Last Gang in Town

Last Gang in Town

by Simon Oliver, Rufus Dayglo (Illustrator)

THE GREATEST ROCK N ROLL SWINDLE!
It s 1977, and crime on the once-swinging streets of London is as soft and flabby as an overfed corgi. Nearly a decade has gone by since the brothers Kray were locked away, and it s high time for the torch to be passed preferably straight through a bank window. Luckily, a new generation of snot-nosed Robin Hoods filled with attitude, alcohol and anarchy are ready to burst onto the scene. Now, as Great Britain prepares to celebrate its glorious monarch s Silver Jubilee, a rising gangland queen and her punk-rock robbers are about to pull off the heist of the century and breaking into Buckingham Palace is only the start!
Acclaimed creators Simon Oliver (FBP: FEDERAL BUREAU OF PHYSICS) and Rufus Dayglo (TANK GIRL) proudly present the punk-noir crime saga LAST GANG IN TOWN a brash, bold, and bloody brilliant take on the English underworld!"

Genres: Comics, Graphic Novels, Humor, Historical Fiction

160 pages, Paperback

First published October 18, 2016

About the author

Simon Oliver was hatched in South London in 1969. Since that date he has consistently strived for mediocrity in a number of fields of employment, from cooking at the legendary Hacienda Club of Manchester in the late 1980's, scuba diving instructor in the planet's more tropical climes, to a career as a camera assistant in Hollywood. With such a spotty and heterogeneous employment record is seemed only fitting that the comic book would industry welcome him with open arms in 2005 for his writing debut in THE EXTERMINATORS.

Reviews

[Keith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought issue #2 of this series last year and I gave to a friend and asked him to read it and explain it to me because I thought it was too British for me and I didn't understand it. This prompted him to start explaining British slang to me, like 'bullocks,' and I was like dude, I am out-of-step with 20th century British history, that does not mean I don't know words like 'bullocks,' for fuck's sake, and we both looked at each other confused and stopped talking about it and the whole situation made me dislike the series even more than I'd already decided I disliked it for not having understood it in the first place.

Then my friend bought more issues and told me how good they were and I was like fuck you and I went and bought some Silver Surfer in retaliation. Well despite all that I don't regret my behavior because those Surfer comics were fuckin' great.

And also, despite my behavior in this story I want to make it clear that I am mature and full of growth because then I went out and bought this book when it came out in trade and I really liked it.

We can all grow, we can all change, love is love.

Anyway, I was wrong the first time and Last Gang in Town is pretty damn solid. I would not recommend just buying issue #2 to start, or even buying the singles at all, because it's one of those series that makes no sense unless you can sit and read it all in one sitting. It jumps around in time and each timeline has its own arc, and for the most part the series ignores the issue breaks anyway. Rufus Dayglo really, like really wishes he was Jamie Hewlett -- like, i don't know what person ever hasn't wished they were Jamie Hewlett at least once? But dude, Dayglo is Hewletting so hard -- I mean, I'm sure having drawn new-Tank-Girl or whatever is what got him this gig, but at a certain point it's like, dude, stop writing cute things in the margins because they don't feel spontaneous and scribbly at all and by the way no one is named "Dayglo."

I also would not be surprised if Simon Oliver is not actually British. His characters all talk "too British," if you take my meaning.

BUT. There were a lot of things I liked about this book. (1) This is visually rich but still has a lot of dialogue and story. This took me about three sittings to get through (yes I know I said "read it one sitting" at the top, you know what I mean shut up), and I actually plan to read it again to piece together more of the details. I paid full price for this puppy and I don't regret it.

(2) This has smart, interesting and complicated female characters without coming out and saying HEY I'M A BOOK WITH SMART INTERESTING COMPLICATED FEMALE CHARACTERS. Like, I didn't even think about the fact that most of the gang, AND the villain, are all women, and all of the men are in service to all the women, until I was just typing that previous sentence. THAT'S HOW YOU DO IT, Rat Queens, FUCK YOU.

