Yeah! is a curious creation in terms of its creative team. Writer Peter Bagge and artist Gilbert Hernandez are much better known for their influential and seminal alternative comics works for adult audiences like Hate and Love and Rockets. One of the last places you would expect their work would be in an all-ages book from a mainstream comics publisher like DC, but from 1999 until 2000 this series ran for nine issues under the Wildstorm imprint.
The story follows the exploits of Yeah!, the most popular band in the universe but utterly unknown on planet Earth. Band members Krazy (vocals & guitar), Honey (drums), and Woo-Woo (keyboards) ironically struggle to find an audience and have to compete in battles of the bands in order to make money. Their main competition is a semi-successful group called The Snobs, only one part of a colorful cast of supporting characters that includes their duplicitous manager Crusty, Honey's "hippie dippie" boyfriend Muddy, and their pet goat Buckeye.
The book is full of zany, intergalactic adventures balanced with humbling experiences. Yeah! cannot spend any of the money they make out in the universe on Earth, and they are constantly scrounging for opportunities to break it big in the music business on their home planet. In all, I found this book fun, surreal, and very charming. Hernandez's art is clean and energetic, calling to mind Dan DeCarlo's classic style on Archie and Josie and the Pussycats. Even though these comics were originally published in color, the black and white is still very attractive, allowing readers to more admire the line work. Bagge's stories are silly yet have enough gravity to make the reader care. Bagge speaks about his work on this book in this interview.
Most reviews I have read of Yeah! remark on the skill of the creators but are tempered by the tone and scope of the book. Marie Penny wrote that "old school comic fans, pop music lovers, and alien aficionados will enjoy Yeah!" Publishers Weekly summed up their review calling this book "a minor but highly enjoyable effort from two masters." Jeremy Nisen admired the book's "cuteness" but added that its unfinished plot-lines detract from the book as a whole.
ALA/YALSA
2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" List - See more at:
http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/yeah-5.html?vmcchk=1#sthash.cAxRhchB.dpuf
ALA/YALSA
2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" List - See more at:
http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/yeah-5.html?vmcchk=1#sthash.cAxRhchB.dpuf
ALA/YALSA
2012 "Great Graphic Novels for Teens" List - See more at:
http://www.fantagraphics.com/browse-shop/yeah-5.html?vmcchk=1#sthash.cAxRhchB.dpuf
Yeah! is available from Fantagraphics, who have a preview and more here.
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