The twentieth-anniversary edition of Nick Craine’s searing graphic novel about a legendary Canadian punk band, based on the feature film by Bruce McDonald and the novel by Michael Turner.

Joe Dick, Billy Tallent, John Oxenburger, and Pipefitter are Hard Core Logo — Vancouver’s legendary, but now defunct, punk band.

Joe Dick coaxes his former bandmates to overcome personal differences and reunite for a benefit concert for their ageing punk mentor, Bucky Haight, who has been shot. But the concert’s not enough for Joe; he wants the band to hit the road again. For the Hard Cores this means the beginning of the end, and they come to realize that they can neither relive nor alter the past.

From the pen of hugely talented Canadian comic artist and illustrator Nick Craine comes a searing rendition of those Hard Core days and nights. In this graphic take on the story originally conceived by Michael Turner and made into a critically acclaimed film by Bruce McDonald, Craine pits the legendary Hard Cores against a collage-like backdrop of bars, hotel rooms, the road, and the Canadian Prairies.

Featuring a new introduction by Lynn Crosbie and a tear-out guitar chord book, Hard Core Logo: Portrait of a Thousand Punks weaves together a patchwork narrative of found art, dialogue, songs, and incidental bystanders. Craine skillfully renders his own unique cover-version of this cult film classic in graphic novel form.

Nick Craine was born in Toronto in 1971 and is a critically acclaimed visual artist whose illustrations have appeared in the Atlantic, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and many more. In 2008 he was chosen as one of six Canadians included in the TASCHEN international anthology Illustration Now, a sampling of 150 of the world’s best illustrators. He is a much sought-after conceptual illustrator and adapted Bruce McDonald’s films Dance Me Outside and Hard Core Logo into graphic novels; the latter was nominated for an Ignatz Award in the Outstanding Artist category.

In his other life, Craine is the founding member of Black Cabbage and has appeared on over twenty recordings as a vocalist, including on his own solo albums, November Moon and Songs Like Tattoos. In the 1990s he directed music videos between Guelph and Nashville, including Feist’s “It’s Cool to Love Your Family.”

Craine lives in Guelph with his wife, Sandy, and their son, Michael. He uses Staedtler art supplies and Arches papers.

Nick Craine's profile page

Poet, author, and novelist Lynn Crosbie was born and raised in Montreal. An award-winning journalist and cultural critic, she has written about fashion, sports, art, and celebrity. She has a Ph.D. in English literature and a background in visual studies; she teaches at the University of Toronto and the Ontario College of Art and Design. Her volumes of poetry and prose include Queen Rat, Dorothy L’Amour, and Liar. She is the author of the controversial book Paul’s Case, about the Paul Bernardo–Karla Homolka murders, as well as the novels Life Is About Losing Everything and Where Did You Sleep Last Night, a Trillium Book Award finalist. Her most recent book is a collection of poems about her father, entitled The Corpses of the Future.

Lynn Crosbie's profile page