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Skating Wilder
A poignant non-fiction comic that sheds light on the inclusive and life-changing world of skateboarding featuring brand new art from award-winning creator of In Waves, AJ Dungo.
Skateboarding is hard and it hurts.
No one can tell you exactly who invented it, but it has inspired generations of brave warriors to hit the curbs. This book flies through skateboarding’s weird history, and grinds through AJ and Brandon’s best (and worst) skateboarding memories. They’re not experts, but they know how much this sport means to the communities that have embraced it and made it their own.
From the first boards to the handmade zines of the punk movement, weaving through the VHS heydays and landing hard in the glitzy video game era, we’re going to take you on a ride through the ages. Special shout-out to the pages where we attempt to tell you how to do tricks through the medium of comics. It’s wild.
Skateboarding is hard and it hurts.
No one can tell you exactly who invented it, but it has inspired generations of brave warriors to hit the curbs. This book flies through skateboarding’s weird history, and grinds through AJ and Brandon’s best (and worst) skateboarding memories. They’re not experts, but they know how much this sport means to the communities that have embraced it and made it their own.
From the first boards to the handmade zines of the punk movement, weaving through the VHS heydays and landing hard in the glitzy video game era, we’re going to take you on a ride through the ages. Special shout-out to the pages where we attempt to tell you how to do tricks through the medium of comics. It’s wild.
208 pages, Paperback
First published March 3, 2026
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
April 1, 2026
AJ Dungo est trop cool, j'ai envie de le lire avec des lunettes de soleil 😎
7 ans après In Waves 🌊 qui m'avait chambouleversé (c'était en 2019 ça commence à faire), il est de retour pour un hommage à la Skateboard culture 🛹
je parle jamais de BD (encore) mais exception parce que voilà
pour les copains skatos et les hoodies Element® à l'ancienne 💪
7 ans après In Waves 🌊 qui m'avait chambouleversé (c'était en 2019 ça commence à faire), il est de retour pour un hommage à la Skateboard culture 🛹
je parle jamais de BD (encore) mais exception parce que voilà
pour les copains skatos et les hoodies Element® à l'ancienne 💪
March 20, 2026
Après In Wave sur le surf on y découvre l’histoire d’une autre planche, de skate. Ici AJ aide un ami dans son déménagement et c’est l’occasion pour eux de replonger dans leurs souvenirs liés au skate tout en abordant son évolution, ces inventions, la culture autour et sa perception global. C’est d’une grande fluidité et passionnant même quand on a pas spécialement d’appétence pour le skate. Le lexique à la fin rend accessible la bande dessinée à tous.
March 28, 2026
This is a funny one for me because I first read In Waves a couple of years ago, five years after its initial publication. I've been fiending for a new book ever since but he hasn't even given us crumbs... And when I started following AJ Dungo on instagram, all I found was his new wife, and a whole lot of skateboarding stories. And suddenly he puts two new books out in the span of a few months ! And quite unsurprisingly, one of them is about skateboarding.
Skating Wilder chronicles the ins and outs and ups and downs of skater culture through the ages, with the backdrop of AJ helping Brandon empty his parents' house and reminiscing on their early skating days.
It doesn't quite have the heart of his first one, for better or worse since In Waves was built on an terrible tragedy. But it does share the same passion for the sport it's showcasing.
While I thought Wake Now in the Fire was an important book, this one feels less like a work for hire and more of a passion project, despite him supposedly only illustrating it (although his fingerprints are all over the writing as well I think). It absolutely gorgeous throughout, switching styles but always ostensibly inspired by graffiti aesthetics.
I don't think it's going to speak quite as much to people as In Waves did, but I had an absolute blast with it
Skating Wilder chronicles the ins and outs and ups and downs of skater culture through the ages, with the backdrop of AJ helping Brandon empty his parents' house and reminiscing on their early skating days.
