In Waves: Coming Soon to Netflix

In this visually arresting graphic novel, surfer and illustrator AJ Dungo remembers his late partner and the shared love of surfing that endured throughout their difficult times.
This reissue of Dungo’s award-winning debut from 2019 weaves a love story with an elegy-and holds both without flinching. In this graphic memoir of devastating beauty, Dungo tells two stories: He interweaves his relationship with Kristen, a passionate surfer living with cancer, with a richly researched history of surfing, tracing the sport from its early Polynesian roots through to Hawaiian athlete Duke Kahanamoku’s Olympic triumphs and Wisconsinite Tom Blake’s early-20th-century technological innovations and impact on the sport. The structural conceit is elegant-chapters of personal memoir alternate with historical interludes-and Dungo’s color palette makes the leap between timelines feel effortless and instinctive. Warm terracotta and dusty mauve suffuse the historical sequences, while the contemporary story pulses in deep teal and mint green. One page depicts precolonial Hawaiian islanders surfing and carrying goods in a composition that reads like a living frieze-paper-white figures against a warm brown background, human and oceanic forms woven into a single continuous line-capturing at once surfing’s communal joy and its deep spiritual roots. Dungo handles grief, when it arrives, with the same honor and skill. There are no dramatic breakdowns; instead, he renders loss through evocative scenes, such as a crowded hospital corridor and a lone surfer dwarfed by a wave. Few graphic memoirs reckon with grief this honestly or this quietly. A rare gem that truly understands and powerfully portrays grief: essential, aching, and unforgettable. * STARRED, KIRKUS REVIEW *
The comic is visually worshipful of the natural world and its vast waters * LA Times *
In Waves engages with both the depths of Dungo’s grief and the safe haven of surfing, offering a quick dip that will leave readers a bit battered by the waves. * Bookpage *
A fragile and heartfelt account of love and loss it acts as both beautiful but unflinchingly honest memorial, and as a historical record of the development and the heroes of the surfing world. * Broken Frontier *
It’s a memoir about love, loss and surfing. Perfectly paced. Gorgeously illustrated. A genuine beauty to read. * OK Comics Book of the Year 2019 *
A work of subtle, heartbreaking beauty’ ‘A beautiful book that lingers long after it finishes. * Gosh Comics Book of the Year 2019 *
A poignant and heart breaking tale of love and loss that is interspersed with a history of surfing. All of which creates a fascinating mix of stories that are brought together by the unifying power of the ocean. * Pipedream Comics *
Beautifully rendered in grief-tinged shades of teal and turquoise. * Marie Curie, Talkabout *
I would defy anyone to read this and not be moved like a bobbing surfer sat atop his board awaiting the next big swell. * Page45 *
Sight-soothing illustrations, intriguing surf history and a heart-breaking but life-affirming personal story. In Waves by AJ Dungo is a rare and exquisite graphic novel every surfer and art lover will covet. * Surfer Dad *
A poignant exploration of loss, grief and more. * cherreading on Instagram *
A simple idea executed very very well * That Comic Smell *
It’s a memoir of unbridled beauty, of vast unknowns, of what can last among the waves. * Multiversity Comics *
Deeply moving and visually stunning. * The Inertia *
Images of daily life contrast to the time the book spends in the water, and I recommend this book as an autobiographical exploration of what’s truly important in life. * DR. J READS *
A powerful read that’s stuck with me. * @ComicsAnonBlog on Twitter *
In Waves blends the history of surfing with a touching personal story and striking illustrations. * @alexboydwriter *
A beautiful book that lingers long after it finishes. * Gosh Comics *
Artist and surfer AJ Dungo’s affecting graphic memoir In Waves is about a relationship built on mutual enthusiasm forsurfing and confronting challenges with courage and grace.Dungo and Kristen’s eight-year relationship is set against scenes of sun, sea, and the looming darkness of Kristen’sterminal illness. Interwoven with the couple’s story are glimpses of surfing history from the early 1800s, when thePolynesians of precolonial Hawai’i rode the waves as a spiritual practice. It was a freedom soon denied them, thebook notes. The achievements of Hawaiian surfing pioneer and Olympic swimmer Duke Kahanamoku and thecreative mind of Californian Tom Blake, who designed a lighter, faster surfboard, are also covered.As the book moves between its multiple timelines and themes, it adopts a rhythm that, like the rise and fall of oceanwaves, invites letting go of linear time. Much is untold; even Dungo’s and Kristen’s backstories are just implied. Still,despite the spareness of the narrative, their emotions are communicated in simple but powerful ways.Joy, for instance, is obvious in the illustrations of wave-riding surfers. An image of Kristen, near death and alone onthe shore in her wheelchair watching her friends surf, is also evocative. The elegant illustrations, reminiscent ofJapanese woodblock prints, often feature the wide, empty spaces of sea and sky, and they reflect human smallness incomparison to nature’s grandeur. Their figures, sometimes faceless, speak to the universality of nature as a source ofcomfort and healing in times of loss and grief.In the moving graphic memoir In Waves, surfing unites a brokenhearted person with the power of the sea, bringingcomfort and healing. * Foreword Reviews *
Surfing connects two strands of this deeply personal graphic memoir: AJ Dungo’s relationship with his partner Kristen during her prolonged illness, and the history of the people who shaped the sport. Personal chapters about love, cancer and grief alternate with accounts of surfing’s Polynesian and Hawaiian roots and pioneers including Duke Kahanamoku and Tom Blake. A highly original and memorable read for 14+ year olds. – Tom Tolkien * School Reading List Review *

AJ Dungo is an illustrator from Florida. He studied at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, and his work has been shown in several group exhibitions in New York and LA. His work strives to create interesting atmospheres and feelings that viewers can have a reaction to. He Lives in LA.

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