Ned Wenlock’s Tsunami is a new graphic novel that follows the story of Peter, an awkward 12-year-old in New Zealand. Bullied endlessly and without any real filter for what is considered “acceptable behavior,” Peter tries his best to get by in school while basically getting ignored at home. He ends up meeting a girl named Charlie, a new friend that tries to raise his confidence and help him fight back. Peter has a deep need for the truth, which ends up getting him in trouble with a violent classmate named Gus, and things turn dark pretty quickly.
Tsunami is drawn in a cartoonish style, attempting to take some of the sting out of what’s going on. Cartoony violence adds to the sort of dream-like quality. The story explores what it’s like to feel alienated during that strange middle-school period and how actions don’t always lead to the most predictable of consequences. I’ll admit, the graphic novel is being touted as “devastating and hilarious” but as the “weird kid” from elementary school I just felt deeply sad the entire time I was reading Tsunami. It is one thing to be an outcast; it is another to be so brutally bullied that things get violent. The devastating part comes through, but I’m not sure about the hilarious.
Tsunami is available from Pow Pow Press May 6, 2025.
