Rick Remender and Brian Posehn draw from their youth and 1980s skater culture in their comic Grommets, published by Image Comics. This first collects the first seven nostalgia-dripping issues. The comic itself plays like a cross between a cult classic skate movie and a 1980s teen movie. Despite its occasional cartoonish demeanor, Grommets does a great job depicting the era and the early days of skateboard culture.
It’s 1984, and Rick is having a hard time with his latest move to Sacramento, CA, and his new junior high school. Despite being an okay skater, he has no one to hang out with until he meets Brian. The two become skate buddies when it’s revealed that the rest of the skaters think Brian is a poser, too. They navigate jocks, girls, and gnarly skate accidents that bond them into an unlikely friendship.
Right off the bat in Grommets, you get an authenticity of the 1980s not seen in any type of media today. Things like a parent picking up beer on the way to work or getting a ride from a stranger are usually played up as a plot point, but here it’s just commonplace. The grit and grime of the 1980s vernacular are on full display. A lot of the injuries are played for comic effect; one in particular at the end of issue one is pretty fucked up. There’s a lot more violence than one would expect, which isn’t played for comedic effect but is just as brutal.
Grommets is also a pretty good depiction of the skate culture of its time. Despite its current popularity and now legendary status, skateboarding was looked down upon by mainstream society. However, Rick and Brian find their own community. The supporting cast of characters in Grommets is fantastic. Sometimes the introduction of them is a little off, as in the case with Rick’s love interest, Samra, or with punk rock kid Liberty Spike Mike. The inclusion of a trio of skater girls known as the Jens serve as a great foil for Brian’s constant drooling over them.
We get depictions of encounters with jocks, rednecks, and security guards. While each of these can definitely serve as your typical villains in these types of stories, in some ways, the parental figures are worse. Both Rick’s and Brian’s home lives are messed up in ways that have only evolved in the last forty years as distractions have manifested in different ways. Parents and police alike assumed that most skaters were punk and metal fans just looking to start trouble.
These assumptions are the only things that lead to the skater kids getting in trouble in Grommets. In fact, the trouble depicted that they get into is no worse than what popular kids would get into. The knee-jerk consequences of these small crimes are a bit hard to watch in a time where we have seen the effects of verbal and physical abuse dealt out. Brian is living with his tough-as-nails grandfather after a falling out with his mom. Rick’s dad constantly moves his family around. Even his pending sobriety just makes his attacks and struggles for control more direct and focused.
Brett Parson’s art feels a little cartoony, but it fits this story well. The art has almost a Disney or Don Bluth feel to it. His backgrounds have the zaniness of old movie posters from the late 1970s and early 1980s, reminiscent of Animal House or Rock ‘n’ Roll High School. Parsons litters this world with punk rock and metal shirts, mostly sticking to the original California skate punk bands of the time, like Black Flag and Agent Orange. While Brian may be the metalhead of the duo, Rick is all punk rock and even quotes Minor Threat as his favorite band.
Despite its real-life teen story, much is played up for comic effect. However, it is bloodier than you’d expect and takes a real turn at some point that you don’t see coming. Not taking anything away from skateboard movies of the 1980s, but this story does what none of those could do. This plays closer to a John Hughes story than Thrashin‘s Romeo and Juliet structure, or the skeletal structure of noir stories with Gleaming the Cube. It’s clear that this story is a love letter to Brian Posehn and Rick Remender’s youth; the good, the bad, and the ugly of it.
