Paper Planes

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.