Seminal Shore

Staring down the final days of high school, a group of friends runs away from home to join a remote island commune in this coming-of-age road trip adventure.

The Gulf (2024), Adam De Souza

This isn’t how we’re supposed to live.

Oli wants to do nothing. Like many high schoolers she is pushed out into a world she doesn’t want to live in, having to decide on a career and future without any real life experience. Most people give in, or don’t question it to begin with, but Oli rejects this fate. Years ago having found a pamphlet for a remote island commune, tucked away on her parents shelf, she decides to run away and join.

The Gulf is a coming of age story, but manages to avoid many of the failings that such stories tend to have, while still remaining irreverent. The characters feel like real teenagers, not cardboard cutouts, talking and joking how they would have in 2007, and sporting the abrasiveness that arrises from the uncertainty of youth. While the story is critical of the status quo of becoming an adult, it doesn’t present adults as being clueless of adolescent struggles. Oli’s own mother is refreshingly not presented as an obstacle for her; any conflict between them stems from Oli’s inner conflict. Oli’s distaste with the world she lives in is not melodramatic in the way many other teenagers-lamenting-the-state-of-the-world stories go. This is partially due to real world events such as the war in Iraq being referenced throughout the novel, making the political undercurrent feel grounded and not an empty aesthetic.

Adam De Souza’s art is expressive and captures the mundane and beautiful in a newspaper strip cartoon style that is also a staple of his web comic strip Blind Alley. Where The Gulf is most different from Blind Alley is in the better sense of a setting’s layout. While the nebulous and hazy setting is successful in Blind Alley, that would not have benefitted the more plot-heavy story of The Gulf. The spatial relationship across panels is never confusing and presents a clear and charming world. Simple character designs allows the character’s inner thoughts and feelings to read very well, which is also what makes the comedic beats so good. Subtler emotional beats add to the authenticity of the characters and their relationship. Minimal use of color and tone also contributes to the ease of reading, making the use of more or brighter colors all the more impactful. The story flows panel by panel, page by page, making it difficult to put down.

(Spoilers for The Gulf and Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind ahead)

The Gulf reminds me of such comics as Scott Pilgrim, Nausicaä Of The Valley Of The Wind, and Keeping Two. Oli discovering that The Evergreen no longer exists as a commune is especially similar to Nausicaä discovering humans would die in the pure land beyond the sea of corruption. In both stories the protagonist does not fall into despair (at least not permanently), and chooses to live the way she feels is right. The line “Some people won’t get it, but you just gotta find a way of living that feels good, true, and right” is what formed this connection in my brain (as well as making me tear up a bit). Change is a major theme in The Gulf. Relationships, places, and your life will all change or end. It’s often hard but it’s not bad, so remember to enjoy the nice moments.

The only real criticism I have for this graphic novel is that some of the other character’s struggles could have been given more time and focus, most of all Liam’s. The story might have benefitted from a flashback giving more insight into Liam’s feelings for Oli and what happened between them. Of course I recognize making a graphic novel is incredibly labor-intensive and you must be decisive about what to include, so this is mostly a nitpick and not a major fault.

This story personally resonated with me; I often think that the way the world is, is not how I want to live my life. I’ve been struggling to figure out how to move forward and create a future for myself; Oli ending up in a place she didn’t expect, yet is happy with, gives me hope. I was already a fan of Adam De Souza’s work but The Gulf has made me all the more excited for whatever he creates next, as well as made me want to work on my own graphic novel. I hope to find more artists like Adam that make the future of comics bright.