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Puke Force by Brian Chippendale
"Chippendale's . . . obsessively detailed [comics] feel like [they've] been shot straight from his brain onto the page." - Village Voice
Puke Force is social satire written dark and dense across Brian Chippendale's deconstructed multiverse of walking, talking M&Ms, hamsters, and cycloptic-yet-glamorous trivia hosts. In scathingly funny single-page strips that build and build, he takes on social media narcissism, governmental propaganda, racism, and a culture of violence, skewering the malice of the right and the hypocrisies of the left.
A bomb explodes in a coffee the incident is played out over and over again from the perspective of each table in the shop, revisiting moments from ten and twenty years before. We see the inevitable as the characters bicker or celebrate, unaware of what's coming. Throughout this dystopic graphic novel, Chippendale uses humor and a frantic drawing style to show how the insidious nature of corporate greed and the commodification of everything have warped society into a killing machine.
Sardonic and self-aware, Puke Force asks all the right questions, providing a startling and on-point take on contemporary social issues. Chippendale's artwork makes each panel a masterpiece of thrumming linework and lo-fi magic, as his storytelling wends and winds its way to a fascinating conclusion.
Puke Force is social satire written dark and dense across Brian Chippendale's deconstructed multiverse of walking, talking M&Ms, hamsters, and cycloptic-yet-glamorous trivia hosts. In scathingly funny single-page strips that build and build, he takes on social media narcissism, governmental propaganda, racism, and a culture of violence, skewering the malice of the right and the hypocrisies of the left.
A bomb explodes in a coffee the incident is played out over and over again from the perspective of each table in the shop, revisiting moments from ten and twenty years before. We see the inevitable as the characters bicker or celebrate, unaware of what's coming. Throughout this dystopic graphic novel, Chippendale uses humor and a frantic drawing style to show how the insidious nature of corporate greed and the commodification of everything have warped society into a killing machine.
Sardonic and self-aware, Puke Force asks all the right questions, providing a startling and on-point take on contemporary social issues. Chippendale's artwork makes each panel a masterpiece of thrumming linework and lo-fi magic, as his storytelling wends and winds its way to a fascinating conclusion.
Hardcover
First published February 28, 2013
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137 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 26, 2021
I had an art professor in college who would always recommend me puke force, knowing that I was in the “diy scene” and made weirder type art and he wanted to seem cool. Opening this to have the first comic be a guy jacking off is not what I expected, but this book grew on me. The detail of the art style was insane, and the single panel pages were just absurdly impressive. Chippendales character design and the sheer amount of creativity in this book is so impressive. I grew to love the page layout and dynamic maps for guidance. I didn’t always care about the story, there were definitely some dull or straight up gross pages, but overall I really liked some of the core characters (gregus) and I even cried at one point (not hard to make me cry but still). I liked this book, can see why it was recommended to me, and overall enjoyed it.
March 25, 2023
He is one of the greatest comics artists ever, and I am so glad that his new work is great. It is better than If n' Oof. I also loved a huge drawings. Kind of a sequel to Ninja. But you can enjoy it completely without reading Ninja.
Anya Davidson's review/interview is good: http://www.tcj.com/puke-force-and-the...
Anya Davidson's review/interview is good: http://www.tcj.com/puke-force-and-the...
May 2, 2025
"we kinda go back and forth between reality and fantasy like we draw this weird line"
this began being made in 2009 and went on until 2016, but it manages to stay relevant in the 2020s. political debate has devolved to a point where people are getting further separated as more violence and chaos roams the streets, social media as we know it today is leading the world towards a horrible place, "the plague of internet hate" keeps on being spread on an hourly basis and the future doesn't seem sweet.
as much as I feel that this book is probably the most fictional comic I've ever read, it's just as fictional as it is deeply realistic. the more you go through these pages the more you realize that there are thousands upon thousands of Grave Cities out there in the world. all of the hate and social cataclysm that happens in Grave City is happening in a real life level in a lot of towns and communities in Earth as you read.
outside of social commentary, Chippendale's art never fails to surprise. it's inspired me ever since I've discovered Lightning Bolt. the characters here are all unique in their own way, whether it's a dude with his dick out or a giant M&M. the fantasy part of his art is very unique and is done super well and I'm definitely excited to read more of his stuff, Mat Brinkman's stuff, and basically anything Fort Thunder related that I can be fortunate enough to have my eyes upon.
