GothThrob Magazine #1 : Goth As Resistance

What’s more exciting for me about GothThrob Magazine is that it constantly mixes media and storytelling styles, going from the personal attachment to certain punk figures to an analysis of sexism, antiblack racism, community and goth culture; from a simple anecdote in a goth club to a history lesson in Sister Rosetta Tharpe’s or Poly Styrene’s importance for punk; from the invention of a terror meme born from the real-life-terror to a cute story about driving to your mom’s punk fave club. This comic is the best example of the personal is political claim, as both fuse in a trip through cartoonish punk-idols and childhood friends alike, all mixed up like the best noisy songs, but getting together by the design and drawing style like if it was a bassline.

As a goth and punk fan, the first time I read Bianca Xunise’s magazine-comic I read it in some minutes, even stepping on some words like a pogo, and went back to read it again. It has this catchy way of storytelling and recognizable drawings, that take out the most important features of a character, scene or feeling and drops the unnecessary. The result is you really get driven by this zine.

And, of course, as a punk girl with too much more appreciation of Rosetta or X-Ray Spex than the habitual punk macho figures, I love how she highlights them, and I love how you can recognize these black women forever-idols immediately. Cartoons work by taking the important parts of a story, a character or a historical figure, and presenting them to others, and I bet Bianca is one of the best cartoonists I have seen. I would say less is more, but here it’s not exactly “less” but more like it’s only pen, hand, inks and a story, like a punk song is only drum, bass, guitar and a melody, and it’s still noisy and complicated as fuck.