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Punks Not Dead #1-6
Punks Not Dead, Vol. 1: Teenage Kicks
As if being an awkward, bullied 15-year-old weren't enough, suddenly "Fergie" Ferguson can see ghosts. Well, one ghost specifically... a certain punk rocker named Sid.
Sid's spirit had been trapped in London's Heathrow Airport for forty years, until the day he met Fergie. Sid's ghost is now stuck to Fergie - as if Fergie doesn't have enough on his plate, being raised by a single mum whose idea of parenting is strictly fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. Now Fergie has to contend with an unruly ghost sidekick and some weird, uncontrollable new "abilities." How does the father Fergie never knew fit into all this? And why is the Department of Extra-Usual Affairs showing an interest? Never Mind the Bollocks - all of this plus fish fingers, chunky chips and endless pints of anarchy in the new ongoing series Punks Not Dead!
Collects Punks Not Dead issues #1-5.
Sid's spirit had been trapped in London's Heathrow Airport for forty years, until the day he met Fergie. Sid's ghost is now stuck to Fergie - as if Fergie doesn't have enough on his plate, being raised by a single mum whose idea of parenting is strictly fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants. Now Fergie has to contend with an unruly ghost sidekick and some weird, uncontrollable new "abilities." How does the father Fergie never knew fit into all this? And why is the Department of Extra-Usual Affairs showing an interest? Never Mind the Bollocks - all of this plus fish fingers, chunky chips and endless pints of anarchy in the new ongoing series Punks Not Dead!
Collects Punks Not Dead issues #1-5.
152 pages, Paperback
First published October 10, 2018
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74 people want to read
About the author
David Barnett
146 books105 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
December 19, 2022
3.5 Great artwork and loved the use of British slang but the story was kind of all over the place.
January 27, 2019
Nice illustrations but the storylines are all over the place. It’s like they wanted to jam a few cool ideas into a room with no windows.
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May 30, 2019A no-hoper kid from Preston finds himself shackled to the ghost of Sid Vicious - whom, being young and such, he doesn't even recognise. And whom only he can see. And then other weird stuff starts happening, mostly centred on music, and what about the ageing sixties dollybird who sorts weird shit for the government? In short, somewhere between Ghosts: The Indie Years, and the Phonogram Extended Universe. Except part of the appeal of David 'Not That One' Barnett's comics debut is that none of those elevator pitch statements turns out to be strictly true. In particular, the revelations about Sid allayed my fears, based on early publicity, that the series would play to the notion of Sid Vicious as some sort of loveable larrikin, rather than a nasty little shit. It's still early days, but this feels like a promising book with interesting things to say about time and culture and youth. And all that without even mentioning the biggest selling point: Martin Simmonds' art is glorious, ranging from precise designs to grotty realism to vibrant retro pastiche as the demands of the story dictate.
April 12, 2020
Sid Vicious wouldn’t be my first choice if I had to have a dead rock star’s ghost following me around, but he makes for an amusing companion in this wacky but charming comic.
February 14, 2019
There's something to say about that middle ground of adolescence that is nothing short of a sweeping motion of awkward transition. Most moments where I've managed to recollect the times of me at twelve to fifteen are not something I'd prefer to refer myself back to, let alone tell you all about. Nevertheless, I give way to nostalgic remorse. It pains me to remember this period; the inventive fashion choices, the unexplainable vocal octave adjustments, and the skincare regimens (or lack thereof) all helped contribute to the time in our lives we collectively refer to as puberty. A prepubescent evolutionary assignment given to us without warning by mother nature herself. It's a time when we discover ourselves, our bodies, our individuality in personal taste in music, all simultaneously firing at every misunderstood perspective in our inner thoughts. We question our upbringing, we rebel against it, we chase boys and kiss girls (or both), and we don't understand anything about any of it. Nor do we even realize the necessity of our inquisition.
I say all this to preface the notion that with all things juvenile and adolescent, there are some things worth holding onto. One such thing is the love of all things comics. Punks Not Dead by David Barnett and drawn by Martin Simmonds is a new-ish comic book that has recently wrapped up its first volume. It has essentially rewritten an all-new definition to existential adolescence. It's a story of a young teen, Feargal Ferguson, with no defined direction and no firm circle of social circumstance to speak of. His only real meaning of existing, in contrary to the title of the comic itself, is the very real fact that a ghost of a punk rocker literally can not exit a specific and predetermined space near our lead character. The ghost of a punk rocker none other than Sid Vicious from the British punk band the Sex Pistols. Only Feargal (Fergie, for short) can hear, see, and communicate with this ghost punk haunting his every move with no firm explanation as to how or why.
