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Hopeless Savages #2
Hopeless Savages Volume 2: Ground Zero
Collecting the second mini-series, Ground Zero follows Zero on the dangerous path of her first love — the scoldings, the reprimands, and worst of all, the groundings. Her teenage life is turned upside down as the Hopeless-Savage house is invaded by TV crews.
120 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
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Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews
March 31, 2008
Volume 2 of the Hopeless Savages series finds Dirk Hopeless, Nikki Savage, and their darling children reunited after a foiled kidnapping attempt, but now facing an even greater challenger: a "Behind the Music" style video special that intrudes upon everyone's lives, placing them under the type of microscope that only TV can provide. While the first Hopeless Savages book focused mostly on the relationship between the children in the family, this one focused more on intergenerational conflict, especially the relationship between Zero and her mother, Nikki. The conflict between the two of them stems from something that most parents must encounter at some point - reconciling how they spent their youth with the youth that they hope for for their children. [return]Despite that, one of the nicest things about this comic, however, is the love relationships that are shown between the Hopeless-Savage kids and their respective love interests. We see Zero fall in love for the first time, and Arsenal relates a story of the one man he's ever loved that is absolutely heartbreakingly beautiful.
June 23, 2019
Had absolutely no idea this was the second volume, so that could be a large contributor to my confusion. I really couldn't tell what was going on for nearly the entire first chapter of this book. O'Malley's art had far too much background and was drawn with the same thickness of pen throughout, making it hard to tell who was talking and differentiate the characters. Zero had an extreme overuse of what I assume is made-up slang, making it really hard to figure out what she meant. There was also so many half pieces of dialogue for ambiance, but it just confused the hell out of me. I couldn't decide if the love story was cute because I honestly couldn't figure out what was going on. I think Ginger set up the display on the stage? Or maybe Zero did? Or her band? The messy, crowded art did not mix well with the abundance of confusing dialogue.
April 9, 2024
Overall, I enjoyed this volume more than the first one. I thought it was more cohesive and made more sense. I also really enjoyed the Bryan Lee O’Malley of it all.
However, I felt it took less risks and therefore was less intriguing than the first one. I also felt it suffered from similar issues as the first volume, mainly underdevelopment of several plot points (though to a lesser degree than the first volume). I also would have liked to see a stronger connection between the two volumes to create a stronger timeline/narrative.
However, I felt it took less risks and therefore was less intriguing than the first one. I also felt it suffered from similar issues as the first volume, mainly underdevelopment of several plot points (though to a lesser degree than the first volume). I also would have liked to see a stronger connection between the two volumes to create a stronger timeline/narrative.
August 2, 2017
Zero is the daughter I would be proud to have.
I stumbled across a used copy of this at Powell's this summer (who gets rid of "Hopeless Savages"?) Having been introduced to these characters before in "Greatest Hits", I was thrilled to scoop this up. Hands down, these are my favorite graphic characters.
Fans of Bryan O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" series will not be disappointed.
I stumbled across a used copy of this at Powell's this summer (who gets rid of "Hopeless Savages"?) Having been introduced to these characters before in "Greatest Hits", I was thrilled to scoop this up. Hands down, these are my favorite graphic characters.
Fans of Bryan O'Malley's "Scott Pilgrim" series will not be disappointed.
April 27, 2022
oof, this one was not nearly as good as the first. it was extremely hard to follow - too many people talk over each other in sentence fragments. i was exhausted keeping up. and i hated zero and ginger’s relationship - the emotions were way too strong for how little foundation was laid. and ginger was so nasty about friend zoning that i do not trust him at all.
July 9, 2009
This is the first Hopeless Savages book I read and it totally drew me into the family. This one is mostly about the documentary about the parents and about Zero's developing relationship with a boy at school. What I really love about this book, and the whole series, is that it is so energetic! There is a TON going on in every page, that sometimes words are literally cut off, hidden behind other parts, or just trail off, JUST like real conversations when you are only half listening to someone or don't hear something or they trail off. Its not about reading every word, its about bringing forward the reality.
Meanwhile, the family is absolutely hilarious. A couple of crazy punk rockers became parents, and each family member stands as a character on their own. Rat the transformed older brother, Arsenal the strong older sister, Twitch the sensitive gay younger brother, and Zero the wannabe rocker baby sister. Whats great about the family is they have tons of arguments and conversations and emotional moments so they feel like a real family, not like the Osbournes or the Simmons but like your family or my family.
