| "The Dharma
Punks by Ant Sang is the
second great work of New Zealand comics, after Dylan Horrocks' Hicksville.
It was released in eight parts over 2001-2003 and I finally got
hold of the final two parts this week. They were worth waiting
for.
Set over one long night in
Auckland in 1994, the narrative follows punk Buddhist Chopstick
during a plot to spoil the opening of a new fast-food
restaurant. As the hours tick down until action time, Chopstick
has to cope with the erratic behaviour of his fellow punks, the
vicious attentions of some skinheads, a mysterious and beguiling
mute woman, and periodic visits by the ghost of Kurt Cobain.
It's a beautifully-realised piece
of fiction. Ant's distinctive style has become well-known in New
Zealand over the last couple years thanks to his design work on
hit animated series Bro Town. The Dharma Punks features a
scrappier, fiercer, thicker line suited to the grim beauty of
his subject matter. His compositions are insightful and
sometimes breathtaking. It's just a damn pretty book.
But what lodges in the memory is
the deep, heartfelt humanity that fills every page. It's made
with love, and made of love, and the way it all ends left me
grinning like a fool."
- Morgue,
additiverich.com, 2006
|
"...
the perfect independent comic book. Sang pulls no punches, and
tackles very controversial issues with such eloquence and
intelligence... The Dharma Punks is truly one of
the most complex and compelling sequential works I have ever had
the pleasure to read..."
- Jennifer
Walford, ybfree.com, 2003
|
"Quite
simply The Dharma Punks is the best comic I have
ever seen from the southern hemisphere. Being a recovering comic
addict this has my eyes and hands twitching for more. The
artwork is nothing short of striking - bold black lines, facial
expressions and perspective angles that are unbelievable in this
style of drawing, managing to bring the characters off the page
and into animated life, which is helped along by frame
sequencing that makes you feel more like you're watching a movie
than reading a comic... Ant Sang is a brilliant young
storyteller and artist who manages to make the reader feel like
they are falling deeper into the proverbial Alice's rabbit hole
towards a wonderland of suspense, danger, inner struggle - this
is gifted talent."
- Bianca
Valentino, 15th Precinct zine - #7, 2003
|
"Auckland artist
Ant Sang has built a really interesting and readable series, and this is
one issue (issue 6) to be proud of. Sang has built a very strong,
well-paced story, making clever use of flashbacks that gradually reveal
Chopstick's complex motivation. The grim subjects that Sang deals with
could have easily created a tacky melodrama, but he steers clear of cheese
and has produced a brilliant comic."
- Andy Miller,
nzoom.com,
2002
|
"Well folks what
can I say? I so fucking love The Dharma Punks! It would have to be one of my
all-time favourite comics... It just gets better and better by the time I
get through this issue I'm just drooling for more and more. Trust me guys
get this and you won't be disappointed!."
- Bianca Valentino, 15th
Precinct zine, 2002
|
"Kiwi comics don't
come much cooler than this. Ant Sang's most recent opus features
Chopstick, a Chinese punk kid and his friends on board a vivid journey.
Set in Auckland circa 1994, punk rock and Eastern Philosophy go head to
head. Ant's expressive brush work lends itself well to capturing both the
desperation and contemplation in the story thus far. Spirited and well
produced, this is much worthy of your time."
- Kerry Ann Lee, Red Ltter
Zine Distro, 2001
|
"Reading this is
akin to the relief at seeing Queen St in a local telly drama. So much of
our visual information is imported and this applies to that blend of art
and text, the graphic novel. Sang's story follows a band of anarchists
planning to sabotage Auckland's first multinational fastfood restaurant.
Grafton Bridge and the denizens that inhabit the cemetary underneath are
portrayed spot-on."
- Gilbert Wong, New
Zealand Herald, 21/05/2001
|
"Ant
Sang's Filth was one of NZ's most popular minicomix in the 1990's - a
series of ferocious guerilla attacks on the complacent hypocrisy of that
decade. Now with The Dharma Punks Ant is taking on the new century with
a well-crafted, sustained epic of Buddhist punks, existentialist
anarchists, skinhead neonazis and - looming over everything like a
grinning Mephistopheles - the global corporation that wants everyone to
"consume! consume! consume!" If you liked 'Filth' you'll be
blown away by The Dharma Punks. If you didn't, prepare to be pleasantly
surprised."
-
Dylan Horrocks (Hicksville), 2000
|
"Ant Sang has been doing great,
committed comix for several years now, self-publishing several mini
comix,
notably the wonderful Filth series which was the forerunner of this, his
most ambitious piece of work to date. I've always sought out his stuff
for, unlike a great deal of his peers, he does not seek to use superheroes
or scatological humour to woo an audience. There has always been an
intelligence, a politicality and a gentleness to his work which makes for
a rare and rewarding blend. Few artists, much less comix creators, can
bring three such disparate elements to bear on their project. Fewer still
can entertain while doing so and create a coherent, accessible piece of
art.
The Dharma Punks achieves this, offering
a compelling storyline, believable characters, awareness of political and
social issues and a degree of psychological insight still reasonably rare
in the medium. Its first four issues (half the final length) have a subtle
narrative strength that begs to be brought to a conclusion... This is our
culture he is writing about. And from the unique perspective of an Asian-Aoteroan.
...Did I mention that he also draws like most
people merely breathe?"
-
Chris Knox (musician, cartoonist, reviewer), 2000
|
"Sang is part of a new generation of
sequential artists who challenge the tired misconception that comics are
juvenile and lacking in literary merit. His comics are intelligently
conceived works dealing with personal and political issues... Sang's
artwork is superb, pared down, always punchy, with some nice
characterisation reminiscent of Love and Rockets."
- Nick Hanson (Pavement,
1994)
|
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