Now, assume you were to refer back to your own prepubescent self in your mind, and your thoughts entertain also having a smooth-talking British punk rocker most infamous for his painfully short bit with the Sex Pistols stuck by your side. Pretty sweet, right? As an adult looking back, having a lost punk legend from the U.K. as your 24/7 BFF seems like something worth wishing upon a star for, doesn't it? Wrong. That's where this comic comes in and navigates us through the simple premise of a story assuming an awkward teen down on his luck with a punk rock ghost that he can't seem to shake off.
What would happen if during this most awkward time you had somehow summoned supernatural abilities reserved only for that kid in M. Night's debut, The Sixth Sense, but instead of Bruce Willis you were able to see the most notoriously downtrodden and also unapologetically obscene punk rocker from the UK? This is the oversimplified premise to IDW's Punks Not Dead but with it brings a hauntingly good time. This first chapter, Teenage Kicks, compiles the first six issues of the story and will be collected and hopefully stocked at your local comic shops this week. Just in time for autumn and Halloween Sid Vicious will co-star alongside his unassuming teenage human host, Fergie, in this compellingly silly story of a teenager down on his luck.
Punks Not Dead is a comic for the season without all the hemming and hawing of unnecessary spine-shivers driven by the intentional genre bursting that so many other horror books are doing nowadays. Simply put, this is a fairly light-hearted comic woven about with a handful of characters traveling through a story most often reserved for more better-suited shivers. The creators do a fairly decent job carrying this relationship of ghost and teen throughout the six issues after a very strong start. Issue one of Punks Not Dead does a tremendous job grabbing you by the slouched posture that you find yourself straightening from as you read me write this very sentence, and it takes the studded belt left hanging from your waist you hold dearly in the thoughts of your youth to jar your senses from panel number one all the way to the final page of the final issue. It is a fun read with enough pop culture references from the punk past of the 70s and 80s both visually and in the panel's dialogue to make this for quite a fun read. The story does struggle, though, for a brief moment toward the middle as it pains through some awkward growth spurts deciding upon which direction to go, and with what tone to tell it in. A case could be had to assume the intentional nature of the momentary struggle as it could literally assume the role of the chapter's very own pubescent stage in the nature of its progression.
We do have creator confirmation that Punks Not Dead will, in fact, continue and you can count me in on the second chapter. But also consider this: Teenage Kicks reads, feels, and exists as a stand-alone piece on its own right. This book can be picked up by anyone who loves comics, punk rock, faux horror, or supernatural failed attempts at exorcism without needing more to the story. When the final page is seen you will have an overall sense of satisfaction with the story that'd been told. A finite existence that won't need further storytelling, but you want nothing less than a continuous narrative. The closest thing to relate to this description that I can muster in a cohesive and explainable comparison would be when the 1985 film Back to the Future left us with a complete film having a beginning, middle and end while also teasing us with a possibility that there was more story to tell at the end of the tale... but we all know how that ended.. with continued narrative and more mishaps.
I'd be totally okay with a continued narrative of Sid and Fergie and anything that the open road might bring their way. I do recommend this book to those of you out there looking for something new and fresh and just a tad bit offbeat.
I say all this to preface the notion that with all things juvenile and adolescent, there are some things worth holding onto. One such thing is the love of all things comics. Punks Not Dead by David Barnett and drawn by Martin Simmonds is a new-ish comic book that has recently wrapped up its first volume. It has essentially rewritten an all-new definition to existential adolescence. It's a story of a young teen, Feargal Ferguson, with no defined direction and no firm circle of social circumstance to speak of. His only real meaning of existing, in contrary to the title of the comic itself, is the very real fact that a ghost of a punk rocker literally can not exit a specific and predetermined space near our lead character. The ghost of a punk rocker none other than Sid Vicious from the British punk band the Sex Pistols. Only Feargal (Fergie, for short) can hear, see, and communicate with this ghost punk haunting his every move with no firm explanation as to how or why.
Now, assume you were to refer back to your own prepubescent self in your mind, and your thoughts entertain also having a smooth-talking British punk rocker most infamous for his painfully short bit with the Sex Pistols stuck by your side. Pretty sweet, right? As an adult looking back, having a lost punk legend from the U.K. as your 24/7 BFF seems like something worth wishing upon a star for, doesn't it? Wrong. That's where this comic comes in and navigates us through the simple premise of a story assuming an awkward teen down on his luck with a punk rock ghost that he can't seem to shake off.
What would happen if during this most awkward time you had somehow summoned supernatural abilities reserved only for that kid in M. Night's debut, The Sixth Sense, but instead of Bruce Willis you were able to see the most notoriously downtrodden and also unapologetically obscene punk rocker from the UK? This is the oversimplified premise to IDW's Punks Not Dead but with it brings a hauntingly good time. This first chapter, Teenage Kicks, compiles the first six issues of the story and will be collected and hopefully stocked at your local comic shops this week. Just in time for autumn and Halloween Sid Vicious will co-star alongside his unassuming teenage human host, Fergie, in this compellingly silly story of a teenager down on his luck.