(3) This book has a political agenda that is goofy enough for a fun action comic without being terribly insipid. Any time a politically-charged comic is able to pull off something more than "bad stuff is bad," I'm impressed.

(4) Rufus Daylgo might bite/worship Jamie Hewlett to an annoying extreme, but the rest of his toolbox is clearly swiped from old MAD cartoonists like Don Martin and Sergio Aragones, and seriously -- more people need to be swiping from those guys and less people need to be swiping from Jamie Hewlett. The fact that Dayglo does both is at least a start. Now if he would just be a cartoonist instead of cosplaying as one on the page, he might get somewhere.

So. This book isn't as good as it wants to be, but who among us is? Between this and Art Ops, Vertigo is figuring out how to be sexy again, and I feel like if I'd found its current crop of titles when I was sixteen, I'd have freaked out as much as I did when I actually did find Vertigo when I was sixteen.

Maybe Vertigo will never be the publisher who put out Sandman, Preacher, and Transmetropolitan at the same time (how was that even real for fuck's sake) ever again, but, as I said in the parenthetical, how was that even real for fuck's sake.

Last Gang in Town is a cool, sexy, dense book that tries really hard. Would that we all could. Would that we all could.

[Devon Munn · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars

I actually did read this last month, i just forgot to rate and review it

This is my least favorite work of Oliver's i have read so far. I personally wasn't interested in the story and personally as an autistic person was kinda hard to grasp at times. Also there was a random instance of bestiality thrown in for no reason (it's one scene but i didn't need to see it)

If yiu don't mind wacky and humorous heist stories i'd say give it a try, Maybe you'll like it better than i did

[Kit · Rating 2 out of 5]

you ever know that kid that gets into punk rock at like 14 and wants everyone to know it?

Imagine he’s like thirty and doing the same thing.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pulled this off the shelf of the local library because I saw the name of a Clash song peeking out from among the spines and had to see if there was a connection -- and boy is there! (Mick and Paul even make a one-panel cameo) This is the riotously colorful tale of a couple of wild London punk kids in 1977 who are recruited by an older blonde to pull off some situationist/revolutionary crimes. Two of them are in a band called Heavy Mannerz -- and if you don't understand that reference, you're going to miss about 90% of the inside jokes and puns crammed into every inch of the pages.

The blonde is the girlfriend of Charlie (the Michael Caine character from The Italian Job), and for reasons that aren't entirely clear, she's eager to smash the system. Wacky hi-jinks ensure, with tons of ridiculous action, chases, heists, a decidedly nasty machine-gun toting Queen Elizabeth and her patriotic underworld minion Mr. Croker (for legal IP reasons, the author switched the last names of the Caine and Coward characters from The Italian Job). These are alternated with scenes set in 2018, as the dying blonde gathers the trio back together for a final attempt to realize their unfulfilled revolutionary ideals and take on/out the 1%.

The story is breakneck and barely under control, which entirely suits Rufus Dayglo's art -- which is the real star. It's got an antic retro style that reminded me of Tank Girl and some other titles from the 80s, with color blasting throughout. At the same time, it's incredibly detailed, with little visual jokes and details to discover in the backgrounds and corners of panels. I'll definitely be tracking down more of his work! All in all, unlikely to be everyone's cup of tea, but I enjoyed it.

[Ethan Minsker · Rating 3 out of 5]

“It’s 1977, and crime on the once-swinging streets of London is as soft and flabby. Nearly a decade has gone by since the brothers Kray were locked away, and it’s high time for the torch to be passed—preferably straight through a bank window. Luckily, a new generation of snot-nosed Robin Hoods filled with attitude, alcohol and anarchy are ready to burst onto the scene. Now, as Great Britain prepares to celebrate its glorious monarch’s Silver Jubilee, a rising gangland queen and her punk-rock robbers are about to pull off the heist of the century—and breaking into Buckingham Palace is only the start!” –publisher, Vertigo Comics

