Hannah Lipsky had a plan: art school, a painting career, a cat named Bonbon. Then her girlfriend dumped her, and everything fell apart. Now she’s fronting a horror-punk band in pumpkin costumes and sleeping with her high school crush.
She’s fictional, of course — the lead character in “Punk’n Heads,” a new graphic novel by Eisner-nominated Los Angeles creators Dave Baker and Nicole Goux. The pair will discuss and sign the book at Vroman’s Bookstore on Friday, April 24, at 7 p.m.
The 216-page graphic novel, published April 7 by Top Shelf Productions, is the latest in a string of collaborations between Baker and Goux that stretches back years and includes “Fuck Off Squad,” “Forest Hills Bootleg Society” and “Everyone Is Tulip,” which earned the pair an Eisner Award nomination for Best Digital Comic in 2022.
“Punk’n Heads is a coming of age graphic novel about playing in bands, living in a flop house, and kissing the wrong people,” Baker said in a publisher statement.
The book follows Lipsky as she drops out of art school after a breakup, moves into a flophouse and gets roped into singing for a campy horror-punk band alongside Jerry, her housemate, bandmate and former high school crush. The band members live together, perform in pumpkin-head costumes and navigate the kind of romantic entanglements that come from never leaving the same house.
Baker, a writer and illustrator who grew up in Tucson, Arizona, now lives and works in Los Angeles. His credits include “Mary Tyler MooreHawk” for Top Shelf, “Forest Hills Bootleg Society” for Simon & Schuster and writing for Cartoon Network’s “Ben 10.” Goux, also based in Los Angeles, is the artist behind DC’s “Shadow of the Batgirl” and has been published by DC, Dark Horse, IDW, Oni and Avery Hill. Her most recent work before “Punk’n Heads” was “This Place Kills Me,” a collaboration with Mariko Tamaki published by Abrams Fanfare.
Goux described the book’s appeal in a publisher statement: “For anyone whose journey hasn’t been a straight path, Punk’n Heads might just bring you a little solace.”
“Punk’n Heads” is available at Vroman’s for $19.99. Vroman’s Bookstore is at 695 E. Colorado Blvd., Pasadena. For information, call 626-449-5320 or visit vromansbookstore.com.
Hannah Lipsky never got the painting career. But she got a microphone, a band and a pumpkin mask — and sometimes the detour is the story.
