Graphic Novel Review: Ripples: A Detective’s Diary by Wai Wai Pang

Posted on May 12, 2020 at 10:33 am by Gene Ambaum

Ripples: A Detective’s Diary by Wai Wai Pang. Peow, 2017. 9789187325298. 150pp.

Thirteen-year-old Luke Phelps is missing. Each page in this graphic consists of field notes from a Big City Police Department notebook. The pages show what Detectives Kylie and Pan find, plus what they learn in their interviews. All entries are time stamped. It’s very smart and well designed, and the resolution isn’t scary or horrific. I loved this as an adult — I’ve never seen a graphic novel like it — and I would have loved it as a kid when I devoured innocent mysteries.

Worth noting: even the copyright page is brilliant. (I’m including it in the review, too.)