Straight On Till Morning: A Twisted Tale Graphic Novel

by Liz Braswell, Noor Sofi (Illustrator), Stephanie Kate Strohm (Adapter)

Disney's Peter Pan gets a twisted, graphic novel makeover in this reimagined YA story that asks, "What if Wendy first traveled to Never Land...with Captain Hook?"

Sixteen-year-old Wendy Darling’s life is not what she imagined it would be. After nearly meeting her hero, Peter Pan, four years earlier, she still holds on to his shadow—and the hope that his magical home truly exists.

So when the chance to travel to Never Land arises, Wendy makes a deal with Peter’s nemesis in exchange for passage. But the Never Land she discovers isn’t the wondrous place she Peter is nowhere to be found, and his pixie friend Tinker Bell refuses to speak to her.

Still, when Captain Hook reveals some evil and rather permanent plans for Never Land, it’s up to Wendy and Tink to save Peter Pan—and his world.

Genres: Graphic Novels, Fantasy, Young Adult, Retellings, Comics, Fiction, Fairy Tales

156 pages, Paperback

Published June 11, 2024

About the author

After the sort of introverted childhood you would expect from a writer, Liz earned a degree in Egyptology at Brown University and then promptly spent the next ten years producing video games. Finally she caved into fate and wrote Snow and Rx under the name Tracy Lynn, followed by The Nine Lives of Chloe King series under her real name, because by then the assassins hunting her were all dead. She also has short stories in Geektastic and Who Done It and a new series of reimagined fairy tales coming out, starting with A Whole New World—a retelling of Aladdin.
She lives in Brooklyn with a husband, two children, a cat, a part-time dog, three fish and five coffee trees she insists will start producing beans any day. You can email her at me@lizbraswell.com.

Reviews

[Stephanie]

I need them to make ALL THE TWISTED TALES INTO GRAPHIC NOVELS.

ETA: I am so curious about them, even if I don't love love them, but I definitely don't want to read the full novels. These graphic novels are beautiful and so easy and quick to read.

[Alex(Books-In-A-Storm) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Beautiful, just absolutely beautiful. I need more.

[Alex Richey · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art was so well done. The story and sequencing were a mess though.

[Natalie · Rating 3 out of 5]

The art was gorgeous; the story was meh (though to be fair I wasn’t a huge fan of the original twisted tale either).

[Esmee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wat een fijne graphic novel! Ik ben dol op de Disney films en kan een goede hervertelling daarom ook waarderen. Straight on till morning is een echt girls girl verhaal en ben nu ook erg benieuwd naar het echt boek zonder illustraties.

[Amanda [Novel Addiction] · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very entertaining. A fun twist on the original story.

[Blue · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked it! Focussing on Wendy's relationship with Tink was an excellent choice!

[Chenoa · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Sesana · Rating 3 out of 5]

I hope these Twisted Tale graphic novels keep coming. I like the idea of these books, but never wanted to invest the time of reading the entire series. Here, the point of departure from Peter Pan is that Peter never came back for his shadow. Eventually, this leads to an older Wendy, desperate to escape the adulthood her parents have planned for her, using Peter's shadow to bargain with Hook for passage to Neverland. This leads to adventure for Wendy, of course, mostly without Peter at all. More surprisingly, Wendy and Tinker Belle end up developing a close friendship. This retelling manages to touch on many of the themes the original version of Peter Pan tackled, just with a heavier hand and more obvious messaging. This isn't necessarily a bad thing in every situation, but there were too many people calmly explaining to Hook that Peter represents his lost youth. The last couple of pages are really lovely ending for Wendy, and I thought that overall she felt like she could have been a slightly older version of the girl from the movie.

[Cherlynn | cherreading · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not familiar with the original Peter Pan, so I'm not sure if this affected my enjoyment here.

The art was gorgeous, the characters and costumes looked wonderful, and I loved all the beautiful hues and colours. But the story felt lacklustre, choppy and rushed. I would have loved more detail and frames. The ending was also hasty and anti-climatic.

A lovely, quick read nevertheless.

👩🏻 cherreading mood: Slowing down at a cafe in town.

[Madison Head · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love Peter Pan and Wendy and Tinkerbell and the lost boys so much.

