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Rating: 
Summary: Coffee-Filtered Punk
Review: Collecting issues #1-4 of the similarly-named comic book series, Jen Van Meter's "Hopeless Savages" is a fun read, if not exactly cerebrally challenging. Ma & Pa are kidnapped by a vengeful figure from their punk-rockin' past in an attempt to steal away a song secretly written by Dad (Dirk Hopeless). The kids, through whom both aging rockers have been living precariously, have no choice but to rescue them on their own - their whereabouts pinpointed through an unlikely series of events and characters who all but draw a roadmap for the four offspring. The story is obviously not Pulitzer material, just as it has failed to give any great recognition to the hundreds of likewise-based cartoons and children's fiction previously available. Yet, it is the involved character development and captivating artwork which prove to be the saving graces of "Hopeless Savages." The book is certainly worth a read or two, especially for those young enough to appreciate the plot details on the level in which they were intended.
Rating:
Summary: Coffee-Filtered Punk
Review: Collecting issues #1-4 of the similarly-named comic book series, Jen Van Meter's "Hopeless Savages" is a fun read, if not exactly cerebrally challenging. Ma & Pa are kidnapped by a vengeful figure from their punk-rockin' past in an attempt to steal away a song secretly written by Dad (Dirk Hopeless). The kids, through whom both aging rockers have been living precariously, have no choice but to rescue them on their own - their whereabouts pinpointed through an unlikely series of events and characters who all but draw a roadmap for the four offspring. The story is obviously not Pulitzer material, just as it has failed to give any great recognition to the hundreds of likewise-based cartoons and children's fiction previously available. Yet, it is the involved character development and captivating artwork which prove to be the saving graces of "Hopeless Savages." The book is certainly worth a read or two, especially for those young enough to appreciate the plot details on the level in which they were intended.
Rating: 
Summary: Inexplicably Well-Liked Pop Excresence
Review: It is absolutely mystifying to me how anyone at all could rave about this book as many have done. It's not a *bad* book, but then again I have a tolerance for bad built up by exposure to works so putrescent that your average pedestrian comic reader would blanch and quake to behold (yes, worse than 'Lab Rats'). Badness or lack thereof notwithstanding, this is eminently forgetable filler pulp. The story is entirely to charmed with itself, tossing out the ludicrous and the cliche as confidently as if Alan Moore was frantically scribbling praise in the margins. The fact that it was nominated for an Eisner is an example of woefully bad judgement on par with giving Kissenger a Nobel, especially when stacked against other nominees like (for example) Evan Dorkin's work. Perhaps I fail to see THE BRILLIANCE that others are so mad for, but the whole story sounds like the same suger-coated BASH THE FASH! toddler-punk stuff that's been flowing out of the pages of bad teenage 'zines and the mouths of mall core kiddies for years. I'm hardly Johnny Punkexpert over here, but even my basic acquaintance with the scene tells me the kind of derision that this family would be held in by (good Lord, here's fightin' words) 'real punks'. This is not to mention the outlandish and ridicuolously stereotypical manner in which the protagonists dress. They're as representative of punk culture as Stepin Fetchit with a mouthful of watermelon is of African-American culture. But I digress.
The line work is decent, but nowhere near good enough to carry the work on aesthetic merit alone. Besides, who in God's name buys a comic book solely to look at the pretty pictures? C'mon, people, that's what libraries and gullible friends are for. By the way, for as much kvetching as the father figure does about Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Reagan (who should have their names blackened at every availible opportunity, I hasten to add), I'm willing to bet fifty of your Earth dollars against me getting to hit the writers with a brick that said authors could not give me five minutes worth of discussion about either leader's policies. But that's a personal beef.