OH and by the way, All Wrong Dude's twitter page that appears in this book is an actual twitter page! just search up @AhaFan88. seeing the page in the comic jumpscared me as a long time follower of that account.
puke force is great
;;just love it
also Rita's super chill. great character.
;;;;;;;;;just love it.
this began being made in 2009 and went on until 2016, but it manages to stay relevant in the 2020s. political debate has devolved to a point where people are getting further separated as more violence and chaos roams the streets, social media as we know it today is leading the world towards a horrible place, "the plague of internet hate" keeps on being spread on an hourly basis and the future doesn't seem sweet.
as much as I feel that this book is probably the most fictional comic I've ever read, it's just as fictional as it is deeply realistic. the more you go through these pages the more you realize that there are thousands upon thousands of Grave Cities out there in the world. all of the hate and social cataclysm that happens in Grave City is happening in a real life level in a lot of towns and communities in Earth as you read.
outside of social commentary, Chippendale's art never fails to surprise. it's inspired me ever since I've discovered Lightning Bolt. the characters here are all unique in their own way, whether it's a dude with his dick out or a giant M&M. the fantasy part of his art is very unique and is done super well and I'm definitely excited to read more of his stuff, Mat Brinkman's stuff, and basically anything Fort Thunder related that I can be fortunate enough to have my eyes upon.
OH and by the way, All Wrong Dude's twitter page that appears in this book is an actual twitter page! just search up @AhaFan88. seeing the page in the comic jumpscared me as a long time follower of that account.
puke force is great
;;just love it
also Rita's super chill. great character.
;;;;;;;;;just love it.
March 5, 2016
Can't say I was super impressed with this. An uneven mix of dumb, ironically dumb, and inspired. A few of the strips made me laugh and the full-page panels blew me away with their creativity and often hilarious and gross epicness. There were some funny and thoughtful jabs at online culture too. But there were too many dull, indulgent stretches and bits ending with shruggy punch lines. The characters didn't have much personality to them - or else they were just simple caricatures - and the situations they were in felt arbitrary so it was hard to care for any of them. Without character or plot it comes down to ideas and art, which only sporadically made an impression on me. I do like the art style and craft a lot but it was really only effective to me in those epic full page spreads. More of those might have made this a better read.
March 24, 2022
I’d never read any of Chippendale’s comics before this, but I’m a fan of his band, Lightning Bolt, so I came to Puke Force expecting it to be loud, abrasive, energetic and experimental, and it didn’t disappoint on any of these counts. In terms of other comics I’ve read, this is in a very similar vein to the similarly-titled Multiforce by Mat Brinkman, as well as Adventures in Paradise by Gary Panter. All three of these works share dystopian fantasy settings that don’t take themselves in the least bit seriously – the kind of places where robots, mutants and goblins hang out in dive bars and donut joints alongside gutter punks, rednecks and anthropomorphic animals. Similarly, these comics all follow clueless slacker characters getting swept up in wacky adventures that parody the plots of conventional genre fiction (in Puke Force, the main sources being drawn upon seem to be videogames and superhero comics). These three comics also all share an obscene, sophomoric sense of humour and a scatterbrained approach to plotting, where events unfold erratically and often nonsensically. They also share aesthetic similarities: the lettering is amateurish to the point of being childlike, while the drawings are dense with black inks, in a style that at first glance seems really rough but upon closer inspection reveals itself to be astoundingly detailed and expertly realized.
Overall, Puke Force is a fun ride. There are some funny gags, there’s some insightful social satire, and there are even a few bits that are unexpectedly emotional. I especially enjoy the rawness of the artwork and the absurdity of the setting. That said, I guess my tolerance for this kind of abrasiveness is lower for comics than for music: the puerile humour and relentless randomness prevent me from connecting with it on a deeper level. It's cool, it's interesting, but it doesn't blow me away in the way that Lightning Bolt does.