It doesn't quite have the heart of his first one, for better or worse since In Waves was built on an terrible tragedy. But it does share the same passion for the sport it's showcasing.
While I thought Wake Now in the Fire was an important book, this one feels less like a work for hire and more of a passion project, despite him supposedly only illustrating it (although his fingerprints are all over the writing as well I think). It absolutely gorgeous throughout, switching styles but always ostensibly inspired by graffiti aesthetics.
I don't think it's going to speak quite as much to people as In Waves did, but I had an absolute blast with it
April 7, 2026
Les illustrations et tout le travail de couleur ça m’a vraiment fasciné, par contre j’ai un peu moins pris de plaisir a découvrir cette histoire du skateboard….
Ça reste un très bon ouvrage mais peut être que c’est juste le sujet qui ne me touchait pas, je pense que si c’est quelque chose qui intéresse ça peut être top !
Ça reste un très bon ouvrage mais peut être que c’est juste le sujet qui ne me touchait pas, je pense que si c’est quelque chose qui intéresse ça peut être top !
March 13, 2026
Skating Wilder is part memoir, part history lesson, and part love letter to skateboarding culture. The illustrations have a distinctly skateboard-esque style, with strong punk and street art influences. The book uses color thoughtfully: memories and historical sections are illustrated in orange tones, while present-day reflections appear in purple. There are also black-and-white cartoon-style sections that break down skateboarding tricks, adding another layer of visual interest.
Dumais and Dungo guide readers through the different eras of skateboarding, from its first surge of popularity in the 1950s, when it was known as a laid-back form of “street surfing,” to its current iteration shaped by social media clips and highly technical tricks. Along the way, they explore the enduring appeal of skateboarding, highlighting how skaters find independence, confidence, community, and a unique way of seeing the world through the sport.
The book emphasizes that skateboarding is for everyone, not only through its discussion of who participates in the culture but also through the diversity represented in the illustrations. As someone with only a basic understanding of skateboarding history and culture, I found this book genuinely fascinating. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...
Dumais and Dungo guide readers through the different eras of skateboarding, from its first surge of popularity in the 1950s, when it was known as a laid-back form of “street surfing,” to its current iteration shaped by social media clips and highly technical tricks. Along the way, they explore the enduring appeal of skateboarding, highlighting how skaters find independence, confidence, community, and a unique way of seeing the world through the sport.
The book emphasizes that skateboarding is for everyone, not only through its discussion of who participates in the culture but also through the diversity represented in the illustrations. As someone with only a basic understanding of skateboarding history and culture, I found this book genuinely fascinating. Link to complete review: https://ysbookreviews.wordpress.com/2...
May 12, 2026
The work covers briefly the history of skateboarding - from the creation of the board and skate parks to influential skaters and societal disagreements over liability - and the author/illustrator's personal connections to the sport/community/past-time/toy, especially growing up. The fonts drawn for each chapter were cool! I really appreciated the use of color - purple for current day, orange for their past/history of skateboarding, and black for history inserts on specific skateboarding tricks. The ending is cool - the adult friends (author/illustrator) skateboard through the neighborhood where they boarded as kids with the little versions of themselves right behind them in orange.
It's not a very in-depth work in terms of the history (took me about an hour to read?), but I appreciate that about it - it encompasses a love of skateboarding and the culture that often comes with it, and it includes light information about some of the main tricks, influential people, dates (60s, 80s, 90s), and places (CA!). The work emphasizes how skateboarding can hurt and be painful but that there’s so much love for the sport and that it only continues to evolve.
I love the back matter - black and white photos of the author and illustrator skating as kids, a glossary of slang terms, and the list of skaters, works, and filmers/photographers/artists that influenced them and the work!
It's not a very in-depth work in terms of the history (took me about an hour to read?), but I appreciate that about it - it encompasses a love of skateboarding and the culture that often comes with it, and it includes light information about some of the main tricks, influential people, dates (60s, 80s, 90s), and places (CA!). The work emphasizes how skateboarding can hurt and be painful but that there’s so much love for the sport and that it only continues to evolve.
