He’s Not Gonna Take It Review
He’s Not Gonna Take It Review
WRITER: DEE SNIDER & FRANK MARRAFFINO
ARTIST: STEVE KURTH
COLORIST: Giada Marchisio, et al.
LETTERER: TROY PETERI
EDITOR: RANTZ A. HOSELEY
PUBLISHER: Z2 COMICS
Comics have been teaming up with musical artists for generations to tell insane stories; go look up the Kiss comics and come back here. However, one company has recently taken the music and comic mash-up by storm: Z2 Comics.
I was excited to learn we could catch some reviews…and I did. To give you a brief understanding of Z2 Comics, they work with musical artists to write comics based on albums, the making of the bands, musicians’ coming-of-age stories, and much more! It’s really cool, and I encourage you to check them out….anyway here is the review for Dee Snider’s “He’s Not Gonna Take It.” I’ve never been a Twisted Sister fan.
Still, there is no denying that all music wouldn’t be where it is if it wasn’t for Dee Snider standing up against music censorship. You can find the whole speech on YouTube of Dee Snider speaking in Washington, DC, at the PMRC hearing; it’s incredibly inspirational.
“He’s Not Gonna Take It” is kind of tricky to review, considering it’s an autobiographic comic about the forming of Twisted Sister; the book also goes into why free speech is essential not just for musicians but for everyone, and in that regard, it’s probably the most accessible comic to dive into regarding a political issue since “March.” Dee Snider and Frank Marraffino motivate you to be yourself, do what you feel is right, and have fun in life.
It also gives you a peek into how Dee Snider stopped at nothing to become one of the greatest rockers in history…and succeed as he did.
The artist Steve Kurth draws an incredibly colorful caricature style with a hint of gross to capture the feel that you are, in fact, in the head of a wild man who embraces wearing women’s clothing; if you told me this was a Rocky Horror Picture Show comic, I would have probably believed you.
While the art style is off-putting in some parts and can be incredibly creepy, it..works for a comic about Twisted Sister, but once they get to Washington, DC, the artwork becomes jarring and dull; wondering if that’s on purpose.
The writing for “He’s Not Gonna Take It” is a rare breed we don’t see in many autobiographical or political-based comics; it’s informative but still continues to entertain when Twisted Sister and Dee Snider are on the scene. Dee is hilariously fun and expressive, but what keeps you going is the fact that the book teaches you without talking down to you; there was never a point in this book where I felt like I was being lectured.
As mentioned before, if I could choose two political-type comics for people to read, it would be “He’s Not Gonna Take It” and “March.”
That being said, “He’s Not Gonna Take It.” is a hard sell for comic books only because it’s for the niche audience who enjoys autobiography comics. But if you are interested in how music has survived censorship for a long time, I would highly recommend this book as your starting point.
Chad Perkins
Chad is the writer of the horror/crime mini-series Blu Lullaby, published through Markosia Enterprises, and is currently working on other titles, so stay tuned! Chad has been dabbling in comics since 2011 and acquired a small library of various genres from various publishers, from the big two to the small press. His goal in the comics world is to shed light on comics’ weird and wacky side!
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