User Reviews
Rating: really liked it
I think this is probably now one of my favourite books ever.
Rating: really liked it
Read here Preferably at 2am while curled up under blanket and contemplating existence.
"I read that chapter you showed me. About how I should think of all the circuits and wires like they're roads. And that it's like one big map. Every part is unique, but they're all connected. I think I sorta get it . . ." 
Mia begins her adult life and gets a job in reconstruction with a small team which consist of two married women, a niece of one of them, and a non-binary person. But the story is not linear - it also takes us 5 years back to Mia experiencing her first love. So, there're two stories:
Mia and her chosen family on the ship and
Mia and Grace. They interwind and finally merge together.
Every part is unique, but they're all connected. 
This story made me feel things I didn't know I could feel. I cried, cried, cried. And I regret not one tear.
The art is simple but not lazy or boring. This simplicity gives every detail much more impact and keeps the focus on all the intense emotions.
I love how the scarce usage of colours left me wondering about the meaning of each of them. The story starts with only two and both of them are cold. We get purple for present and blue for the past. Progressively, warmer hues are added. It usually happens when Mia feels something - when somebody leaves some impact.
I like to think that the present purple came from Mia's blue and the red she felt with Grace.
You know this edits ‘x song heard from the other room’? Somehow Mia’s emotions managed to capture the essence of it. It’s like a distant song about longing heard from the room you’re not in anymore while you try to get on with your life. Mia wants to get some closure. And she's ready to work hard even if that's the only thing she ever gets. She goes after Grace with no expectations other than saying goodbye.
She grows from an impulsive little girl into an amazing mature woman.
And she gains much more than she thought she would. 
__________________________
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Rating: really liked it
This is the most expansive, unique, deeply emotional story I’ve read in a long time. It has humor and passion and love and family and the dedication to tell a story the right way with the most beautiful images. It’s also my new favorite graphic novel of all time.
Rating: really liked it
I still squeal with glee whenever I think about this book. Honestly, On A Sunbeam by the immensely talented Tillie Walden is such a balm for my soul and I’ve returned to it many times when I needed something to cheer me up. Set in a non-specific future--one far enough in the future where human civilizations have come and gone across it’s galaxy leaving long lost secrets--the book intertwines a present narrative of a building restoration crew with the school-age past of its newest member, Mia. Having had a beautiful love story with her schoolmate Grace ripped from her, Mia is adrift in life, looking for a place to belong and a means to believe in herself. This is a book where you will laugh, cry and swell with love along with the characters. Told through absolutely gorgeous artwork, On a Sunbeam is an incredibly moving story about finding yourself and found-families that come together in love and support for one another.
It's like the older you get the more you forget that you can change things.Having struggled with feelings of underachievement despite a strong drive to do what she wants, Mia finds solace in a shy new student, Grace, at her boarding school. Right as it starts, Grace is taken away and lost to Mia in the vastness of the universe. In the present she has joined a crew that restores buildings, often ancient ruins. The first half of the book is an emotional buildup that covers love, loss, friendship and loyalty that presents a lot of mystery to be unveiled in the second, more action-y half of the book. Who and what is the Staircase, why has El refrained from speaking for years, why did Grace have to leave so abruptly? The second half is less emotionally engaging yet lives up to the promise of the premise.
While the story alone is an engaging emotional roller coaster, the artwork is what truly sends it soaring. Tillie Walden is simply brilliant at her work. Publishing her first graphic novel, The End of Summer, at the age of 19, she would go on to become one of the youngest recipients to the Eisner Award at 22 with her lovely autobiographical book Spinning. On a Sunbeam--winner of the Lost Angeles Times Book Prize and also nominated for an Eisner--features breathtaking art in minimal color palettes from sprawling sci-fi landscapes to her wonderfully expressive signature character designs.
There is something so incredibly freeing about this book and Walden has the perfect touch to bring about a whole slew of feelings. It is particularly sensitive to the feelings of the reader as well as it’s characters, handling gracefully queer romances and non-binary characters such as El. El does not speak for the majority of the novel and this alludes to a tragedy that they must have faced in their past. Each character in the found-family respects one another for their differences and acknowledges how that helps them be a better team together. Walden also sets up a bittersweet LGBTQ love story set in an ambiguous sci-fi universe where men seem to not even be present (at least not within the scope of the book). While someone may likely make an argument how that minimizes LGBTQ struggles by erasing the violence and bigotry faced, it was nice to enjoy a story for one where the struggles faced aren’t so front and center in the coming-of-age aspect and can be treated with the same sense of normalcy hetero love stories have been priveledged with forever. There is a racial divide (something that is a motif in the tragic love plots in nearly all of Walden’s work), but the ambiguous utopian sense in this book works especially because no attention is drawn to it. I was nearly finished with my first read before I even realized it. I sort of love how there is no explanation, two mothers just have daughters and we accept it and that's cool (I was similarly charmed in the tv series She-Ra where Bow has two fathers and 8 brothers and that's just how it is).