I also like the lingo, Zero's got a great sense of... vocabulary!
Finally, the artistry. For the most part it looks kind of anime style (e.g., big water mark for embarressed and other emotions, overly big eyes, and so on) but flashbacks are usually in a different style. All B&W. Its not bad. Definitely jam-packed but not too busy that you don't know what you are looking at.
I think these books would be a fun read for middle or high schoolers too, especially if they are into an alternative music scene or into the whole brit culture.
Meanwhile, the family is absolutely hilarious. A couple of crazy punk rockers became parents, and each family member stands as a character on their own. Rat the transformed older brother, Arsenal the strong older sister, Twitch the sensitive gay younger brother, and Zero the wannabe rocker baby sister. Whats great about the family is they have tons of arguments and conversations and emotional moments so they feel like a real family, not like the Osbournes or the Simmons but like your family or my family.
I also like the lingo, Zero's got a great sense of... vocabulary!
Finally, the artistry. For the most part it looks kind of anime style (e.g., big water mark for embarressed and other emotions, overly big eyes, and so on) but flashbacks are usually in a different style. All B&W. Its not bad. Definitely jam-packed but not too busy that you don't know what you are looking at.
I think these books would be a fun read for middle or high schoolers too, especially if they are into an alternative music scene or into the whole brit culture.
December 1, 2015
I was flipping through this to see if it was a good graphic novel for a display about music. And then I started reading it. And then I couldn't put it down.
Hopeless Savages is about an unusual family. Mom and dad are both infamous punk rock musicians and youngest daughter Skank Zero Hopeless-Savage has her own band as well. A TV network like VH1 is in the process of filming a Behind-the-Music-like show about the family and it has everyone on their last nerve.
This volume centers around 16-year old Zero and her suprisingly sweet romance with an MIT-bound gamer geek boy named Ginger. So I'm kind of a sucker for a nice, non-crappy, non-traditional romance. Sue me.
They "meet cute" at age 7 outside a comic book store after some older kids harass Ginger and throw his glasses in the dumpster. Zero, who was shopping with her family, sends her older siblings after the thugs, roots through the garbage to find his glasses, and walks him home. This part was heart-meltingly adorable. Ginger, of course, is in love with her from this point on but is completely off her radar until high school.
There is another very sweet subplot involving Zero's gay older brother Twitch and his beloved Henry, who are apart while Henry studies at Julliard.
All in all, this was a very good comic with attractive art and an engaging plot. Zero is a cute and spunky heroine with her punky style and creative vocabulary, and everyone gets more or less what they want in the end. I'm glad I read this and will be reading the other volumes in this series soon.
Hopeless Savages is about an unusual family. Mom and dad are both infamous punk rock musicians and youngest daughter Skank Zero Hopeless-Savage has her own band as well. A TV network like VH1 is in the process of filming a Behind-the-Music-like show about the family and it has everyone on their last nerve.
This volume centers around 16-year old Zero and her suprisingly sweet romance with an MIT-bound gamer geek boy named Ginger. So I'm kind of a sucker for a nice, non-crappy, non-traditional romance. Sue me.
They "meet cute" at age 7 outside a comic book store after some older kids harass Ginger and throw his glasses in the dumpster. Zero, who was shopping with her family, sends her older siblings after the thugs, roots through the garbage to find his glasses, and walks him home. This part was heart-meltingly adorable. Ginger, of course, is in love with her from this point on but is completely off her radar until high school.
There is another very sweet subplot involving Zero's gay older brother Twitch and his beloved Henry, who are apart while Henry studies at Julliard.
All in all, this was a very good comic with attractive art and an engaging plot. Zero is a cute and spunky heroine with her punky style and creative vocabulary, and everyone gets more or less what they want in the end. I'm glad I read this and will be reading the other volumes in this series soon.
August 21, 2014
The first volume of Hopeless Savages was a fun, manic story. This second volume is more realistic, and a lot more emotional. It's a story of young love, and trials and tribulations it can bring. The cartoonish violence is removed, and in its place is a lot more drama. O'Malley's art is excellent, of course; this was before Scott Pilgrim, so it was still very early in his career, but his style was still firmly in place, and it's a fun style. Sections drawn by Andi Watson, Christine Norrie and Chynna Clugston-Major provide some nice changes of pace.
But the real highlight is the writing. After proving she can do comedy in the first volume, Van Meter proves she can do drama in volume two. And she does it well. She wrote an excellent love story, and she also included some brilliant lines. There's the gay character, when explaining how his parents accept him: "We don't care what music you kids love, so long as you have music to love." There's protagonist Skank Zero's bitter self-awareness: "My life is an embarrassingly pedestrian teenage cesspool." There's the sticker in the notebook of the boy she likes: "Reality is for people who can't handle fantasy." (As an aside, his notebook also mentions Blue Monday, the graphic novel series by Chynna Clugston-Major.)
It's a great book, well worth checking out.
But the real highlight is the writing. After proving she can do comedy in the first volume, Van Meter proves she can do drama in volume two. And she does it well. She wrote an excellent love story, and she also included some brilliant lines. There's the gay character, when explaining how his parents accept him: "We don't care what music you kids love, so long as you have music to love." There's protagonist Skank Zero's bitter self-awareness: "My life is an embarrassingly pedestrian teenage cesspool." There's the sticker in the notebook of the boy she likes: "Reality is for people who can't handle fantasy." (As an aside, his notebook also mentions Blue Monday, the graphic novel series by Chynna Clugston-Major.)
It's a great book, well worth checking out.
October 30, 2010
Following up on the success of their first volume, the creators of Hopeless Savage are back with another look into the lives of aged punk rockers who have given up their crazy lives for a slice of suburbia.
In this volume the young punk rocker Skank H-S is living a life of teenage monotony that's only relieved by practicing with her band. She'd like to find herself a nice boyfriend, but unfortunately most of the boys in her school either think she's easy or find her intimidating. It's at this point we're introduced to the character of Ginger, a straight-laced straight-A student who has had a crush on Skank for years. The chemistry is there, but there's no easy lane to love for this Hopeless Savage. Meanwhile, the tensions between Skank & her mother slowly rise through the ceiling as Skank's been grounded for disobeying the rules. To make matters worse, throughout it all the family is being videotaped by a sleazy camerman who wants to make a tell-all video for television!
I really love this series & the storyline only got better with this volume. Most of the same artists returned for this volume, so the art quality is largely unchanged. The storyline is great & is a good alternative to the action packed super-genre that seems to dominate the comics field.
In this volume the young punk rocker Skank H-S is living a life of teenage monotony that's only relieved by practicing with her band. She'd like to find herself a nice boyfriend, but unfortunately most of the boys in her school either think she's easy or find her intimidating. It's at this point we're introduced to the character of Ginger, a straight-laced straight-A student who has had a crush on Skank for years. The chemistry is there, but there's no easy lane to love for this Hopeless Savage. Meanwhile, the tensions between Skank & her mother slowly rise through the ceiling as Skank's been grounded for disobeying the rules. To make matters worse, throughout it all the family is being videotaped by a sleazy camerman who wants to make a tell-all video for television!
I really love this series & the storyline only got better with this volume. Most of the same artists returned for this volume, so the art quality is largely unchanged. The storyline is great & is a good alternative to the action packed super-genre that seems to dominate the comics field.
October 28, 2012
Repeat After Me, And This Shall Be Our Code:
MADE-UP CUSSES USUALLY SOUND KINDA DUMB
Other than that, though, this was okay. Not great, not bad. It’s on par with the good-bad kind of ’80s movie, the kind that’s hokey but has some charm.
This was also the first full book O’Malley drew, and it looks more like the ancient stuff he used to post on his website than like the stuff that got him famous. It’s kind of rough and it’s actually really hard to tell everyone apart (unlike Scott Pilgrim where a lot of people said it was hard to tell everyone apart but it really wasn’t), but you can still see the seeds of what makes his later work so fun. (More visual/stylistic rough edges: the font is way too small most of the time, and oh god, it does that superhero thing where every sixth word is in boldface??! Who on earth started that stupid tic anyway, it’s fucking deranged.)
I also was really not into the interludes drawn by other artists! It ought to be possible to use that effect well, but the tone was just way off in all of them.
