On a Sunbeam
is a 2016 webcomic by Tillie Walden.
Throughout the deepest reaches of space, shy captain Char, team mom Alma, hot-headed Jules, and silent Elliot serve as a reconstruction crew, rebuilding beautiful and broken-down structures and painstakingly putting the past together. As Mia, the newest member, gets to know her team, the story flashes back to her pivotal year in boarding school, where she fell in love with a mysterious new student named Grace. But Mia hasn't forgotten her lost love, and the crew knows more than she realizes about the girl from her past.
The comic was published as a single volume in 2018 by First Second.
This show provides examples of:
- Cast Full of Gay: Nearly every girl/woman in the cast is shown to like women, and we never see any straight couples because there are no male characters.
- Cult Colony: The first project Mia works on with the crew was one of these, before the followers went to The Staircase to look for their missing leader, and never came back.
- Fictional Sport: The school sport of Mia and Grace's boarding school is Lux, where teams build their own mini spaceships and have to find colored orbs in pitch-black tunnels. Mia is a huge fan.
- From Bad to Worse: First, the crew gets separated in The Staircase. Then, Elliot is severely wounded, Alma and Char are captured, and Jules is poisoned. They get better, though.
- Gamer Chick: Jules is by far the most competitive of the crew when they play video or tabletop games.
- Hated by All: Elliot has this in The Staircase because they killed an Eldritch Abomination alien who had in its turn killed their teacher. Since the inhabitants of The Staircase view protecting its unique lifeforms as a nearly sacred duty, Elliot is risking their life simply returning there, and sure enough, is attacked by an angry mob and very nearly killed in short order.
- I Will Find You: Mia hasn't forgotten about Grace, and traverses The Staircase to find her and say goodbye.
- Important Haircut: Mia gets her hair cut very short right before their mission to find Grace.
- Mama Bear: Alma can be this to Jules, because Jules is her niece, and after losing her sister, Alma doesn't want Jules to die as well.
- Nonchalant Dodge / Offhand Backhand: Elliot does this to Jules & Mia during their first combat training session in order to get them to take it seriously.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Elliot talks, you know something is wrong.
- One-Gender School: Mia and Grace met at Cleary's School for Girls.
- One Degree of Separation:
- Char, Alma, and Elliot were the crew that brought Grace from The Staircase to her school, where she met Mia.
- The teacher at Cleary's School who later suggested Mia join the crew is Alma's oldest sister and Jules' other aunt.
- Scenery Porn: Walden's gorgeous illustrations of space can take up multiple pages.
- Space Clouds: Walden's art style often depicts space like this.
- The Smurfette Principle: Inverted, sort of. There is one named male in the entire series, and he's a cat. One character is nonbinary, but every other character depicted is a girl/woman.
- Surprisingly Happy Ending: After all of the various troubles the crew encounter in The Staircase (Alma & Char imprisoned, Elliot attacked and nearly killed, Jules poisoned and in a coma), the story ends with one of these: Char & Alma quit working to live quietly in their home, Elliot & Jules both recover fully, Mia is named the new captain of the crew, and Grace decides to accompany them.
- The Voiceless: Elliot doesn't speak although as seen late in the story, this is by choice and they can speak if they want to.
- Trans Tribulations: After Char gets put on leave, her replacement captain seems very stubborn in not learning Elliot's pronouns. Luckily, the crew is on Elliot's side, and Jules gives her hell for it later on.
- True Companions: The crew of Sunbeam
