Punk Rock & Trailer Parks — new from Derf

We love our cartoonist Derf, whose “The City” runs in the Concerts listings in our print edition and here on Pitch.com.

Derf recently released a graphic novel called Punk Rock & Trailer Parks. As he notes, “It’d be just the thing for holiday-shopping issues. Comix are the ideal recession gift. Not only are they cheap, but they can be burned for heat!”

If the rest of the book is anything like what Derf has previewed on his site, it’ll bring back tormented yet vindicating memories of being in the high school band.

Maybe that’s just me, though. Derf describes Punk Rock & Trailer Parks (buy a copy here) this way: “[It] conjures up the oppressive insanity of growing up in the Rustbelt, the day-to-day weirdness of the trailer parks tucked away therein, the magic allure of sex and  the necessary comforts of friendship, the mystical power of the counter-culture to turn outcasts into heroes and, most of all, the transcendent power of music, specifically the punk rock of the late 1970s, which redefined, transported and ultimately, perhaps, disappointed a generation. It’s a tale as gritty, raucous and bawdy as punk music itself.”

Having missed those punk-rock glory days by just a couple years, I’ll look forward to experiencing them vicariously through Derf’s book. That Christmas I spent in the trailer park, though? That’s another story. — C.J. Janovy