I love the back matter - black and white photos of the author and illustrator skating as kids, a glossary of slang terms, and the list of skaters, works, and filmers/photographers/artists that influenced them and the work!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 6, 2026
LA skater boys Dumais and Dungo retrace the freaks and geeks driving the revolutionary history of skateboarding. Two tone narrative graphic pages are interspersed with monotone asides describing ollies and other tricks, creating an ode to the pastime just as Dungo created previously with the atmospheric 'In Waves', his ode to surfing. The story arc angle is Dumais moving house when older, and finding his childhood memories in boxes. If you had a skateboard like me when younger - a skinny orange fibreglass Lightning Bolt model in my case - you are at once back to your riding memories. And with that, your crashing memories: shards of glass in your hands; trying not to get your trucks caught up in old airplane fuselage parts; skateboarding in the gritty backstreets of Hamburg; busting the back section off the board on the train tracks. Dumais and Dungo create their own illustrated stories whilst you conjure your own skating history - what every nonfiction graphic novel should be like. Magic.
March 19, 2026
À la manière de In Waves, AJ Dungo se livre au double exercice de raconter l'histoire du skate et de raconter sa propre relation avec la planche à rouler qui a envoyé des générations de gamin à l'hosto. Lui et son ami d'enfance Brandon Dumais réalisent un ouvrage tour à tour instructif, tendre et mélancolique.
Il y est raconté les premières manifestations de la culture skate, la naissance de ses premiers héros, ces années d'existence dans les marges puis comme de nombreuses contre-cultures ayant gagné en popularité, l'appropriation par un capitalisme débridé qui tente de la vider de sa substance.
Visuellement, c'est magnifique comme l'était In waves. On y retrouve le style si reconnaissable de Dungo. Le dynamisme, la fluidité du dessin semble animer les lignes sous nos yeux.
Il y est raconté les premières manifestations de la culture skate, la naissance de ses premiers héros, ces années d'existence dans les marges puis comme de nombreuses contre-cultures ayant gagné en popularité, l'appropriation par un capitalisme débridé qui tente de la vider de sa substance.
Visuellement, c'est magnifique comme l'était In waves. On y retrouve le style si reconnaissable de Dungo. Le dynamisme, la fluidité du dessin semble animer les lignes sous nos yeux.
May 12, 2026
No one can tell you who exactly invented skateboarding, but generations of skaters have been rolling on four wheels. In Skating Wilder, Brandon Davis and AJ Dungo reminisce over their own best (and worst) skateboarding memories as well as going through skateboarding history - from the first boards to handmade zines, the VHS heydays and video game era, they go through it all.
This was such a fun read, especially for someone who has been kind of on the outskirts of the skating community for years (my partner is big on skateboarding and practically lives on his board). We watch a lot of skating videos, both past and current releases, so it was fun to see and read about the build up for VHS tapes and such.
The artwork throughout the novel has a distinct skateboard-style feel to it with orange tones being for memories or a dive into history, purple tones are for present day, and black and white are for demonstrations for simple skateboarding tricks.
Overall, this part memoir, part history, part love letter to skateboarding culture graphic novel will capture the attention of anyone who has ever been impressed by those who can get around on the four wheeled piece of wood.
This was such a fun read, especially for someone who has been kind of on the outskirts of the skating community for years (my partner is big on skateboarding and practically lives on his board). We watch a lot of skating videos, both past and current releases, so it was fun to see and read about the build up for VHS tapes and such.
The artwork throughout the novel has a distinct skateboard-style feel to it with orange tones being for memories or a dive into history, purple tones are for present day, and black and white are for demonstrations for simple skateboarding tricks.
Overall, this part memoir, part history, part love letter to skateboarding culture graphic novel will capture the attention of anyone who has ever been impressed by those who can get around on the four wheeled piece of wood.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews