Planes follows Dylan and Leighton, childhood best friends who are sent to a summer camp as a punishment, and the navigation of both their fractured friendship and camp activities.

I loved the artwork in this and thought the illustrations and colouring was really well done. I also appreciate the LGBTQ+ rep, with a non-binary MC and an aromantic asexual MC with other sapphic/queer characters also on-page.

A lot of what's going on in this graphic novel is hinted at but then fully revealed over the course of the story. Flashbacks form a major part and help to give context to both why the main characters are at a summer camp and how their friendship has developed over time. Whilst I understand this as a storytelling device and it did somewhat work, it also seemed to slow down the pace of the storyline a little bit.

I wish I had liked this more than I did, but I think there was just too much going on which made it difficult to give ample focus to all the storylines they had going on. Romance is woven throughout but only one pairing is adequately addressed. Given that this is presumably a standalone, introducing any topic that isn't resolved is somewhat frustrating as a reader and takes away from other storylines which could've been fleshed out more. There is also the trope of a bully targeting someone they have a crush on which isn't the greatest trope in the world but is another aspect that is introduced and then not properly addressed. The final pairing is something that was hinted at but never spoken about between the characters involved. The interactions between these characters could've definitely been changed to either expand upon the possible connections introduced, or to give an increased focus to other issues that the graphic novel wanted to tackle.

Racism and classism also form part of the story, but again not enough attention has been given to either. There is a subplot with the MC exploring their heritage but it seems to be placed into the story with no build-up, addressed quickly, and then not really brought up again. Classism is also huge and is one of the main reasons why the MCs have a fraught friendship (and why one of the MCs is bullied throughout) but isn't really confronted until the end of the graphic novel in a conversation which doesn't take place between the MCs. I admire the number of important issues the writer wanted to explore, but I think too many were chosen.

Honestly, this graphic novel could've easily been another 100 pages longer and probably would've been better for it. Whilst I thought this didn't live up to it's potential, I would read another graphic novel or other project from those who were involved in this one.