Aydin, the young Turk who warms up the audience with a deft and self-deprecating rundown of all the classic “foreigner-run kebab joint” jokes and then does a 180° turn, drops into the role of the heavy metal singer and pulls the rug out from under them, is a favourite of mine. The interpersonal drama does not devolve into a soap opera, but somehow remains compelling, intermixed as it is with the elements of humour and adventure. Their personalities, insecurities and relationships are capably presented in the art and writing. Much like in Northern Overexposure, they are clever, funny, and above all, real. Then, of course, there are the characters. There’s also the shared experience of a pub night at Telakka interrupted by some band I don’t want to hear starting their gig. I feel a personal connection with this work. It’s been the last stop of the night so often that I cannot even list how many memories I don’t have of that place. I live literally three blocks away from that place. It’s somewhat amusing to see such accurate depiction of one’s own neighbourhood.

No leaves on the trees to obscure the views.Īnyway, even the goddamn coat check line at Klubi is accurate. And I can accept removing the unsightly concrete whatever in the first picture, for the sake of art.Ĭlever move to set the story in October, by the way. The milieu of the book, Tampere, comes through strongly, almost enough to be a character by itself, and the art of the cityscape is, well, see for yourself. I think it’s Itsenäisyydenkatu, because there’s Klubi right next to it. They’re later in the story joined by the singer Aydin, discovered in a pizza joint on what I think is Itsenäisyydenkatu. The other members of the band are the keyboardist Lilja, the bassist Kervinen and the drummer Bear. Perkeros tells the story of an avant-garde heavy metal band in Tampere, focusing on its young guitarist Akseli. Alare, wrote and illustrated a full-length graphic novel.

After working for a decade on the excellent comic strip Northern Overexposure and the more recent Grapevine, he finally took the plunge and along with K.P.

Perkeros by J.P. Ahonen