Cody Ziglar

I feel wretched about not loving this, but oof!

I will lay my cards on the table and say I am a Millenal of a certain age that makes me question whether this was a case of me reading this as the writer's being 'hello, fellow kids' to eleven or if I am now 'old [Genderqueer] yells at comic'. I genuinely don't know and I am seeing wildly different reactions to this, so I'm going to be very clear that this is all very much my subjective opinion about my experience.

At the end of the of the day, enjoying and feeling something positive about art (that isn't intentionally bigoted, harmful, or hateful--[to those who haven't earned that hate through their actions]), or just having a significant emotional reaction is great. There's no need to be a dick about something you don't like, so I'm really going to do my best to talk about why I didn't like this comic.

I don't have a huge exposure to Spider-Punk. I do love my punk, did the sixteen year old insufferable punk purist phase, playing the three chords and did most of the shouting in a local punk band, and got an offer to play rhythm for and practiced with a bigger, older local barn that played festivals, played America, and stuff, but I was a baby, a very, very neurodivergent and extremely anxious baby, so that didn't happen, which is a blessing because I definitely would have had a heart attack and/ or made an absolute tit of myself. I loved playing in the Spider-Punk skin in the game, despite the whole working with cops to surveil the city as viewpoint unlocks... and thoroughly enjoyed Hobie in Across the Spider-Verse when his accurate views weren't being made to look insufferable and wrong.

So, I was really excited to actually get into some Spider-Punk that came out in the Spider-Verse wave...

My issues can be succinctly summarised as this comic is too punk to function.

There are so many elements I love, the Hot Topic universe is fascinating blend of awesome, awful, and cringe (both complimentary and derogatory). Some of the aesthetics and characterisations are wonderful, while others are less so. The Misfits Crimson Ghost Ta$kma$ter is just glorious, but how they didn't have him say, "I ain't no goddamned son of a B$¿!" is a crime. I can't decide if the Osborne Venom head mechsuit Krang thing was good or not, but it did feel like a lot of hats on one severed head. Punching Nazis, racists, and fascists is great, but just calling people those things without accurately displaying actions and ideologies is actually not good.

Nazi Punks Fuck Off! is a bloody good title and slogan, but the song actually had lyrics and was saying something. That's where the comic falls apart for me. It's all aesthetics, and, granted, a lot of punk, especially the Sex Pistols, Malcolm McLaren, Viviene Westwood, side of things, but punk and has a meaning and a message. This really takes all that aesthetics and sloganeering and uses it the same way as the general superhero, military, and technological jargon thrown around in other comics made by ridiculous megacorps that literally factor doing military propaganda and making the 'progressive/ transgressive' elements easy to edit out for more authoritarian markets into their budgets and creative processes.

I just don't think they did anything interesting with the concept and aesthetics, beyond a few cool designs and character choices. Also, the dialogue was too much for me, so I mostly skimmed all the banter and non-essential plot stuff because I just couldn't.

I don't want to yuck anyone's yum, and we can all have fun with some corporate-approved rumpus, sometimes it's all we got, I just wish I could get on board with this, and that it was more what I enjoy about comics. But not everything is about me, so yeah, ymmv and know this is a real marmite/ vegemite moment--you'll likely love it or hate it.… (meer)

Spider-Punk and his other superhero pals notice the local riffraff are suddenly armed with high-tech weapons, and they wonder what's behind the change, assuming it must be the result of some more advanced criminals. When their hunch proves to be correct, the band has to get together for a road trip to the nation's capital to battle evil.

This book had some potential, but it mostly fell flat. Like too many Marvel comics, it picks up in media res, which is frustrating on an unnumbered volume that seems like it should be stand-alone. (On the plus side, I was worried it might also end without wrapping up the storyline but luckily it did not.)

There were definitely a few character moments that were nice but in general the impression I received was that you should already know these characters and their backstories, therefore getting little of that here where the focus was on the big reveals of villains and the subsequent fights.

The dialogue is pretty bland, attempting to put in "cool" lingo and not achieving coolness at all. Spider-man is known for clever retorts and quips, but Spider-Punk mostly just wants to talk about his "band" and van, never in particularly witty ways. There is a deeper message about being aware of fascism and fighting it when you see it, but it's frankly not handled the most deftly.

A for effort but C but execution.… (meer)