By Jen Van Meter, Christine Norrie, and Chynna Clugston-Major. Oni Press.
Just finished reading this last night. And I really, really enjoyed it.
The book centres around the Hopeless-Savage family (Dirk Save, Nikki Hopeless, and their children, Twitch, Arsenal, Rat, and Zero). Dirk and Nikki were punk rockers back in the heyday, and have gone on to have children and raise them in the good old leather jacket, spiked hair, homestyle piercing punk rock tradition.
Then one day Rat up and leaves, buggering off to the city to cut his air, wear a suit and get himself a grown up job, leaving his family- especially his little sis' Skank Zero Hopeless Savage- heartbroken.
Until, of course, his parents get kidnapped by a gang of skinheads and the remaining siblings decide that Rat is the one they need to track down the old. So begins the hunt for the old Rat, and then mum n' da.
I rate this book highly. The characters, who so easily could have been caricatures of punk-rock kids, are all unique and likable in their own way. The art is clear and the storytelling solid, and pencils manage to be cartoonish while not sacrificing realism and emotion. The book is laugh out loud funny sometimes.
The flashback sequences by Clugston-Major have a neat manga feel to them, and the art style adds something fun to the book when compared to the slightly different, but thematically similar art of the rest of the story.
And I am so in love with Skank Zero Hopeless Savage.
Go buy it.
