Granite State Punk #1 is a comic written by Travis Gibb with art by Patrick Buermeyer. Zeke deals with alcoholism, house arrest, and a bad memory while being a punk in New Hampshire. This is a supernatural drama comic with strong violence, philosophy, noir vibes, and grittiness. The main man of this story is Zeke, he is a recovering alcoholic and former convict who is disillusioned with his life to the point of hatred. He is a punk with a bad memory and he can be very angsty and edgy. He has a girlfriend named Ember who comes over regularly and tries to help him with his problems. This story begins with Zeke at an AA meeting where he starts to think about an average day in his life. His walk down memory lane takes us through his neighborhood towards his home and during this journey he provides angry and edgy commentary. The violence here is destructive with light blood and a bit of gruesomeness. The pacing here is a bit slower than average as there can be a lot of talking though there are some faster scenes. The tone is noir-like and gritty with a gloomy tone. The intensity here is dramatically high throughout though sometimes the violence and danger will kick it up a notch. The dialogue is mainly narration from Zeke as he provides commentary on everything but there are some conversations here. The talking style is modern and aggressive. There aren’t any word-heavy pages but the text blocks and bubbles can get thick. This is an interesting comic that shows the tumultuous and mundane life of a man who is sick of it all.

            The art here is very detailed with a gritty look and strong shading. The colors here tend to be faded or dark in tone with a lot of grays and blacks. For natural scenery we have a bare backyard with a tree in it and mountainous shots with a cliff. The main location for this story is Zeke’s backyard and house though there are some scenes at an AA meeting and in the street. The backgrounds usually show the surroundings though sometimes it’ll be a cloudy gradient. The expression level here is above-average as these characters have a new look nearly every panel. The main emotions here are annoyance, anger, shock, confusion, and a lot of gloom. The faces have a mid to high amount of detail with all of the expressions coming across clearly. The mystical effects here tend to glow either green or purple. The violence here can be bloody with most of it coming in the form of destruction with fire also playing a role. There is really only one long action scene broken up with some mid-conflict talk.

“Is this worth reading?”

Yes, if this is up your alley.

“Would I like this?”

If you like supernatural drama stories that are very gritty star an angry and edgy man that features philosophical commentary, noir vibes, and violence then this is for you.

“What would this comic’s film rating be?”

R. Violence, blood, gruesomeness, nudity, sexual scenes.

“Could I get a quote from the comic?”

“I drank those memories away years ago…”

 

Purchase Link: https://orangeconeproductions.com/products/granite-state-punk-1-cover-a

Kickstarter Link: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/orangecone/granite-state-punk-issue-1/description

***IN-DEPTH COMIC STATS BELOW***

Probably Contains Spoilers

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Actual Pages(not counting covers and credits): 24

Violent Pages: 11, for 46% of the comic

Sexy Pages: 1, for 4% of the comic

 

**The levels below aren’t necessarily maintained throughout the whole comic, but they were definitely reached**

 

Violence Level – 3

“Wasn’t no tussling at all.”

“Sometimes you gotta hit somebody.”

“I’m getting charged with how many counts of assault?”

“This was a tournament arc.”

“All my life I had to fight.”

 

Gore Level – 4

“The only thing leaking out your face is tears.”

“Looks like somebody spilled some ketchup.”

“Might need to soak that up with a bath towel.”

“That isn’t supposed to be outside the body.”

“This is a slaughterhouse.”

 

Death Level – 3

“And everybody lived happily ever after.”

“We might have gone to a couple funerals.”

“It just LOOKS like a serial killer was here.”

“Yeah this was a tragedy.”

“Think Gettysburg.”

 

Porn Level – 4

“Everybody kept their clothes on.”

“I guess it was too hot for a bra.”

“Sometimes you got to let everything air out.”

“This is like late night Cinemax in the early 2000’s.”

“Oh. This is porn.”