The FUNN-e-PAGES: Nothing Nice to Say

When I was 16 my friend Jon lent me three albums: Against the Grain by Bad Religion, Punk in Drublic by NoFX, and Give Me Convenience or Give Me Death by the Dead Kennedys.  And thus my love of punk rock was born.  I would add a number of bands to the above list, eventually expanding my tastes to include new genres and musicians, but my first love would always be punk rock.

When I discovered Mitch Clem’s Nothing Nice to Say, I was in heaven.

Billing itself as the “first online punk comic”, NN2S took for its fodder the entire world of underground music.  A competent writer and illustrator, Clem didn’t spare anyone from his acerbic criticism and sharp wit.  To Clem, the idea that someone decided what was and wasn’t punk was very, well, not very punk.  Clem recognized the central irony of punk: as soon as something is canonized as being “punk” in nature, it was, by definition, not.  Tired of the fashion-obsessed scene that punk rock had become, he took to his pen and pad.

NN2S follows two main characters, Blake and Fletcher, who live together outside of Clem’s hometown of Minneapolis.  Blake is a sensitive, responsible punk who’s obsessed with Henry Rollins and Jawbreaker singer (and his namesake) Blake Schwarzenbach.  Fletcher is more of a foul-mouthed crust punk with a penchant for saying the worst thing possible at all times.  Somehow, their friendship works and the two complete each other like peanut butter and chocolate (or at least like Dante and Randal from Clerks).  Though mostly one-off comics, Clem has strung together short story arcs with great success.

Clem’s comic has run on-and-off (emphasis on OFF) for almost eight years now, but has been on hiatus for several.  The art is simple but capable, and part of the best part of the comic is watching Clem’s skill improve markedly with each strip.  As far as the writing is concerned, Clem has found a way to appeal to even readers unfamiliar with the specific punk bands he is lampooning.  The jokes are universal, though the subject matter can be esoteric (some familiarity of “underground” music is a must).  NN2S is well worth a trip through the archives and one of my favorite comics.