Paper Planes from Mad Cave’s Maverick imprint is an emotionally charged OGN coming out on May 16, 2023. At a remedial summer camp two teens struggle with how to actually express themselves. With a lot of unresolved tensions between them and new friends on the horizon, comes a remarkably bittersweet story.
Paper Planes Synopsis
From the official newsletter:
Leighton Worthington and Dylan Render have always been inseparable, but when they’re both shipped off to a summer camp for troubled youth in the aftermath of a life-altering event, their lifelong friendship is put to the test.
Neither ‘chose’ to be there, but they’ll need a positive evaluation from the camp to avoid being sent away, so they can continue attending high school with their friends. The challenges of camp pushes the once-inseparable Dylan and Leighton onto personal journeys of self-discovery that force them to re-examine the incident that threatens their futures, explore the friendship they have shared for so long, and discover the type of person each of them truly wants to be.
Self-Expression Is (Practically) An Expense
The writer Jennie Wood uses Paper Planes to explore some personal grievances. It’s why almost all of the characters feel so human. Between the two leads there’s a sense of needing to come out as outsiders. Only for those internal needs to be at odds with external ones. Leighton never looks comfortable without Dylan around and even then there’s still a tenuous atmosphere. That’s mainly because Leighton has always been forced out of her comfort zone to pretend to fit in. Dylan meanwhile always feels on guard to anyone but Leighton. But it’s really because they never really had anyone else to share those grievances with.
But other than with Leighton’s parents, it’s not like anyone’s not empathetic enough. Most of the time, the characters look like they have so much going on they don’t have time to connect. Even a bully towards Leighton and Dylan has similar problems, not being allowed to express herself out of privilege.
Paper Planes Highlights Who Falls Between The Cracks
Then there’s our titular form of communication. The way Dozerdraws puts detail into the paper design and the flights they travel show the distance between the leads. Plus with how Micah Myers places the lettering, it delivers just about everything Leighton and Dylan can’t with actions. Between these exchanges are a genuine sense of melancholy and anxiety about life’s transitions. This includes everything our leads want out of their lives and what they had to sacrifice to get them. It makes the conclusion all the more bittersweet; hopeful for a better future with Dylan, but concern for the still emotionally repressed Leighton.
Anything You Want To Send?
Paper Planes is going to be one of the best things to come out of a year that’s only begun. The characters are all so memorably human in the best ways. I may not be on the queer spectrums, but as someone who struggled with communication, this tugged at my heartstrings. This OGN gets 10/10.
Thanks for coming to the end and as always remember to look between the panels.