Comics / Spotlight / Progressive Panels

CBGB #1

By Andy Frisk
July 22, 2010 - 21:32

“That’s what CBGB was. It was a place to be. It was a nucleus which a scene could congregate.”

-The Ghost of Punk Rock Past
CBGB #1

Scene…as soon as one declares there’s a scene, the scene is over. CBGB has been over both literally and figuratively for a long while now. The famed New York City punk rock/hardcore club closed its doors in 2006 and is now a clothing store. When it opened in 1973, owner Hilly Kristal intended the club to showcase country, bluegrass, and blues music (hence CBGB), but like any natural and organic breeding ground for live music or a “scene,” local proto-punk bands such as Television were granted gigs at the venue and…well as they say…the rest is history. As a low cost/high yield music venue, CBGB became synonymous with up and coming street music bands (as they were called before the punk moniker stuck to them like the snot, sweat, and blood that covered the crowds at the shows like a sheen did). Over the course of CBGB’s existence, bands such as the aforementioned Television, The Ramones, Bad Brains, Agnostic Front, and The Misfits all played some of their earliest, if not first, gigs there. As with every local “scene” that manages to catch on culturally (or pop culturally) though, CBGB and punk rock became as clichéd as the term grunge has (for my generation). CBGB passed into the collective pop cultural halls of the hallowed, poser must have t-shirt, and tweenie name drop realms of shame well before Shakira posed in the men’s room at CBGB for a photo op that played like some out of tune attempt at something like street cred. I mean really…Shakira…what is there that is even remotely punk rock about Shakira…(music wise at least)?

Poser? Probably...

Even though CBGB continued to showcase local New York based acts and their first time gigs, much to the credit of late owner Hilly Kristal, the letters CBGB and OMFUG were adorning t-shirts and rapidly becoming a corporatized money maker. This is the way of the economic world in America though so we’ll just have grin and bear it like we do the never ending Woodstock anniversary concerts, and we Gen X’ers had to bear the hilarious Best Buy grunge commercial (I've searched YouTube and can't find it! I can't link the whole movie Hype!--which it is repeated in, so sorry dear readers! If someone has it and wants to post it in the comments below you'd...uh...ROCK!). At least Lollapalooza went quietly away and became a once a year show/festival instead of a traveling corporate circus featuring Motley Crue or something like Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber as headliners (What!? Lady Gaga is playing Lollapalooza this year!? I give up…). Anyway, when CBGB Holdings Inc (which has recently declared bankruptcy in some poetically justified way) approached BOOM! Studios about producing a comic book about CBGB…well again, the rest is history.

Punk? Definately...

At least BOOM! got the now legendary (and closest thing to a comic book punk artist there is) Jaime Hernandez to pencil the cover. So, CBGB #1 gets off to a good start, but (and you knew the but was coming) the usually great Kieron Gillen (Phonogram) gives us an opening tale featuring a moronic fledgling punk band leader nicknamed Stooge (I know I cringed and groaned too when I read this!) and his quest to understand…uh, I mean get his band mates to “understand” punk rock and therefore become great by learning “how to NOT play properly.” Punk is supposed to be annoying to the powers that be and all that, but I’m sorry…even the punks played “properly.” Anyway…he throws his band mates out, gets drunk, attempts to throw his bottle of liquor at the clothing store that was CBGB and passes out. While he's passed out, two Ghosts of Punk Rock Past and one of Punk Rock Future (“Oh, I get it. Dickens” remarks Stooge) show up and take him on a whirlwind tour of the history/legend of what was the New York CBGB punk scene…but I thought punk was about reality and authenticity. Somehow a ghost story that tells a history lesson isn’t really what I would consider punk rock…but then I’m not an authority on what is punk (or poser) and not…just a long term music and comic book fan. “A NYC Punk Carol” is cute, but not really punk rock in my humble opinion.

CBGB: The Comic Book! (insert sneer)

 
The second tale “The Helsinki Syndrome” is actually a major improvement over the “let’s get to know you” punk rock history lesson of “A NYC Punk Carol,” but is almost too little too late. Sam Humphries spins a tale about a young punk who discovers that his loser (and recently deceased) Uncle Willis was the “most punk (expletive deleted) rock thing” that a fictional CBGB bartender “ever seen.” Seems Uncle Willis was some sort of distorted white noise performance artist. His one time gig at CBGB was nothing but “distortion loops, feedback, banging, screaming…a constant sonic assault for an hour and a half. Most of the crowd left within two minutes…” Humphries’ tale attempts to make the point that being “punk rock” goes beyond being a musician and that “punk rock” really is the embodiment of DIY art. Point made and taken…but I still say that if you’re going to be in a punk BAND you have to “play properly” regardless of what Stooge (cringe) says…

The two artists that pencil and color the two tales included in CBGB #1 are both solid. Marc Ellerby’s cartoonish style fits the “Punk Carol” story well. It’s a silly story with a silly look so mission accomplished. Rob G (Teenagers from Mars) captures the gritty mess that punk rock is visually even if his backgrounds are nonexistent at times. He pretty uniquely and effectively creates a metaphoric visualization of sound waves during Uncle Willis’ performance.

The famous bathroom...

 
Overall, who is to say what exactly is punk rock? Punk rock has been a scene, an adverb, and adjective, a lifestyle, a joyful noise, a horribly grating noise, a term of endearment, and a smear. That’s actually pretty much what CBGB #1 is…so I guess it is punk rock…even if it’s packaged punk rock…well, I guess CBGB Holdings has to get out of bankruptcy somehow. I must admit that I bought the book…now how punk rock (or poser) is that?

 

Rating: 7.5 /10

Last Updated: August 31, 2023 - 08:12