I read a few other reviews and I have to agree. The story isn’t clear and lacks the pizazz to keep me interested, but the art is fun and and action-filled. This is like how punk rock was seen through the lens of mainstream media in the 80’s and 90’s, like when bad guys showed up on CHiPS and they are punks just committing crimes for no real reason. Bands you have heard of even if you know little about punk are name-dropped, the Sex Pistols, The Clash, The Buzzcocks. The Last Gang in Town is as if they channeled the movie The Great Rock ‘n’ Roll Swindle. I did enjoy this but I think I might be one of the few to not recommend it but not saying to stay away either. I guess there is no reason to read this review.

[Alex Sarll]

A snotty, scabrous caper across the sixties, seventies and present-ish day of "a beaten-down nation living on the fringes of a Quality Street assortment, stale-scones and cream-tea version of a country that has never existed", illustrated by Rufus Dayglo in a style which suggests a foul-mouthed anti-establishment Beano, yet somehow never quite comes within the orbit of Viz – which is not to intend any disrespect to Viz, obviously. Maybe it's just that this doesn't have quite the same density of panels per page? But it does have the cartoonish faces, the comedy violence (complete with old-school sound effects from 'WALLOP!' to 'TWAT!'), the wealth of background detail in the art – and a delight in in-joke marginalia which, it makes me oddly content to realise, the most bored mediaeval scribe would recognise as a continuation of his own culture. The plot makes minimal sense, but when you've got Queen Elizabeth II being played as a gun-toting crime boss who delights in seeing the corgis bum her courtiers, I don't think anybody's expecting this to be at the same end of crime fiction as The Wire. It's all about the spirit, the punk fury at the establishment and sell-outs and the bollocks presented as the only choice for everyone else, played sincere enough to matter but never serious enough to run the remotest risk of coming across po-faced. It is, in short, top fun.

[LordSlaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! I read this on a whim and discovered a book I really love. The art and the writing are superb; the art in particular is filled with anarchic energy and loads of detail; it's a delight to study the panels. The story perhaps ends a bit abruptly, but it is engaging and fun all along the way. I am a long-time fan of punk rock and Last Gang in Town is filled with tons of references to that beloved genre. This was a wonderful book to serendipitously stumble across.

[Niche · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not for me

While I liked the punk aesthetic and music, the drunken angsty rebellion aspect was never relatable. The thumbing of noses at authority because it's authority without another reason or solution just felt like shallow self-serving anarchy. Some minor Tank Girl vibes, but mostly punk underground themes that didn't click with me.

[Bosco Farr · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Paul · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a bloody effing good time. Don't be a wanker, fill yer tanker with Last Gang In Town.

[Jochem · Rating 2 out of 5]

I like the attitude and the Punk/No Wave inspired art. Sadly it lacks depth in any of the other departments.

[Oscar · Rating 2 out of 5]

Este comic está en el grupo de comics que he leido que han sido desagradables de leer, afortunadamente, este grupo de comics es muy pequeño.
Me tomó un año leerlo, a pesar de que es un run de 6 números, no por lo complicado del contenido, si no por lo tedioso.
Le di dos estrellas. Una por hacerme comprarlo y otra por que el dibujo está bien ejecutado.
Las cosas malas de este comic son varias, pero las peores son: la forma simplona en la que manejan el punk de 1977, la trama no me atrapó, la manera en la que forzan al lector a voltear a ciertas partes de la hoja (eso debería ser de forma natural, no indicarte a donde debes ver) y lo vacio de los personajes (sentí que era una actuación por un montón de niños que leian un guión malo).
Oliver hizo uno de los comics mas influyentes para mi (FBP) y revolucionarios en cuestión de diversidad humana (género/cultura), "Last Gang in town" falla de forma increible comparando con FBP.

[Mike · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The poor no longer rob from the rich, the rich now rob from the poor."

And THAT'S why we need the last gang in town.