One panel from... Punk Rock And Trailer Parks

Welcome back to "One panel from..." where I examine single panels from comics I hold dear. This time, it's My Favourite Graphic Novel Which Was Not Written By Hergé Or Larry Gonick. I had never heard of this book, or its author, when I found it in an anarchists' bookstore in Seattle in 2011 (where it had been remaindered from the Seattle Public Library). I hadn't intentionally sought out an anarchists' bookstore. They had lots of second hand graphic novels, that's all. I was a tourist and had to rescue some good gimcrack. Look, just never mind, okay?!?

Punk Rock And Trailer Parks by Derf, released in 2008, is the story of the long-limbed fellow on the cover above: 19 year old Otto Pizcok, a shy trombone-playing dork who is passing his last waning days of high school by going to punk rock shows, watching lame beach party movies and peeping on certain well-endowed female classmates through binoculars. He eventually becomes a hero in the local punk scene, even fronting a band for a while, and meeting such luminaries as Joe Strummer, Wendy O. Williams, and The Ramones.

The story is set in 1979 in a deadbeat Ohio town called Richford, and as it happens, this is the same place the author Derf (real name John Backderf) comes from, and around the time he finished high school, too. But it's not autobiographical – his next, momentous, follow-up graphic novel would see to that. This book deals with the burgeoning Rubber City punk scene and the promise of escape it signified for small-town kids like Otto and his mates Pete and Wes.

This is the only graphic novel I know whose author has supplied a 'soundtrack' to read along to, with a playlist containing 43 songs. Artists in this list include The Clash, Talking Heads, The Pretenders, and of course Ohio's own new wave heroes Devo.

Now let's check out the panel I chose:

I think this sums up a lot of what the book is about, actually. Apart from one tragic incident towards the end, Otto remains upbeat throughout. This despite the fact that he looks to be about two metres tall and still gets insulted and pushed around by various thugs around the school, because he openly hates their football team and is a band geek (though he disavows the term 'nerd'). Speaking of hating the school team, Otto has a line that I quote often: "The worse a beating they receive, the happier I am!"

He also, as you might infer from the dialogue here, has a propensity to quote Tolkien. I like Derf's hand-lettering a lot. He puts a lot of words in bold, and his speech bubbles have wiggly stems that often seem to grow out of characters' faces. 

This panel also shows Otto, who calls himself The Baron – his extroverted, after-hours persona – driving Pete and Wes to a gig in his '68 Cougar and making them sit in the back seat. His reasoning? Because The Baron likes to chauffeur, and only the chauffeur sits in front. I wish I'd known about that when I was at uni.

There's one more thing in this panel that figures prominently in the storyline. Look close. See it yet? Yes, it's the cassette recorder and microphone on the front seat. Otto is documenting his entire final school year in farts. Whenever the urge for flatulence strikes, he hits the record button and lets rip into the microphone. And, spoiler alert, he gives Pete the tape at the end as a keepsake. Well, it's nice to keep a journal, I suppose.

So there you have it. Being in a band, living in a town of inbred hicks, and losing oneself in indie music. That was pretty much my high school experience, too. Except my car didn't have a really small steering wheel. And also, I didn't have a car. And I didn't go to a concert until I was 22. And there were no girls at my high school. And all the— (Continues to ramble incoherently as reader closes browser window)