While the love story seems to drive much of the action, at its heart On a Sunbeam is a story about accepting yourself and finding your place in the universe. One of the final frames perfectly and wordlessly drives this point home in a single shot that will instantly start pumping the tears. This is about finding strength in yourself, learning to receive love as well as give it, and trusting in those you love. It's one to revisit if you ever need to remind yourself to love yourself, or to just sit in awe at Walden's sheer genius and artistic glory. This is such a gorgeous novel and I love to share it with others. Do yourself a favor and check it out, especially if you need a little soul soothing.
5 / 5
Rating: really liked it
Tillie Walden's fictional world is my new home !♥️
Rating: really liked it
Such a delightful and thoughtful read. I loved the multiple timelines, the way Tillie played with colour to differentiate not just between two timelines, but later also to guide the reader through scenarios as the characters split up. I was really impressed by how it both feels very cosy, whimsical and nostalgic, while being full of action, drama and intense relationships. And it left out just enough of the world building and character backgrounds to keep you wondering! I can see how at some points the visualisation could leave people a bit confused, but if you stick with the story, it all comes together wonderfully. This is one that will stay with me for a long time and I can't wait to read more of Tillie Walden's graphic novels. Also: 💫🚀 s p a c e ✨😍
Rating: really liked it
12/21/18: Just to say that thought I read this for a long time in web-comic format, I recommend the recently published paperback version I just got from the library. Some observations: I bet the (visual) tone of it is much darker than Walden intended. This is just something that struck me after reading the larger images online, that when the images were shrunk for the book format, they got darker, of course. But for a book with sun in the title, it seems more moon than sun(ny) now. Still, after the tome Spinning from last year, Sunbeam is 532 pages! Who is as prolific as this, and maintaining this stunning standard for drawing!? But no, I am not going to sit down and reread it again right now, sorry, to see if I might like the story better in this format. I bet I would, though.
On a Sunbeam is a 20 chapter long webcomic that has been collected in a one volume edition I just ordered so I can see if it reads better as a book, though I suspect it will.
I read it all here:
http://www.onasunbeam.com
The name for the comic was inspired, Walden says, by a Belle and Sebastian song title, “Asleep on a Sunbeam;” you can listen to it as you read the comic or this review:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTyXO...
The comic is gorgeous but feels very (too) long, maybe in part due to the webcomic format, but not much really happens. One whole chapter is wordless, but many panels are wordless, and not much talking takes place. Not much action, either. The story features Mia, and her friend Grace. The rest is hard to relate, really. Mia isn’t good at school, which takes place in a floating, crumbling building in space. Part of the work the girls do is rebuild the various rooms in the building. They go to The Staircase, a planet they visit, where Mia gets lost. This gives Walden a chance to draw space stuff and a new planet. This is a space fantasy, where the action is less important than everything the reader/viewer brings to the story. Nothing happens for any clear reason, but then the story is no really the point here.
The point is really that Walden likes to draw architecture, and girls—there are no men in this story at all, as in only moms, no dads, and some of the girls—all of the girls?!—are either in relationships with each other or not yet. This is glbtq space, too, obviously. The women/girls often look very much alike—Walden loves to draw women, but she has her preferences for drawing young, thin, waifs, the stuff of youthful fantasy.
In addition to doing stuff with architecture of the crumbling school what else do they do? They study, they take tests, they participate in a spaceship race, the Lux competition, they get in anguished emotional scuffles. And these are young women—the physical intimacy depicted here is basically hugs and looking into each other’s eyes, and a couple kisses. It’s all feels, few words. The relationships gets depicted as a series of tableaux, in pastels. It’s images of relationships. These are young, lovely, lean women of a certain privilege, a private girls’ school, basically. They are not in real peril, no one is starving or really hurt.
I say all that like it’s a bad thing, but it is hard to believe anyone could give the stunning art for this volume anything less than 7 stars, it’s just breath-taking, accomplished by a young genius of an artist. Unbelievably prolific—you can follow her on Twitter, Instagram and she posts stuff multiple times a day, and it is awesome. So this comic mainly exists for the art, and the rest is feels, the hugs, the sweetness and the non-speaking shy anguish. If you want to skip the dialogue and just look at it, that would be perfectly acceptable, I think.
