BOOK REVIEW: PUNKROCKPAPERSCISSORS / AUTHOR: LEE LOUGHRIDGE / PUBLISHER: IMAGE / RELEASE DATE: OUT NOW
Comic book colourist Lee Loughridge once spent the 1980s submerged in punk and hardcore music, and PunkRockPaperScissors, a collection of posters and flyers for rock shows, is a tribute to the DIY ethos of punk. It’s not quite a comic book, despite being published by Image. It is quite simply a collection of hand drawn posters for shows that took place mostly in the North East United States in the ‘80s.
There is over 600 flyers included, the most notable clubs featured are CBGB, The Pyramid, The Ritz, and City Gardens, and these flyers, like the clubs and the music, are all part of the history of punk.
These rough, gritty posters would adorn club walls, street corners, windows, car windshields, and the bedrooms of fans back in the day for bands such as The Misfits, Black Flag, The Dead Kennedys, and Minor Threat. There is also an entire section dedicated to Black Flag and Danzig. Some non-punk bands also feature, including some metal bands and hip hop groups, but these guys shared the same ethos as the punk bands and them being featured is a nice surprise.
There is no real order to the book, each image sometimes appears randomly, but you can’t argue that browsing through it is somewhat mesmerising. There are no descriptions with each image, it is merely the poster, and that’s slightly disappointing; but then do you need a description to go along with Spiderman kicking someone in the face for a GBH show?
Perhaps descriptions and captions of the history of the bands featured and interviews could have added more and brought some insight for younger fans, but as it stands, like it says in the book, it is pure punk rock nostalgia for anyone who grew up immersed in the scene.
While it isn’t the typical book that Image Comics would publish, it is a fine coffee table book and a treasure trove of artistic creativity showcasing the visual history of the hardcore movement in the 1980s. If you love punk, Minor Threat, and hardcore music, this book is for you.
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