... magnificent ... As with [Walden's previous project,]Spinning, [On a Sunbeam] can be hard to equal in prose the comic’s inviting, spare line work, use of black-and-white, and expressive qualities. (Walden can make one pen stroke on one character’s face equal two pages of dialogue.) ... On a Sunbeam is less like any other American comic, page by page, than it is like a film by Hayao Miyazaki. For Walden, faces and bodies are not types or dummies for action scenes but ways to convey emotion and expression, even as the backdrops—speleological, astronomical, aquatic, or forested—flourish and shine. Walden’s dialogue—never talky, but never too sparse to follow—complements her characters’ body language; it also brings out the feeling of ninth and tenth grade, when every impediment seems like an apocalypse, and every kind word like an angel’s violin ... Like all science-fictional utopias, On a Sunbeam feels imperfect, even (to quote Ursula K. Le Guin) 'ambiguous.' But it also feels magnificent: it’s a world in which many readers would want to live, and a way to envision solutions to real-life problems that seem intractable now.
With On a Sunbeam, Walden has created a science-fiction universe that is about women, queer love, old buildings, and big trees. It may piss off science-fiction purists... The most endearing aspect of On a Sunbeam is the confidence the narrative has in the world it exists within. The fish-shaped spaceship becomes a silent character, its face seemingly straining as it flies. Walden doesn’t create fake scientific-sounding explanations for why the ship is shaped this way—it just is ... Walden creates the intoxicating effect of a universe as mysterious as our real one.
Fans of Walden’s work will be happy and unsurprised to learn that the book lives up to Walden’s reputation ... The book is well over 500 pages, heavy and satisfying to flip through. Walden usually works with limited color palettes, and On A Sunbeam is no exception. Two alternating timelines are washed in blue and purple respectively, with amber yellows and shades of red used to accent both ... The End of Summer and On A Sunbeam share something truly special thanks to Walden’s skill with world-building ... Part of what makes that sense of scale so important for On A Sunbeam is that Walden has removed many of the markers that readers would regularly rely on to understand a setting ... she lets her imagination take flight, sometimes literally ... Walden sinks her characters’ roots deep, building solid foundations for them to stand on ... hopefully there’s many more years to come of her beautiful work.
Walden draws on the defamiliarizing conventions of the sci-fi genre in a smart and surprising way ... Although the text of On a Sunbeam is limited entirely to dialogue, without captions or omniscient narration, Walden’s drawing style, recalling both H.R. Giger and Hayao Miyazaki, creates a productive tension between the characters’ absorption in one another and the relative vastness of the universe they inhabit. Walden draws the reader in not just with her story but with her transcendent renderings of crumbling architecture, starscapes, and alien forests. Though categorized as a young adult book, On a Sunbeam is a true work of art that deserves a place in the libraries of lovers of comics, sci-fi, romance, or literary fiction of any age.
Maybe it’s the sunset colors. Maybe it’s the Ghibli-esque artwork. Or maybe it’s the enduring story of young love. Whatever it is, On a Sunbeam is the most devastatingly beautiful comic I have ever read ... Why have I become so emotional over such a relatively happy story of young love and space adventure? While on the surface, the comic is happy, the quality of the narrative, the artwork, and the bittersweet moments between lovers old and young, is overwhelmingly lovely. Walden’s work reminds readers that comics — elusive as the medium may be — is a striking art form that can capture the depth and power of human emotion. Additionally, Walden’s dedication to telling stories about young queer people should not be undervalued.
Award-winning cartoonist Tillie Walden’s latest book, On a Sunbeam, is a sumptuous feast for the eyes and the heart. Originally a web comic, Walden’s sci-fi graphic novel amazes and inspires ... Love, loss, adventure and discovery of new worlds are free to take center stage, not the tired girl-love-in-a-straight-world trope ... This remarkable and compelling book, filled with stunning ink and color art, will keep readers entranced for a long time.
The sparking interplay between familiar and foreign is utterly mesmerizing, and the story carries that through as well: the sf components are inventive and compellingly strange, but the romance between Mia and Grace, not to mention the warm, teasing affection among Mia’s crewmates, grounds the story in a heartening, recognizable place. A remarkable, stunning comic.
...a fantastical queer coming of age tale ... With as much reflection as it has action, On a Sunbeam takes the reader on a quiet, thoughtful journey through all different shades of love as well as the risks worth taking for it ... Above all the resonance comes from the comic’s dreamlike quality ... That magic-realist approach is present through the project as a whole ... What On a Sunbeam ultimately has to offer is thematic, its soft exploration of human attachment ... And that brings me to the art, which is simply gorgeous ... It’s a willfully tender message that is reflected at all levels of the comic, one I found heartwarming.
Tillie Walden’s new sci-fi graphic novel On a Sunbeam, has a radical conceit of its own: there are no men ... Even more radically, this fact is completely incidental to the plot. It’s a credit to the storytelling that the question of what the book is trying to say by not including men is amongst the least interesting questions it poses ... Just go with it — it’s all-female space Hogwarts with swears ... OAS is not a taut 533 pages. It meanders, but even at the slackest points, with the least conflict or plot, it’s interesting to observe the characters and what they’re up to ... Whatever issues I have with the story, they’re small in the context of the larger work, which still makes for an immersive and satisfying read. The art is compelling and Walden excels at digital color ... as a graphic novel, it’s still a fun read and a crazy-impressive testament to one young auteur’s creativity and work ethic.
The exquisite art foregrounds simply lined characters against intricate architectural constructs, and Walden’s distinctive layers of flat color create temporal cohesion and emphasize themes of memory and family. As Walden develops the relationships, and drops tantalizing hints about the vast universe this graphic novel inhabits, it becomes clear that the meandering, atmospheric journey—and the growth it affords each character—is the point. With a gratifying conclusion, this masterful blend of science fiction–inflected school drama, road trip, and adventure is nothing less than marvelous.
At times both gently romantic and heartbreaking, the story ultimately celebrates love and the importance of chosen family ... An affirming love story full of intriguing characters and a suspenseful plot.
