REVIEW: Coady and the Creepies #3

As a general rule, I“m intrigued with any book that involves the phrase “and the creepies”“, this one being no exception.

Diving into the third book of this series, I instantly liked what my little peepers did see. This four-part series is all about the punk band The Creepies, and I“m sad to report that they don“t exactly exist in real life, being comic characters and all. If they did, I would totally go see them live. The band is preparing to play a show with a rival band who consists of some idiotic boys with questionable lyrics – more on that later – and also juggling the fact that Coady is a ghost. Â Some may say zombies seeing as they“re playing instruments and they“re all sorts of dead, but I“ve always thought ghosts were more punk rock anyway.

There are a lot of extremely important and frankly “damn right!”“ moments of dialogue throughout this book which I absolutely adored. One example is the fact that one of the band members, Criss, is in a wheelchair and therefore cannot go down the stairs into the punk house venue they“re playing at. There“s a bit of hubbub, and the owners of the house simply move the show outside, case closed. The rival band watches unhappily as their audience goes upstairs, and can“t for the life of them understand why all public places should be wheelchair-accessible. Intersectionality is a very important topic that everybody needs to understand, and I“m straight up giddy that it was included in such a natural and fitting way in a book that is for all ages.

As the opposing band, the Boneheads, play on and belt out the lyrics “Boys will be boys, no matter what you say! Boys will be boys, so get out of our way!”“ I couldn“t help but laugh. If you“re not familiar with these words, they“re a common phrase that is used to excuse sexism and frankly does nothing but harm all genders. Reducing men to stereotypes and forgiving men who commit awful acts because it“s “suspected of them”“ only hurts and does not help. I loved this particular snide little panel, and my heart grew two sizes bigger at the shade and badassery of Liz Prince“s storytelling.

Amanda Kirk“s artwork is fun and cute but actually fits quite perfectly with the punk rock Queens that The Creepies are. The band is composed of sisters, but their style and the manner in which they“re illustrated makes them quite gender-neutral, and it“s up to each individual“s stylistic choices to define them. Having characters that are defined by their personality and not their body shape is something I“m starting to see more of, and it“s such a powerful thing to see.

Just because the book is full of punk rockers and unique characters doesn“t mean that all color has to go out the window. Quite the opposite actually, and I“m glad to see that the narrative didn“t hold back Hannah Fisher“s brilliant color work. The panels pop, and the color dances boldly and brightly among the pages. It“s a style that is very “now”“ and many animated series have this same look. Hannah Fishes takes it a step further and really contrasts her colors and pushes them to the edge in the best way imaginable.

I don“t care what age you are or what you“re into, if you“re looking for something fresh and fun, read this series. The whole damn thing, and hopefully we“ll see another series after this one ends.

Story: 5 Stars
Artwork: 5 Stars
Colors: 5 Stars
Cover: 5 Stars

[yasr_overall_rating size=”large”]

Coady and the Creepies #3 (of 4)
Publisher: BOOM! Box, an imprint of BOOM! Studios
Writer: Liz Prince
Artist: Amanda Kirk
Cover Artists:
Â Â Â Main Cover: Kat Leyh
Â Â Â Variant Cover: Liz Prince