Atomic Sheep

UNDERDONE

Initially, this low-key, slice of life graphic novel draws the eye; the story of a sixteen-year-old geeky artistic girl, thrown out of her complacent life and into a new, threatening world of boarding school, it’s got promise.

But promises are all we get. Like Tamrika’s parents’ half-arsed motivation for sending her away from home, (they’re not leaving the country; she hasn’t transgressed and is being sent there as a punishment; they just… want her to go to their old school), it lacks backbone. It sort of muddles along, introducing characters and not doing anything with them, piddling out without any resolution or character evolution… it’s actually a bit too much like real life, in its unformed fuzziness. Relationships almost develop between Tami and her various classmates, but plot points are waved in front of the reader and discarded.

You press on, hoping that something will come of it, because you want to like it; Thompson’s style is immensely engaging and likeable, with the nuances of uncertain emotion among her teenage cast beautifully portrayed. It’s a joy to look at.

The frustration comes when you try to read it, and there’s no there there. To call it slight would actually be giving it more gravitas than it deserves.

Thompson’s illustrations and page structure are a joy to behold; when she teams up with someone who actually has a story to tell, I suspect the results will be quite remarkable.

But she’s certainly not there yet.

Oh, and the significance of the title? No idea. Nor has she, I suspect.