Overall, Puke Force is a fun ride. There are some funny gags, there’s some insightful social satire, and there are even a few bits that are unexpectedly emotional. I especially enjoy the rawness of the artwork and the absurdity of the setting. That said, I guess my tolerance for this kind of abrasiveness is lower for comics than for music: the puerile humour and relentless randomness prevent me from connecting with it on a deeper level. It's cool, it's interesting, but it doesn't blow me away in the way that Lightning Bolt does.
December 19, 2024
I went back and forth on this, but despite the accessibility of the linear (or at least serpentine, given the helpful reading instructions) narrative presented here by Chippendale, it's clear that Brinkman was the greater Fort Thunder creator (https://www.curbed.com/2020/10/nest-m...). Although there are moments of great pathos in these stories, like the boy who is raised by his nutty mother and slacktivist father to refuse to go left, or the conversations between people prior to their deaths in a donut shop explosion, the world here is much more on-the-nose than what Brinkman presents in Multiforce (that said, the lettering here is bigger and clearer, the "how to read" guides are clever, and it's obvious why Chippendale has landed more mainstream gigs over the years).
April 4, 2023
I remember liking If n'Oof, even though I don't remember anything about it anymore except it didn't really have an ending. Puke Force eventually comes to a meandering conclusion that's, well, sort of concluding.
The constraint of a snake-like web comic seems to have worked really well for Chippendale. I also loved how every character was like a really cool action figure, and how each one came with their own individual internal logic.
But my guess is you're not reading this for the narrative, you're reading it for the cool jagged art. So jag away.
The constraint of a snake-like web comic seems to have worked really well for Chippendale. I also loved how every character was like a really cool action figure, and how each one came with their own individual internal logic.
But my guess is you're not reading this for the narrative, you're reading it for the cool jagged art. So jag away.
May 9, 2018
I couldn't do it! It was literally difficult to read (who orients comics like that?!) and once I struggled my way into seeing what was going on it wasn't really worth it. I don't wanna give it one star because I'm sure there's some things that were actually interesting but it is all boring violence and gross sex. Ugh.
December 9, 2017
This grew on me. That's all I will say
November 13, 2017
Imagine if Blade Runner 2049 had looked like this! Pynchon, LSD goodness.
April 26, 2021
so fucking cool, i love brian chippendale and his art style so much. its like adventure time if it was rly horrible and evil <3
December 28, 2023
Not for me
March 20, 2017
OK. This would have made sense to my teenager brain. It even makes sense to my adult brain. Yes, it is ugly, but again, life can be ugly.
May 3, 2016
You know when you see a book with the title Puke Force whether you feel invited to read it or not. It sort of announces its audience, in a way, right? It kind of says to readers of Milton and Shakespeare: Leave me alone, or something cruder. Still, my wife thought it was one of the Johnny Kochalka stories (or adult stories) my eleven year old had been reading. Of course I also like Kochalka’s permanently infantile humor, and I like the hard satirical edge of Chippendale here, too. Harry saw the cover and said, “ooh, looks cool,” and I thought, yeah, puking, farting, nose-picking, alien robots: 10-14 year old boys, and perpetually 10-14 year old boys in their early forties like Chippendale.
Puke Force is kind of punk or otherwise kind of dark social satire, very dense and in a quick-draw style, with sometimes fifty panels on any given page. Aliens and myriad weird creatures abound, and in single-page strips he skewers social media selfie culture, racism, ISIS, gun violence, corporate greed, gentrification, the art scene. Oh, you name it, he sends up everything he hates on the left and right. It’s kind of like Chippendale’s dystopian present. The kind of heroic ending kind of surprised me. I thought it was just pretty nihilistic, but maybe it isn’t, quite.
There is a narrative that sort of serially emerges, but I found it sort of hard to follow, in part because of the amazing but difficult artwork. That drawing style is hard to take for long periods of time, I found. But he is essentially manic in his approach to art. He also did If ‘n’ Oof (which is different) and Ninja (which is like this and which sort of precedes this, but I wouldn’t call it a sequel).
