BOOM! Box’s new series, “Coady and the Creepies,” kicks off here. Is it another fun and creative addition to the imprint, or would it have been better left off the publishing slate? Read on to find out, but beware of mild spoilers.
Written by Liz Prince
Illustrated by Amanda Kirk
Colored by Hannah Fisher
Lettered by Jim CampbellPunk isn’t dead…but Coady is. Coady, Criss, and Corey are sisters and bandmates in the band Coady and the Creepies. After a van accident leaves Corey badly scarred and Criss in a wheelchair, they’re getting back into the punk scene. But they still need to contend with the challenges of staying true to their punk ideals, while also dealing with the media attention they’ve attracted, as well as the tension surrounding the fact that Coady escaped the accident seemingly unscathed. Now on tour, they’re fighting their way through the (sometimes literal) battle of the bands, earning enamel pins, and heading for the gig of their lives… so long as no one realizes that Coady is actually a ghost.
I entered “Coady and the Creepies” #1 expecting to have a great time. As a former musician heavily involved with the scene in my area, I thought this series about a punk band would scratch a number of itches. And somewhere in reading the issue, I realized it wasn’t what I was hoping it would be. It’s less of a fun, forward-moving story set in the music scene and more of a bunch of normal characters having normal interactions, which just happen to take place in this scene. Sure, the book hits all the beats I expected it to. But it didn’t connect with me the way I hoped it would.
Overwhelmingly, the art provided the best moments in “Coady and the Creepies” #1. Kirk and Fisher create a great punk aesthetic for the book. Characters appear small and pudgy, colored with solid blocks of purple, pink, and dark blues with the occasional neon green or dark red highlight. Because of this stripped-down style, though, the facial expressions and body movements are always simple and obvious, resulting in a slight loss of emotional range. I didn’t mind so much since the style worked so well for the setting, but it definitely had an effect on certain moments where a subtler touch was needed. Since there wasn’t too much subtlety in the writing, however, the art wasn’t burdened by that, even if the lack of subtlety itself was a problem.
Those same simple rounded shapes of the characters are also found in the backgrounds, which, despite being crude and often lack detail, always set the tone and location well, especially combined with Fisher’s solid colors. The panel layouts also suit the aesthetic, almost exclusively consisting of smaller squares which often follow a nine or twelve panel grid. Smaller panels means less visual detail per panel, which work given the simplicity of the art.
Ironically, my favorite scene in “Coady and the Creepies” #1 was the band’s concert, because it was mostly told through larger panels. I enjoyed how the art got no more detailed in larger panels than it was in the smaller panels. Particularly, I appreciated how Kirk drew the audience as one large amorphous blob with bumpy round edges and the occasional two dots and a line to denote a happy listener. A few small panels were thrown into the sequence for a quick comedic bit where the band stops for one member to swat a fan away with her guitar, which is immediately followed by another larger panel of the continuing performance. This was by far the most well-paced scene in the book, likely due to the use of larger panels.
The story itself is mostly set-up here: we find out how the three sisters got the way they are, we find out their everyday lives and roles in the punk culture, we see a concert, and we see a few minor interactions. There are some minor story threads forming, but none of it feels particularly urgent or important yet: the band is on the road to gather pins at each venue, Coady is dealing with being a ghost, and one sister likes ghost hunting. There is certainly enough material there to tell a great story. Unfortunately, though, most pages are filled with the unimportant interactions. That is, perhaps, the greatest downfall of “Coady and the Creepies” right now: it’s so busy setting the scene that it forgets to show us why we should care about the scene in the first place. There’s so much about the setting that there’s little story.
Continued belowEven so, I liked how Prince injected a lot of humor into each interaction, even if some of the jokes worked for me and some didn’t. The best example is when a Hispanic character shows off his newfound love for chimichangas. The initial situation wasn’t particularly funny on the surface, even given Kirk’s delivery of Prince’s lines. Later in the issue, however, he brings up the chimichangas again, saying that “gringos will deep fry anything.” Unlike the first set of jokes, this one made me laugh out loud. Prince’s track record for jokes continues along this path, occasionally falling flat but occasionally getting me to laugh.
So, I didn’t hate the book. There’s a lot that works, a lot doesn’t work as well as it should, and a lot that should be there that isn’t. My biggest problem with this book right now is its lack of a clear direction. Since this is a four-issue miniseries, I expect this to be improved upon in the next issue. For now, though, all we get with “Coady and the Creepies” is a picture of the punk scene, through both aesthetics and character interactions.
Final Verdict: 6.8 – There’s definitely potential for a great experience, but for now “Coady and the Creepies” lacks a special touch and a clear direction.