Rating:
Summary: Inexplicably Well-Liked Pop Excresence
Review: It is absolutely mystifying to me how anyone at all could rave about this book as many have done. It's not a *bad* book, but then again I have a tolerance for bad built up by exposure to works so putrescent that your average pedestrian comic reader would blanch and quake to behold (yes, worse than 'Lab Rats'). Badness or lack thereof notwithstanding, this is eminently forgetable filler pulp. The story is entirely to charmed with itself, tossing out the ludicrous and the cliche as confidently as if Alan Moore was frantically scribbling praise in the margins. The fact that it was nominated for an Eisner is an example of woefully bad judgement on par with giving Kissenger a Nobel, especially when stacked against other nominees like (for example) Evan Dorkin's work. Perhaps I fail to see THE BRILLIANCE that others are so mad for, but the whole story sounds like the same suger-coated BASH THE FASH! toddler-punk stuff that's been flowing out of the pages of bad teenage 'zines and the mouths of mall core kiddies for years. I'm hardly Johnny Punkexpert over here, but even my basic acquaintance with the scene tells me the kind of derision that this family would be held in by (good Lord, here's fightin' words) 'real punks'. This is not to mention the outlandish and ridicuolously stereotypical manner in which the protagonists dress. They're as representative of punk culture as Stepin Fetchit with a mouthful of watermelon is of African-American culture. But I digress.
The line work is decent, but nowhere near good enough to carry the work on aesthetic merit alone. Besides, who in God's name buys a comic book solely to look at the pretty pictures? C'mon, people, that's what libraries and gullible friends are for. By the way, for as much kvetching as the father figure does about Margaret Thatcher and Ronnie Reagan (who should have their names blackened at every availible opportunity, I hasten to add), I'm willing to bet fifty of your Earth dollars against me getting to hit the writers with a brick that said authors could not give me five minutes worth of discussion about either leader's policies. But that's a personal beef.
Rating: 
Summary: A modern classic in a slicker design
Review: Jen Van Meter's first creator-owned book tells a story of an in-your-face, punk rock family living in today's society, illustrated by Christine Norrie (CHEAT) with flashback sequences by Chynna Clugston-Major (BLUE MONDAY) and additional artwork by Andi Watson (DUMPED, BREAKFAST AFTER NOON). The book introduces the reader to Dirk Hopeless and Nikki Savage, two legendary punk rockers from the 1970's, now living in the present day with their youngest daughter Zero. When Zero wakes up one morning to find their house ransacked and her parents allegedly kidnapped, she calls up her older brother and sister Twitch and Arsenal for help. They soon realize they won't be able to find their parents without the help of their older brother Rat, who has given up the punk lifestyle and now lives a life of normalcy working for a premier coffee corporation. Rat, however, wants nothing to do with his estranged family and is convinced he has left the punk rock lifestyle behind, forever. Now its up to Zero, Arsenal and Twitch to revert Rat to his old ways and rescue their parents from their captors. Jen Van Meter's writing is excellent and by the end of the book you really know these characters. You'll immediately want to pick up the second book, GROUND ZERO which focuses more on Zero. The book uses flashbacks incorporated into the main story illustrated by Chynna Clugston-Major to give you even more insight into this unique family. The book also includes a bonus 23 page section featuring a sketch gallery and stories of the Hopeless-Savages kids visiting the Principal's office and how their punk rock father reacts to it (illustrated by Chynna Clugston-Major), the family going to the kid's school's parent/teacher night (illustrated by Christine Norrie), Arsenal's karate match in which two major characters from the forthcoming third book are introduced(illustrated by Norrie with Andi Watson), and a look into the Hopeless-Savages family over a span of 20 years through the eyes of their neighbors (illustrated by Norrie). Before The Osbournes were popular, there was HOPELESS SAVAGES - a hilarious adventure story by four of comics' most promising new writers and artists. The most critically acclaimed book of 2002, it was even nominated for an Eisner Award.
Rating: 
Summary: Ridiculous
Review: This book is chocked full of stupid old UK punk cliches, some of them seem to have more in common ground with glam rock than with punk (the Savage parents for instance.) Evil skinheads, the aesthetic mod, some token goth, and the rock star *cough* err punk rock parents. And they are all related by blood. Oh yeah don't forget the brother who sold out and got a job and gave up wearing a leather jacket and spiking his hair up, blah blah... Just another stupid, cliche glamorization of punk rock "as it used to be". Ultimately this just all dwindles down to bad writing combined with pop sensible art work. It all stinks of the decadence of the Reagan/Thatcher era society that the punk scene was trying to distance itself from. Ultimately boring and dumb... Maybe if some sense of reality of how things were back then with all the downsides and failings it would have been interesting, but I think that went over the head of the person who wrote this.
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