MADE-UP CUSSES USUALLY SOUND KINDA DUMB
Other than that, though, this was okay. Not great, not bad. It’s on par with the good-bad kind of ’80s movie, the kind that’s hokey but has some charm.
This was also the first full book O’Malley drew, and it looks more like the ancient stuff he used to post on his website than like the stuff that got him famous. It’s kind of rough and it’s actually really hard to tell everyone apart (unlike Scott Pilgrim where a lot of people said it was hard to tell everyone apart but it really wasn’t), but you can still see the seeds of what makes his later work so fun. (More visual/stylistic rough edges: the font is way too small most of the time, and oh god, it does that superhero thing where every sixth word is in boldface??! Who on earth started that stupid tic anyway, it’s fucking deranged.)
I also was really not into the interludes drawn by other artists! It ought to be possible to use that effect well, but the tone was just way off in all of them.
August 18, 2009
This volume was less confusing, though some of the plot points were still a bit of a mess and hard to follow. I liked the flashback structure, with the protagonist telling the story to her school administrators piecemeal. Unfortunately, I find Zero Hopeless-Savage to be by far the least interesting of the Hopeless-Savage children, and this book was almost entirely about her (as was the last) and her romantic life. I found myself craving the others' stories, and that craving made me enjoy this less. (This also contained one of the most frustratingly pompous introductions I've ever read to a TPB, which, while not the creators' fault, didn't help my enjoyment.)
September 6, 2016
This was such a cute story with great illustrations. I really love Zero's character. This volume centered around a well done love story that wasn't too sappy and had just the right amount of awesome.
I also really liked the set up of disrupted timelines. At times it was confusing, but the overall effect was brilliant. Sometimes there was flashbacks within flashback,s which were a little hard to follow, but this was compensated for by having different artists illustrate the flashback scenes. This has a very beautiful effect as each flashback was separated by its own distinct style.
Very well put together piece of work.
I also really liked the set up of disrupted timelines. At times it was confusing, but the overall effect was brilliant. Sometimes there was flashbacks within flashback,s which were a little hard to follow, but this was compensated for by having different artists illustrate the flashback scenes. This has a very beautiful effect as each flashback was separated by its own distinct style.
Very well put together piece of work.
March 1, 2013
Told as a series of flashbacks, this is a great character piece. Ground Zero focuses more on Zero’s character than the first Hopeless Savages graphic novel. Zero is a great, compelling character that is easy to identify with. Despite her less than typical circumstances, Zero has much in common with a regular teenager. There is a great balance of humor and emotion in this graphic novel, and it makes for a great sequel to the original graphic novel. I give it four stars out of five.
August 9, 2007
I am not sure if I liked this book more than the first volume simply because I already knew the characters, or if it was the teenage angst. There weren't any crazy kidnappings, just plain old boy likes girl, girl realizes she likes boy, humiliates herself, and then tries to get said boy. All in the midst of punk and funny words. This book is a keeper.
December 27, 2010
oh my heart. If Vol. 1 didn't grab me by the short hairs, this would have whacked me over the head with any conveniently heavy object. There's so much going on in this story, but it's all well handled; and Twitch's interludes in the middle shot an arrow through my heart. Just wonderful. Highly recommended.
May 12, 2010
Picked this one up because it was on Oni Press, same as Scott Pilgrim. The cover reviews assured me that it was "cool." Was put off at first by the slang and non-sensical moments. And I kept getting the characters confused. But I stuck with it and liked it alright.
November 3, 2009
More like two and a half. I like the art (Brian Lee O'Malley!), but the story is disjointed, and it's hard to like the protagonist---she's too one sided.
April 17, 2010
In first sequel to Hopeless Savages, a boy falls in love with Skank Zero. Will he be able to withstand the Hopeless-Savage family? Read the sequel to Hopeless Savages to find out.
March 16, 2011
Volume two is even better than volume one. Ah, love. Teenaged and otherwise. I love Van Meter's writing. Something about the language really pleases me.
December 18, 2011
Short, cute, sweet, but I couldn't really relate that much. The slang was annoying.
November 16, 2014
Twitch though!!!!
September 27, 2016
This book is all swerval.
April 6, 2014
I love this family.
Displaying 1 - 23 of 23 reviews