[Brooke ✨ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have not read the novel form of this book and have not read any of the other books in the Twisted Tales series, so this was my first introduction to the series. I hope they do more graphic novels of the series because the series overall doesn’t get great reviews, but the stories seem fun and maybe are more suited to be in animated form.

The animation was gorgeous. That was my favorite part of the book. I also enjoyed seeing an adaptation with Wendy & Tink as friends. The story isn’t really about Peter; it’s about Wendy’s journey of self discovery….which I enjoyed. However, I would have liked more interactions between Wendy & Peter.

I found the plot to be rather confusing and disjointed at times. I was confused how Wendy had encountered Peter in the past, how she knew about Neverland, etc. I guess we are supposed to assume her brothers went to Neverland and told her about it?? But she just didn’t get to go?? Or did she just get the shadow randomly and then created a story about it?? And that is what brought Never Land to life?? It needed more backstory.

I found the ending to be anticlimactic and underwhelming. It felt rushed.

Overall, a cute and enjoyable read for Disney, Peter Pan, and cutesy graphic novel fans…..but nothing spectacular.

[Kayley Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I never know what to say that’s appropriate, and everyone thinks I talk too much and I’m odd, and… I don’t know. Childish.” - Same, Wendy, same.

I love the Twisted Tale series and I’m glad to see that more of the books are being turned into Graphic Novels.

The artwork is so pretty! I’d love to have a little panel to frame.

Okay, now do Rapunzel’s Twisted Tale next, please. It’s my favorite.

[Lillian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I strangely liked this one better than Part of Your world.

Wendy and Tink were awesome in this

[WalkInStarlight · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up ✨🧚🏴‍☠️🧜🏻‍♀️🗡️

[Faith Mendham · Rating 4 out of 5]

I absolutely love the art in this book. The story itself could’ve used a bit more, but I haven’t read the chapter book so maybe that woulda helped.

[savannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.8 ish

peter pan retelling but feels like it has a lot of plot holes. cute story surface level but would not be up to par with actual intended age range for this book.

[Lauren Wimmer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful graphic novel with beautiful illustrations of a twisted tale. What if Wendy traveled to Neverland first with Captain Hook??? Loved it!🫶

[joan.frommars · Rating 3 out of 5]

read for children’s/ya lit

- pacing at the end was horribly rushed and things essential to plot points were thrown in seemingly without any forethought.
- the portrayal of wendy and tink’s relationship had some interesting/good parts, but did still feel preachy/over-therapy-talk-ified at times.

[Ella · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, I really hope that all the Twisted Tale's get a graphic novel adaption.
I own almost all the books and like the idea of them, but they are soooo big and there are sooo many. They are pretty though... (reason enough for me to keep buying them)

I really enjoyed the development of the friendship between Wendy and Tink.
And the fun little grown-up jokes that children might not understand.

Overall we had:
▪ Mermaids
▪ A near drowning
▪ Fairies
▪ Jealousy
▪ A near narcissistic boy
▪ LGBTQ+ representation
▪ Lost "boy's"
▪ A Crazy Pirate
▪ A Clock
▪ A Crock
▪ Romance??? (but not between Wendy and Pan, thank god...)
▪ Weird Eternal beings
▪ And NeverLand of course...

Loved the artwork in this graphic novel adaptation of Straight on Till Morning!

[Tyler Martin · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 ⭐️
I really enjoyed this tale, especially in graphic novel form. This is one of the Twisted Tales I wasn't super excited to read only due to the fact Peter Pan isn't one of my favorite Disney films, but I figured if I didn't like it, I wouldn't devote as much time reading the graphic novels vs the full novel. But I'm happy to say I gave it a chance because it definitely surprised me! A fun deviation from the film, with tons of added new elements and a genuine and surprising emphasis on self love and gender fluidity, this book had a VERY satisfying conclusion that is reminiscent of one of my favorite Christmas movies, Klaus. I would definitely give the full novel a read in the future.

[Haley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yep, I rated this book higher than the actual novel.

Okay, so admittedly of all the different retellings of Peter Pan, Hook, and Wendy/a Wendy type character (because lets face it, several have taken Wendy out and have replaced her with another female character or have changed her name, but you can't do the same for Hook and Peter - there must always be a Hook, and a Peter). However, I do like this this story takes a closer look at what women and girls in London faced during this time period. You really get a feel for what Wendy's life was like. I like this added detail to Wendy just because it really pushes the coming-of-age story you get in the original Peter Pan film. I do believe the book does a better job with Wendy's coming-of-age story.

I love that Wendy actually develops a relationship with Wendy. Everyone loves Tink, but honestly she is just a little jealous spit-fire if we go by the original Walt Disney animated film of 1953. At least Tinkerbell gets some development! You get to see she has a complicated relationship with her fellow fairies, but you also get to see her grow too as she learns to overcome her jealousy and become friends with Wendy.

The two items above apply to the novel and the graphic novel, however, I liked the graphic novel better for two reasons. One, the artwork was just beautiful. That's all I can say really. I loved it. It fit the story, while both showing something new yet honoring the 1953 film everyone knows and loves. As for my second reason...I liked how the graphic novel was just so much more condensed. With the novel, I just felt there were so many long passages of description and internal monologue that bogged down the story. With the graphic novel, you don't need the descriptions because you have this gorgeous artwork as your visual. And then most of the internal monologue was taken away. Honestly, it wasn't needed in the graphic novel because character dialogue carried all you really needed to understand what was going on. You can clearly see some amazing character growth without needed to delve into anyone's head.

It's very rare for me to like a graphic novel over the original novel. In fact, I think this is the first time I've enjoyed a graphic novel more than the novel, and rated it higher on Goodreads. Great, fun read.

[Sarah]

I think I like this better as a graphic novel.

in this reading, I think it makes more sense that she ends up an activist than it did in the book, (the whole Neverland has problems bcuz our world has problems think of the children and all) but I still maintain that she should've ALSO been a children's author. we were frikken robbed.

the art was cute.

thornberry? the boy fairy. the sparrow man, if memory serves. was he wearing pants?? bcuz it did NAWT look like he was wearing pants.

what's all this nonsense about slightly. she's a girl who's a lost boy. it's not that hard to grasp. she's not whatever tortured description of not really a boy but not quite a girl either. it's 2025 baby and there are 2 genders
FOUND PEOPLE remains a HORRIBLE name. it just sounds stupid. lost boys is an iconic name fr
but found boys? oh, that slaps. oh man. that gives me Emotions.
"people" sucks because it's 2 syllables and "boys" is one. "lost girls" or "found girls" would slap equally as hard as their male counterparts. that's not really relevant given there's 1 girl and everyone else is a boy so obvi they're not renaming it that but I just wanted to point that out.
"found kids" is the right number of syllables. it's still bad, but it's the right number of syllables, and infinitely better. "found ones" also works. we're not the lost boys, we're the found ones. shiver me timbers I think we have a winner cuz that low-key slaps. what is with the slang in this review man

sometimes things seemed abrupt that had better transitions in the book but overall I think I enjoyed this more in graphic novel format. oh yeah when is this set again? she's gray by 1908 and she's 16 here so . someone do that math
or just tell me. i'm sure the answer is knowable I just don't know it

loved wendy's outfit at the end. loved how it slowly changed as she went throughout the story idk if that happened in the book but it was great
I like Wendy. I like how she talks, and how she's always so. idk. polite and civil? decent? she's just cool
tink Wendy friendship aw yah I like that obviously
I think that's about all I got. goodbye now (I do not say good night because as always who even knows when I will ultimately go to bed)

[Bethany · Rating 4 out of 5]

The last thing Wendy Darling wants to do is grow up, so she decides to escape to Neverland, the world from her stories. But in this story, instead of meeting Peter Pan, Wendy bribes Captain Hook to take her away to Neverland. Once there, she meets Tink and the Lost Boys, but still no Peter Pan. He's still off looking for his shadow because he hasn't felt the same without it. Wendy and Tink have to work together to find him because Hook wants to destroy all of Neverland. Peter Pan is the key to stopping Hook, or is he?

STRAIGHT ON TILL MORNING explores the familiar world of Peter Pan using a different approach compared to the classic we've come to love. In this one, Wendy kindles a deeper friendship with Tinkerbell, and the two represent strong female leads together. Peter Pan represents selfish youth and plays a much smaller part in this twisted tale. And there's even a Lost Girl thrown into the mix. I love the graphic novel format because it brings the story to life and I love the art-style of the illustrator. The author also explores more about the power of words which is different from the classic story too. I like how they highlight how strong a story can be and the impact it can have on others.


Final Verdict: This is honestly my first Twisted Tale and it's interesting to see what would happen if an author changes one detail in a story. It truly brings magic to a book knowing that it's all in the details. I would recommend this to young adults aged 12 and up who love Peter Pan, strong female leads, and adventure.

[Ellyn → Allonsythornraxx · Rating 3 out of 5]

02/12/2025
3.5 ⭐
I thought I might be bored reading this since I've already read the book, but I was hooked. I really loved the art, and the story was really good too!

✨ 169/100 read for 100 Graphics in a Year Reading Challenge ✨ + Graphicsathon Round 16 🎴Tarot Teams 🎴


My Blog | Letterboxd | Instagram | Bookstagram | Tumblr | Twitter | StoryGraph | Pagebound | Hoemance Book Club | Graphicsathon | Scoobathon | Wishlist

[Book Dragon Expert · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really like the Disney twisted tale novel ideas, but I never really had the patience to read one of the YA novels because of how thick they are. I figured I'd much rather read an original book that's shorter since I don't have too much time to read for pleasure anyway. That being said, when I saw that they started to adapt some of the series into graphic novels, I was all for it. I have no problem picking up a graphic novel and would be happy to still get to experience the Disney twist without having to commit the time it would take to get through a 300-400 page book. I read the Little Mermaid twisted graphic novel and really liked the mature twists. I liked this one too--it was cute and really made Wendy stand out as a heroine in a way the original couldn't/wouldn't. Overall a 3-3.5/5 stars. The ending was a bit predictable, but the epilogue was very sweet.

[Nonoreads · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a quick read.

I am a lover of the story of Peter Pan and this story was very cute and lighthearted. The animation style was very cutesy and easy to read. The storyline has a more heroine and friendship focused aspect, which I think, would be a wonderful read for younger readers. I was not sure what to expect going into this book but it was not what I had expected. There were new concepts behind the storyline of this book that tied into being the moral of the story and highlighted the support of feminism. All of which, I enjoyed seeing how Never Land had made Wendy a brave person and taught her that she does not need to escape reality to experience adventures. An enjoyable read.

[Katie Kaste · Rating 5 out of 5]

What if Wendy went to Neverland with Captain Hook instead of Peter Pan? That’s the intriguing twist at the heart of this story. At 16, Wendy feels like life is passing her by, longing for the adventures her brothers experienced. Faced with a future of either marriage or becoming a governess, she takes control and chooses her own path.

This was a fantastic reimagining of the classic tale. The art strikes a perfect balance between comic book and animated film styles, capturing the magic of Neverland in a fresh way. The story was captivating, and I loved seeing this bold take on Wendy's journey. It was a delightful and adventurous spin on *Peter Pan*!

[Destiny C. · Rating 5 out of 5]

incredible!!! 💛 i enjoyed this SO much. i had no idea that the twisted tales existed. apparently this is the first one turned into a graphic novel?! i am ALL here for it! i hope they turn all of them into graphic novels. 😍

i've never considered myself a huge disney person but let's be honest i do actually love disney stories. i grew up with them of course, 90's baby here. 🤗 so i just love the idea of the stories being twisted. 🤭 looking forward to more!!

on another note this book was great. . wendy's growth, tinker bell was amazing, and the lost boys transformation. it was actually so inspiring. 🥹🫶🏻

[Rubi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great adaptation!

Love the artwork in this graphic novel adaptation of Straight on Till Morning!
It was a nice revisit to the world of Neverland, in which Neverland was changing and Hook was going crazy, and Wendy befriends Tink.
Peter wasn't in the story as much, but Wendy meets the lost boys, mermaids and fairies after escaping the pirates. She made a bad deal with Hook and was doing everything she could to fix it.
My only problem was I felt the use of "imagination" was too easy a fix for things when Wendy got stuck. But I suppose that's just fantasy lol