I might be forever changed by this one.
Tsunami is the debut long-form comic book by New Zealand author and cartoonist Ned Wenlock. It tells the story of Peter, a 12-year old Kiwi, who is trying to navigate the ups and downs of adolescence. Peter is starting to establish his individual identity against a storm of problems: he is bullied at school, his parents are on the brink of divorce, he is isolated from his peers, and the situations in which he assumes himself to be in the right don’t look that way to everyone else. There is a storm brewing outside, but there is also a storm brewing in Peter.
It’s easy to get set up as a reader here—Peter is presented as the protagonist of the story, and as he is a victim of regular bullying, we want to come to his aid. But as the story goes on, the panels seem to drop hints that Peter is not as much of a victim as we initially thought. He occasionally participates in cruel acts of violence (whether they are deserved or not), lies, and when his new-found friend Charlie asks about his other friends, he simply says “I don’t know.”
Tsunami casts an ever-present doom over the goings-on in its pages—a darkness that might not always be front and center, but it is always perceived. After an incredible build-up of tension and fear, the narrative ends on an ambiguous note. Almost like an indie movie.
But I don’t want to paint the book as some sort of list of tragedies. It is in a sense, but the narrative is layered and captivating and is definitely worth your time.
So much happened in this story that I felt compelled to look at what other people had said about it (which I typically don’t do for reviews). Every other piece I was able to find of the book had a different take on whether the story was darkly humorous, seriously tragic, a study of despair, or wholly optimistic but none of them said the book was boring or otherwise negative. To be clear: this is a very good read. I devoured its 297 pages in a single sitting.
The artwork is deceptively cartoonish and simple; the figures almost look like board game pieces or Fisher-Price toys. The lines are clean-cut, the monochrome colors are flat, the pages are very linear and straightforward; this book does not waste space. If I were to quibble, I would say that some of the character designs don’t have enough going on visually to immediately distinguish them from others, but this is a small matter.
There’s a lot I want to say about this if you are considering it for your library’s collection (and I hope you are). I have been unable to find a consistent audience descriptor for this book. No Flying No Tights put it in with the adult demographic, the book’s publisher didn’t seem to have an official recommendation that I could find, and Mr. Wenlock won the New Zealand Society of Authors Best First Book Award at the 2024 New Zealand Book Awards for Children and Young Adults for Tsunami, so we’ve got a real spread here. Personally, I do not think this is for particularly young readers. I think maybe around 14 or 15 is the starting point for its target audience due to some of the mature themes within the narrative and some of the harrowing events that occur, although consider that your mileage may vary.
Genuinely and sincerely, keep this one on your radar. I thought it was wonderful.
Tsunami
By Ned Wenlock
Pow Pow Press, 2023
ISBN: 9782925114468
NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+), Older Teen (16-18), Teen (13-16)