I began reading it April 2018, read some, stopped, came back to it in August, finished it now in a 6 chapter rush, so the story is not exactly compelling, I say. I rate it 3.5 to distinguish it from the shorter comics from her Is--so far--seem to prefer.
As with Monstress, you don’t really know what is going on in the world, and you don’t really deeply know any of the characters, but the feelings generated and the art will make many readers fall in love with it. I love Walden’s art and read her other long form story, Spinning, and thought that was similarly okay as a story, but I think I prefer the short stuff if it is going to just be atmospherically pretty. When Walden gets the right story to tell, when she marries that to her stunning art, that will be amazing. I will keep reading her stuff no doubt. She's one of the best already.
Rating: really liked it
From the author of Spinning which I loved. This is a story set in space in what feels like the future. Lots of imagination on display here with great new things. I love the spaceship which looks like a flying fish.
I did have issue with this story. To me, the girls looked similar for the most part and I couldn't keep up who was who and what was going on. It was fairly confusing for me and I'm not entirely sure what just happened. Many things are never explained. Who is Ell? What is she wanted for? What is the staircase? I mean so many questions never answered. I suppose that is like life right.
I know there are Grace and Mia and it was a world full of girls, there were no male characters. There are flashbacks between Mia working a job in a spaceship and when she went to boarding school. I thought the art was engaging; it drew you in and it was a feeling of otherworldlyness to it. It was good, but I couldn't distinguish this characters.
This is unique and interesting and a good story. I simply struggled to understand a bit.
Rating: really liked it
Absolutely stunning.
Rating: really liked it
4.5 stars
I honestly wish all comics were like 500 pages and had this level of character development. So beautiful and I legit cried at certain points
Watch me discuss this in my June wrap up: https://youtu.be/V8XoY3vzEaw
Rating: really liked it
3.5 stars. This graphic novel was gorgeously illustrated, with some lovely art of space that I just had to take a bunch of pictures of. I liked the f/f romance aspect of it and the way it was portrayed, but I felt I couldn’t really get attached to the characters very much and the plot wasn’t the most original. Would recommend picking this up though!
Rating: really liked it
rep: sapphic mc, Black sapphic li, interracial sapphic couple (Black & Latino), nonbinary character, sapphic parents, side sapphic couples
this is just so Wholesome!! restored my faith in humanity and invented romance
also okay two points: 1) there is not a single man in the whole story & 2) basically everyone is sapphic
Rating: really liked it
Nice art and good character development.
I liked the first half, which is two stories five years apart connected by the main character. In one she is a rebellious schoolgirl experiencing first love; in the other a recent graduate at her first job, restoring old buildings. In spaaaaace.
In the middle the actual plot begins to emerge and I didn't find it very satisfactory in terms of any of the characters' motivations.
And I am a little puzzled as to what it means to have non-binary gender in a world that appears to have only women in it. Please set me straight if I am being dumb here.
But it was still an okay book that I would recommend to someone looking for stories about adventure and friendship among women. I would probably read something else by author/illustrator.
Rating: really liked it
2.5 stars.
The artwork in this was beautiful and the story was cute in certain parts but overall this was mediocre.
Major plot holes took away from my enjoyment of the book and left me with more questions than answers.
It used a mute character as a plot device for shock value.
The pretty artwork focused more on aesthetics than creating an understandable panel.
I know this is petty but at one point a hand was very clearly drawn backwards and that also took me out of the story.
I’m pretty sure there are no men in this universe yet a character is non binary. Which makes you wonder how someone can be non binary if there is no binary. It implies there could be trans characters as well but how would that work in a world with only females? Again more questions than answers.
Rating: really liked it
why did goodreads delete my original review repeating “oh my god” fifty times :(
reread 12/27/20: I did not love this as much as the first time I read this BUT it’s still one of my favorite graphic novels/webcomics! This is a beautifully illustrated book about found family sapphics in space and making your way back to people you once lost, following a crew on a spaceship as they renovate old places and eventually attempt to track down a past love. The colors of the art are so gorgeous and exude the perfect sort of quiet calmness that you can only find in space, and I appreciated the art so much more reading it again (in physical format this time!). The found family is probably my favorite part of the story; it’s so tender to see the way the characters have come to love each other in their own different ways, especially those who are a little lost and trying to find their path. On a Sunbeam is a quiet, simple story imbued with love and brought to life with soft art that replicates the feeling of being welcomed home.
:: representation :: wlw MC and I think every single female character is wlw (there are no men), wlw Black LI, non-binary character, wlw Black character
:: content warnings :: bullying, misgendering, violence, blood, murder