Punks Not Dead is a comic for the season without all the hemming and hawing of unnecessary spine-shivers driven by the intentional genre bursting that so many other horror books are doing nowadays. Simply put, this is a fairly light-hearted comic woven about with a handful of characters traveling through a story most often reserved for more better-suited shivers. The creators do a fairly decent job carrying this relationship of ghost and teen throughout the six issues after a very strong start. Issue one of Punks Not Dead does a tremendous job grabbing you by the slouched posture that you find yourself straightening from as you read me write this very sentence, and it takes the studded belt left hanging from your waist you hold dearly in the thoughts of your youth to jar your senses from panel number one all the way to the final page of the final issue. It is a fun read with enough pop culture references from the punk past of the 70s and 80s both visually and in the panel's dialogue to make this for quite a fun read. The story does struggle, though, for a brief moment toward the middle as it pains through some awkward growth spurts deciding upon which direction to go, and with what tone to tell it in. A case could be had to assume the intentional nature of the momentary struggle as it could literally assume the role of the chapter's very own pubescent stage in the nature of its progression.
We do have creator confirmation that Punks Not Dead will, in fact, continue and you can count me in on the second chapter. But also consider this: Teenage Kicks reads, feels, and exists as a stand-alone piece on its own right. This book can be picked up by anyone who loves comics, punk rock, faux horror, or supernatural failed attempts at exorcism without needing more to the story. When the final page is seen you will have an overall sense of satisfaction with the story that'd been told. A finite existence that won't need further storytelling, but you want nothing less than a continuous narrative. The closest thing to relate to this description that I can muster in a cohesive and explainable comparison would be when the 1985 film Back to the Future left us with a complete film having a beginning, middle and end while also teasing us with a possibility that there was more story to tell at the end of the tale... but we all know how that ended.. with continued narrative and more mishaps.
I'd be totally okay with a continued narrative of Sid and Fergie and anything that the open road might bring their way. I do recommend this book to those of you out there looking for something new and fresh and just a tad bit offbeat.
October 21, 2018
Love this book!
The ghost of Sid Vicious helps a young English boy to be punk. A very old supernatural Gogo dancing spy tries to stop them. The art is incredible and has some great 2 page spreads and angles. Although it’s the colors that really got to me; much more pinks and purples then I was expecting. Super fun, pretty funny and I love all the cool titles each issue has.
The ghost of Sid Vicious helps a young English boy to be punk. A very old supernatural Gogo dancing spy tries to stop them. The art is incredible and has some great 2 page spreads and angles. Although it’s the colors that really got to me; much more pinks and purples then I was expecting. Super fun, pretty funny and I love all the cool titles each issue has.
December 1, 2019
Picked this up at Thought Bubble and am honestly gutted I didn’t pick up number and and two at the same time. Great story&bloody beautiful too! I love the detail in the characters and the varied background details& the different styles of writing throughout the book oof!
December 4, 2019
Sid Vicious' ghost is attached to some teen dude with powers and the cool hot girl magically falls for him because why not? OK art; I stayed for the decently weird X-Files vibe...all in all an entertaining enough read.
May 12, 2021
Really loved the art style but the story was kind of all over the place. Maybe things will make more sense after another read through. Interesting though. Definitely right up my alley with the weird occult stuff.
January 14, 2023
I picked this book up on a whim at my public library figuring it would be a comic retelling of the history of punk. Boy was I wrong! I absolutely loved this book and read it in one sitting. Looking forward to seeing where this series goes.
March 23, 2024
Well color me intrigued enough to spend my own money on the sequel because can you say CLIFFHANGER!!?? Thankfully I was able to find one for less than $10 since the library only had access to volume one.
January 20, 2019
More like a Marvel comic that gives an homage to Punk but still very fun.
February 5, 2019
The artwork is creative and funny, but the story is cheesy. Occultism and punk rock language pepper the book. It's a window to the despairing state of humankind.
February 11, 2019
Not-so-Rotten.
April 12, 2019
1.75 stars.
May 14, 2019
Mixed feelings with this one.
June 20, 2020
Interesting proposal and story !!!!
December 10, 2021
If every band you mention is over 40 years old, your book isn't punk.
March 5, 2022
Had a Great concept following Sid around, but the story got jumbled up into some weird uninteresting territory. Loved all the British slang though, the art is nice to look at too.
April 21, 2022
I enjoyed this! But it's like candy, and I'm left wanting more.
May 9, 2022
Xfiles meets Caitlin Moran-type tale of being an unpopular loser in nowhere, England. liked it a lot, ready for next issue!
August 19, 2023
Great art and a few interesting and funny bits along the way, the writing just didn't work for me
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews