Bedford Street

by | Aug 5, 2026

Ross’s Murray’s Bedford Street is an often bleak, sometimes funny, but quietly compelling look at the lives, loves, and losses of a group of characters united by their proximity to a single street.

Opening with a short sequence aptly titled Roadkill, Bedford Street immediately sets its somewhat grim tone which is nevertheless run through with bursts of dark humor. From there, the book transitions to the first full story of the collection—that of an alcoholic father entrusted with taking care of his teenage son for the weekend. He sips drinks and searches for shared interests as his son unleashes rage issues on a battered grill in the yard. Much of this opening story is told in visuals, but Ross works a great deal of character and connection into the way father and son move through their shared space—each unsure exactly how to exist on their own or communicate with the other. It’s an effectively human story, full of relatable uncertainty and capped with bittersweet moments of love and connection.

Each story that follows shares similar threads of deeply flawed people trying their best, through moments of strength and often moments of failure. A nurse debating whether to intervene in a domestic disturbance, two brothers navigating life after an accident, a man trying to restart life after release from prison—the stories are quiet, but they are earnest and honest in capturing all the rough edges of their subjects as the lives of the Bedford Street residents continue to unfold.

Ross brings a deft hand to each vignette, crafting a compelling character arc, and blending natural dialogue with powerful visuals to capture the heart of each short story. Like any collection, some are likely to land with a reader more than others, but the range of characters feels united by the tone of the overall book. In each, it feels as though Ross is looking to understand the central characters and bringing the reader along on the experience. Some make terrible mistakes that upend their lives and the lives of those around them. Others are caught in difficulty through no fault of their own. Regardless, Ross’s delivery doesn’t feel as though it seeks to pass judgment on this collage of lives. They are simply complicated, and through the choices they make, they will be forced to face the consequences, whatever those may be.

Matching this writing, the art has a simple realism to it. There are plenty of details to take in, but Ross’s visual style strips away the noise to focus on scenes—on expressions and quiet moment as they occur. Different colors dominate the palate depending on the nature of the sequence, but the subdued shades interplay with light and shadow to build panels that feel worn and lived in, but which also hold the eye as these characters pass their days.

Fantagraphics rates Bedford Street for 16+. The stories are all thematically mature, but some are more acceptable for teenage readers than others. While certain of the mature elements occur infrequently, the book does include strong language, death, suicide, injury to humans and animals, substance use, strong sexual content, and graphic nudity among its content concerns. Between this and the overall subject matter, it will have strongest appeal with adults. Overall, for readers who like more literary works, Bedford Street is a generally quiet examination of complex characters and a range of themes. There isn’t a strong narrative tissue connecting the stories to each other, but a definite emotional arc runs across the collection and these characters who ultimately seem to (mostly) be doing the best they can with a myriad of imperfect situations. It’s a striking book that deserves a place on any shelf where it will be appreciated.

Bedford Street
By Ross Murray
Fantagraphics, 2026
ISBN: 9798875002625

Company Age Rating: 16+

NFNT Age Recommendation: Adult (18+)

Character Representation:  Addiction

Tsunami

by | Apr 9, 2025

Cover of Tsunami written in larger blocky, slanted orange text with a orange figure running across the cover with a blue fence behind.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)