Chynna Clugston Flores

At the center of this story is a proudly anachronistic family of punks in modern-day England. They are generally-happy people with common problems who find themselves mixed up in an implausible madcap adventure. It's a soap-opera, comedy, and children's cartoon in one, and it is written with a level of wit and compassion uncommon in graphic novels.

Note: The sequel to this book (Ground Zero) proves that the written word carries the story even in a graphic novel, because the artwork was awful show more and I still got misty-eyed towards the end. show less

Not rating as I DNF'd at about a third of the way in purely on subjective enjoyment.

Music and movie obsessed anglophile teen, Bleu, is too cool for school and the fools she's stuck with. Hijinks and hyperfixations abound.

I love this in theory and there was a huge element of this being me, though I was more vacillating between incredibly cringe white middle class English kid in Wu Wear, a serious Juggalo phase, and everybody's favourite pretentious black and white thinking 16 year old punk. show more I'm frustrated because the me I was then would have hated this for not being 'pure' to punk or some other bullshit those who have no sense of self so they become entirely evangelical and puritanical about whatever they're into. But now, it's just a bit too juvenile and doesn't grab me enough - these are absolutely me problems subjective taste, no shade here.

A version of me that had the opportunity to be honest about who I really am at that time would have absolutely loved it. And I love that for her.

It's really cute and I just want to like it more than I actually do.

Also, people (in comfortable, safe situations) outside of the UK romanticising it is genuinely hilarious to me. Section 28 was still very much a thing in the time that this was set, so Queer and trans didn't exist for whole generation of us growing up. We existed, but through repression and silence. Thankfully, now we acknowledge we exist. Careful what you wish for, as now they want us exterminated. I think people forget that just because we didn't have Lineham and Rowling doing high profile hatred, this place has always been ultra conservative and hateful. Hell, the only ostensibly leftwing government we had is the one who lied to commit ear war crimes in Iraq!

Ah yes, the classic neurodivergent 'not actually a review just a rant' show less

I've been reading both the Lumberjanes and Gotham Academy series though I don't particularly enjoy either. And having the groups team up in this crossover really drives home the reason. None of the characters are very memorable. Halfway through the book, there were several characters whose book of origin I could not recall. Are they Lumberjanes? Academy students? Does it matter?

The story about the never-ending sweet-sixteen birthday party was actually kind of nice, and I was hoping the show more birthday girl would end up with one of the two groups, because she actually seems to be a person worth remembering. show less

My sister lent me this book ages ago and I adored it, so as I mentioned in a previous post, when feeling guilted into spending money at the local comic book store, I knew it was a safe bet. Unfortunately the printing I purchased was a little low-quality. On several pages, part of word balloons were cut off the top of the page. Lame. So maybe not the best material for recruiting new readers, no matter how cute Skank Zero is.

But the story itself is great fun. The basic idea: what happens when show more two punk rock legends get married, move to the suburbs, and have four kids? show less