Punks The Comic #1

The Good

I was unfamiliar with this comic, prior to it coming to Image, and was completely unprepared for the contents within the first issue. What I was treated to was punches to the groin, an irreverent take on storytelling, and a sense of humor which put the whole book into perspective. Essentially, PUNKS is what happens when a highly cynical ransom note writer makes his or her own comic book. And I can't stop thinking about it.

How do you describe what's happening in PUNKS? Well, it's about four guys who live together and get into some antics. A woman is thrown into the mix, and antics continue. PUNKS is best to be compared to a wacky 90s sitcom, which doesn't hold back but has a competent writer who understands what's funny. At times, the book holds a mirror up to the comic book community, but mostly, it's just fun gags.

PUNKS does something I LOVE that comics do, which is a very rare occasion: an activity page. It's funny and incredibly silly. There's also a card game you can cut out and play. So if the comic strangely isn't your cup of tea, you get a sweet card game out of it.

Now onto the art... it's not what you'd normally expect from a comic, but it works. PUNKS takes pictures of dog heads, skulls, Abraham Lincolns, and fists and pastes them onto bodies. That's right, there's one character with a fist for a head. It looks pretty awesome and really fits the writing well. The overall book has this old newspaper feel mixed with an underground music zine from the 80s.

The Bad

A few of the jokes in the new portion of the book fall a bit flat. Also, this book is so different from anything else you'll read this week, that opening the first page is unsettling, especially if you know nothing about this book prior to going in.

The Verdict

PUNKS is something hard to wrap your head around because it's so different from everything else on the shelves. The book is a bit silly but a lot of fun. The biggest thing holding the issue back is that it's not an atypical comic and that may turn people off to it. However, the sense of humor, the weirdness, and the overall concept are pretty fantastic, and if you're looking for something different, you should check this book out.

I almost pre-ordered this since it's from Image (and well we all know their track record the past few years with new comics), but I didn't know anything about the prior series, so I passed. Kind of wish I had gotten it.

This sounds like fun!

4 stars? It barely deserves 1. All of the jokes fall flat and feel like they were written by a 5 year-old kid. The storyline is.. well, it's nonexistant, it's just stuff that randomly happens -- which I'd be OK with given it's a comic named "Punks", if there was some actual cynicism in the dialogues or something rather than those incredibly stupid pseudo-jokes we got instead.

I didn't like it at first but found myself unable to stop reading. When I put it down I had a big goofy smile on my face.