Tom Taylor (text) and Jon Sommariva (illustrator), Neverlanders, Penguin Random House Australia, September 2022, 192 pp., RRP $22.99 (pbk), ISBN 978761049071
If you think of the story of Peter Pan, add a whole lot of action, some agile quick-thinking kids and an incessant stream of dramatic twists and turns then you’ll be getting close to the chaos and mayhem of Neverlanders, a retelling of the gentile (by comparison) classic by J.M Barrie originally written as a play in 1904.
It’s wild in this reinterpreted Neverland. Tinkerbell is not the demure fairy we came to know, and the beloved Peter Pan has disappeared to be replaced by Bee, the feisty and clever leader of a band of runaways. Together, these lost souls are intent on creating a good and safe environment in which they can live happily but this dream can only be a reality if they overcome their devious and violent pirate foe.
Neverlanders is a graphic novel; the visual aspect being every bit as important as the text, at times more important. Bestselling and highly awarded author screenwriter Tom Taylor has written numerous animated series, and both Tom and artist, Jon Sommariva have created and sold millions of comic books worldwide in their own right.
In this coming together of their talents, Neverlanders presents as a vibrant, complex, and attention-catching book; there is action and drama on every page. However, it seemed to take a long time to get to the gist of the story and the text is minimal to say the least. It is the images that bring the story to life, perhaps as one would expect of the structure of a graphic novel. I am usually a keen reader of graphic novels and a devotee of the Anime genre, but Neverlanders was a struggle. A younger audience may find hidden gems I missed along the way.
Reviewed by Jennifer Mors
