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• Price: $3.99
• Pages: 32
• On Sale: February 21, 2018
• Writer: David Barnett
  
• Artist: Martin Simmonds
  
• Editor: Shelly Bond
• Variant Cover: Bill Sienkiewicz
• Publisher: IDW Black Crown

From the Publisher – As if being an awkward, bullied 15-year-old isn’t bad enough, “Fergie” Ferguson suddenly discovers he can see dead people. Well, one dead person specifically—the ghost of a certain punk rocker named Sid. Sid’s spirit was trapped in London’s Heathrow Airport for 40 years until the day he met Fergie. Sid’s ghost is now stuck to Fergie—as if Fergie doesn’t have enough on his plate, being raised by a single mum whose idea of parenting is strictly fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. Now Fergie has to contend with an unruly ghost sidekick and some weird, uncontrollable new “abilities.” How does the father Fergie never knew fit into this mayhem? And why is the Department for Extra-Usual Affairs showing an interest?

Our We Talk Comics WeView – Punks not dead, and I for one am glad. There is a part of me that thinks that having a ghostly version of Sid Vicious as my constant traveling companion would be a blast. A constant reminder to get up off my ass do things a little differently. That’s kind of what Punks Not Dead the comic is… a reminder for comic readers to get off their asses and try something a little different. Plus, any book that uses the term “tawdry hell-fart” probably deserves some recognition. This book is an unusual view into the lives of some people who live in an unusual way, and it’s a damn funny journey to take.

David Barnett has thrown a bunch of concepts, such as music and the paranormal, into the blender and made a punk ‘n’ roll smoothie. The dialog is crisp and made me laugh out loud. Despite the fact that this issue is introducing us to a lot of characters, there is still quite a bit going on within the comic; I can say with some certainty that these are characters that I WANT to take the journey with. There are some truly magical turns of phrase in this book, and I feel like I could be quoting parts of it for years to come.

The art by Martin Simmonds threw me off a bit at first. The colors are bright, with some pastel tones and I wondered what was punk about that. But after getting a bit further into the book, it all started to make sense. Sid looks exactly like Sid should, and he gives off a wonderfully punk vibe, and the parts of the book that need to be punk give off that vibe as well, but the parts that border on normal (at least what passes for normal in this book), tend to look a bit more straight-forward. There are some fantastic details in the art of this book, and the contrasting colors truly do bring a vibrancy to the pages. I’ll also comment about the excellent use of perspective in many of the panels of this book, it’s something often overlooked, but when it’s this good, you take notice.

Punks Not Dead is inventive, brash, and if you’re ready for it then it’s a hell of a trip. There are days when I feel like I’ve seen it all, and I’m happy on those rare instances when something arrives to remind me that there can be something fresh to look at… this is one of those times. I have no idea what to expect in the future, and that makes me giddy as a schoolboy (or something like that). This comic feels like a classic Vertigo title, and with Shelly Bond on board as the editor, I can see why. I’m ready to hitch a ride on the Punks Not Dead tour van, and I sure hope there is a special brew left for me. Highly recommended.

Rating – Very Fine/Near Mint (VF/NM) or 9/10

Review by Brett

Love the review? Hate the review? Disagree with me? I’m happy to talk comics on twitter @Brett_WeTalk

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