Crash 'n' Burn
| Comic | |
|---|---|
| title | Crash 'n' Burn |
| author | Mikiko Ponczeck |
| publishing company | Tokyopop |
| First publication | August 2014 - October 2014 |
| expenditure | 2 |
Crash 'n' Burn is a comic by the German-Japanese illustrator Mikiko Ponczeck from 2014. It is about two young musicians who come together in a band in an environment of violence and drugs, fall in love and lead the band to success. In 2016 the work was awarded the audience prize of the Max and Moritz Prize .
action
On one he visits with bandmate Scott Jessop, 24-year-old Kyle Martin gets into a fight with Tyler Collins. 26-year-old Tyler, guitarist in another band, is notorious for his violent outbursts. As a result of the brawl, both bands were excluded from the band competition, whereupon Tyler Kyle threatened and sexually molested. When Martin's band disbanded some time later and Tyler was expelled from his band because of his behavior, Tyler wanted to start a new band with Kyle and Scott. Kyle is initially disgusted by Tyler, but soon has to admit his talent and that he finds him attractive.
They meet again at Jack's party, who now leads Tyler's former band with Kyles and Scott's guitarists. A fight ensues, after which Kyle and Tyler are thrown out, spend the night together and sleep together for the first time. Kyle agrees to start a band with Tyler: Crash 'n' Burn . They are joined by Scott and Tyler's ex-girlfriend Kimi, from whom Kyle learns a lot about Tyler's past. He was beaten by his father, grew up violently on the streets, protected them and sees his only future in music. In order for the band to be successful, Scott hires his sister Eva as a manager.
But as the band progresses and Kyle and Tyler get closer, Kyle comes into conflict with his mother. She wants him to concentrate on studying. He approaches studies and the band half-heartedly, and Tyler also criticizes him. Kyle's father, who is a music teacher in Glasgow against his wife's wishes because he prefers it to a career, encourages Kyle to act on his feelings. Finally, following Tyler's advice, he decides to give up his studies and devote himself entirely to the band. At the same time, the band is repeatedly threatened and attacked by the gang of Jack's brother Alex. Tyler has already been in conflict with Alex in his past. This culminates in the fact that Jack Tyler provokes a rehearsal and is knocked down by him. In order to get revenge, Alex has Tyler kidnapped. Kyle comes to rescue him and distracts Alex before he and his gang are arrested by the incoming police. Both reach a band competition just in time for their performance, with which Crash 'n' Burn achieved their breakthrough.
Creation and publication
The story was made up of six pages that Mikiko Ponczeck drew for fun, in which two young men clash. She further developed the characters and a plot around them, because she liked the idea of a "rocky and somehow wild" story. Ultimately, the Tokyopop publishing company was interested in the idea, so it was turned into Crash 'n' Burn . The artist herself influenced both characters, their decision and conflicts for and about a career as a musician, when she decided on the rather "breadless" comic drawing as a profession. Their taste in music also corresponds to the punk rock played by the band. During the creation of the story, Ponczeck learned to play the bass guitar herself, so that she could represent these aspects more realistically as the story progressed. Contrary to the stereotypes of a dominant and a submissive part , which is common in Japanese Yaoi , she deliberately set up the relationship as a relationship between two similarly strong characters, using stories from homosexuals among her friends. The frequent depiction of violence was important for Ponczeck because it appeals to her graphically and so she was able to depict intense emotions and character traits - especially Tyler's repellent character - well. There were no objections from the publisher because of the violence. The drawings were created both as sketches and final drawings only with pencil, without ink, and were digitally post-processed after scanning. The pencil drawings allowed a more organic, larger appearance than ink drawings.
The comic was published by Tokyopop in two volumes of around 160 pages each, the first in July 2014 and the second in September 2014. The publisher recommends Crash 'n' Burn from the age of 16.