Finally I don’t find it merely infantile. It seems smart and both off-putting as anything with the title Puke Force intends to do. But it is not just kid stuff, for sure. Did I “like” it? I guess I found it very interesting. It kind of gets at the origins of alternative comics, the social satire/disgust for hypocrisy, the kind of rage against the machine, in Crumb and others. We need this kind of comic, I think, even if it is offensive or anti-social on some level. Chippendale is an experimental musician in the Providence art/music scene, so while some of the jokes humor is dumb, silly, uneven, whatever, on the whole it is pretty interesting, I thought. I mean, if you only think Bill Watterson when you think of comics, you have a pretty narrow idea of what is possible.
This review Kim also posted, from Anya Davidson, but it is SO good, and so thorough and so smart I thought I would post it too to urge you check it out, before or after you read the comic.
http://www.tcj.com/puke-force-and-the...
Puke Force is kind of punk or otherwise kind of dark social satire, very dense and in a quick-draw style, with sometimes fifty panels on any given page. Aliens and myriad weird creatures abound, and in single-page strips he skewers social media selfie culture, racism, ISIS, gun violence, corporate greed, gentrification, the art scene. Oh, you name it, he sends up everything he hates on the left and right. It’s kind of like Chippendale’s dystopian present. The kind of heroic ending kind of surprised me. I thought it was just pretty nihilistic, but maybe it isn’t, quite.
There is a narrative that sort of serially emerges, but I found it sort of hard to follow, in part because of the amazing but difficult artwork. That drawing style is hard to take for long periods of time, I found. But he is essentially manic in his approach to art. He also did If ‘n’ Oof (which is different) and Ninja (which is like this and which sort of precedes this, but I wouldn’t call it a sequel).
Finally I don’t find it merely infantile. It seems smart and both off-putting as anything with the title Puke Force intends to do. But it is not just kid stuff, for sure. Did I “like” it? I guess I found it very interesting. It kind of gets at the origins of alternative comics, the social satire/disgust for hypocrisy, the kind of rage against the machine, in Crumb and others. We need this kind of comic, I think, even if it is offensive or anti-social on some level. Chippendale is an experimental musician in the Providence art/music scene, so while some of the jokes humor is dumb, silly, uneven, whatever, on the whole it is pretty interesting, I thought. I mean, if you only think Bill Watterson when you think of comics, you have a pretty narrow idea of what is possible.
This review Kim also posted, from Anya Davidson, but it is SO good, and so thorough and so smart I thought I would post it too to urge you check it out, before or after you read the comic.
http://www.tcj.com/puke-force-and-the...
February 21, 2017
Wow. This is one weird collection of comics!
July 27, 2016
At first this book seemed like a pointless mess to me, but a story develops amongst the one page gags as it continues. It touches on serious topics (racism, technology, terrorism, religion, etc.), but with total irreverence. I especially liked the passage in which conversations are shown between each different patron at a diner just before it is blown up.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the sloppy drawing style, but I did find the detailed full-page drawings impressive. Even though Chippendale's aesthetic doesn't particularly appeal to me, I can certainly appreciate that he enjoys drawing.
Personally, I'm not a fan of the sloppy drawing style, but I did find the detailed full-page drawings impressive. Even though Chippendale's aesthetic doesn't particularly appeal to me, I can certainly appreciate that he enjoys drawing.
March 19, 2016
Been reading Chippendale's books and have long been a fan of his bands. #noiselife This sees him easier to follow I think.
He dips hard and wild. He is better than most comics at creating dread by putting us in a society where normal is very, very different. "This makes me uncomfortable because I don't understand it" vs. "This over here is evil and Chippendale is saying so."
Homages to metal and punk and disgust with the art scene... it's all here.
And it's funny.
He dips hard and wild. He is better than most comics at creating dread by putting us in a society where normal is very, very different. "This makes me uncomfortable because I don't understand it" vs. "This over here is evil and Chippendale is saying so."
Homages to metal and punk and disgust with the art scene... it's all here.
And it's funny.
March 6, 2016
visionary! beautiful, prescient & very, very funny.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews