Delta Snake Review: Oct. 17, 2026 - Quitturz 2 update, cover reveal and diagram, three Godfathers of Punk short takes.

The Delta Snake Review: Oct. 17, 2026

Topics: Quitturz 2 update, cover reveal and diagram, three Godfathers of Punk short takes.

The Web comic is coming along. I've redone parts of the first 26 panels, mainly to improve continuity with the first Kindle novel cover, which features the model Klaudia. I want the graphic novel version to be a continuation of the first book, even if I have done the usual “Hollywood” thing and butchered parts of my own novel in order to avoid making the story too predictable for anyone who’s read the original book. 

As you can see from the final webcomic cover, the main character looks the same as on the cover of the first novel. The two ebooks will have the same title, with one identified as a graphic novel. The reason is that the first part of the webcomic is going to reprise parts of the first book for continuity before moving into the 80s.

The construction of the cover is a pen and pencil drawing based on the Klaudia photo from the novel. I drew a full pose in case I wanted to use it again. The pieces were put on a sample sheet with comments like with the sample poster project, which is on the back burner until I’ve figured out whether I want the illustration to show the Quitturz headlining.

I'm planning to drop a week's worth of panels (or so) as a starter and then publish two or three times a week after. I’ll keep three weeks ahead of time, but don’t necessarily want to build up two or three months worth like they recommend on some sites. I’m doing this because I enjoyed doing serial fiction on Kindle Vella, so I want to enjoy the flexibility to evolve the plot on the fly in front of an audience.

True Godfathers of Punk: Punk Rock Short Takes

The short takes will cover a wider range because the Quitturz 2 graphic novel will also cover the 80s.

Punk is often about immortal moments and short statements that say it all. So, some of the series will be succinct short takes without filler or slop.

Dez Paul Cadena

This punk guitarist/vocalist was with Black Flag 1980-1983, Misfits 2001-2015, guest appearances or contributor with Redd Kross and Husker Du (Zen Arcade album) and recently with Jon Caspi and the First Gun.

What makes him a true godfather is his 1980 vocals with Black Flag, a combination of jock shout, hoarse blast and one of the funniest exaggerated punk voices to ever record that influenced later hard-core singers. His vocals in "Police Story" and "Six Pack" made him an 80s archetype and inspiration to all singers who only have a super loud-off knob.

Husker Du "Zen Arcade"

An early example of 1984 hard-core punk with real range, from acoustic to flat out electric. Songs like "Something I Learned Today," the haunting acoustic "Never Talking To You Again" and the hypnotic Bo Diddley meets the electric drone of "Hare Krishna" made this a rare double album with no filler that transcended its genre to become a rock classic on many top 100 lists of all time great albums.

Mitch Easter

Mitch has always been a good artist and in particular did some good work with the “Let’s Active” group but it’s his work as the early producer for groups like R.E.M. and Game Theory that’ll cement his contribution to the “power pop” and “jangle pop” styles that was such a big part of the highly influential 80s college circuit. He produced albums like R.E.M.’s “Chronic Town” and Game Theory’s “Lolita Nation” that are still on my playlists in 2026. In fact his 1988 song, “Forty Years” is still on my own personal top 100 songs of all time. 

Al Handa

Oct 17, 2026

#punk #newwave #postpunk #webcomic #AI #kindle #mitcheaster #huskerdu #blackflag #dezcadena #janglepop

Delta Snake Review: Comic update, Parts 1-3 of 70s Punk Flyer Demo and future features.

Delta Snake Review: Sept. 29, 2026

Topics: Comic update, Parts 1-3 of 70s Punk Flyer Demo and future features.

I’m approaching this as if the Quitturz book 2 was a graphic magazine or comic with the character being done by a cover artist and another one working on the strip itself. Like with Mad Magazine or even Superman, there was always a difference between the cover art and the panels, which were always simpler if for no other reason then to make sure that the emphasis was on story and to make room for the dialogue text. 

The cover art, which always has a promotional function (it’s what you see on the newsstand or shelf) was always going to be more detailed and elaborate; the amount of details in these promo pics probably won’t necessarily be in my panels. There already is a basic look for the main character for the panels, and that probably won’t be debuted until the actual comic.

However, one reason that I’m continuing the line of poster or promo art, as you will, is that one, those who follow my blogs know that I’m always putting out regular promo for projects.

Being a boomer, my comic experience is different than perhaps a GenZ or millennial, etc. For example, I didn’t think in terms of “graphic novels” in the 70s, the publications were known as comics or in the case of Mad Magazine, well, Mad Magazine.

There was a genre that is going still strong, which is the “Heavy Metal” type comic strips, which were quite detailed, and there’s plenty of info about it on the internet so I won’t go into detail on that here, but one of the reasons I’m continuing a darker line of drawings is that the novel itself is more turbulent. That was going to be the mood of a book version too, so a slightly darker “punk” mood that’s more detailed and stylistic is still an option.

I’m probably going to start doing the panels in approximately 6 to 8 weeks. I’m using the time now to basically acquaint myself with the various characters, refining the script, etc., so there’s time to train myself on the characters and graphic approach.

70s Punk Flyer Demo: I’ve put the first three steps (and the text) on a single sheet. That way you don’t have to switch back and forth between the blog and the attached image.

Future Promo Features: Along with updates, I’ll continue the “True Godfathers of Punk” essays but also cover pioneers of post punk, power pop and hardcore as those will be referenced in “The Quitters Book 2: Lost Decade.”

Al Handa 

Sept. 29, 2026

#punk #postpunk #graphicnovel #manga #kindle

Delta Snake Review: 70s Punk Poster and Cover Graphics - Part 1

Delta Snake Review: Sept. 21

70s Punk Poster and Cover Graphics - Part 1

Most late 70s punk posters and covers were essentially collages that looked slapdash but were more creative than it might have looked to the average person. The final work was generally done using a copier but in many cases as a “print ready” layout to a printer.

In other words, these punk posters were created by artists who had the imagination to visualize lo-fi graphic designs (dare I say, “scraped” from ransom notes, collages, pop art, etc) and create print ready layouts for wherever reproduction technology was available (or more specifically, affordable).

I was aware of print ready layouts for the offset printing process because in high school I was the school newspaper editor for two years; which is another way of saying, was like a retail store manager, who was the one willing to stay after school and finish most of the layouts.

There were fictitious punk magazine covers and concert posters in The Quitturz Book 1: Nym’s Cool Night and although designed on digital programs, I was careful to do it pretty much the same way I would’ve done it in the 70s with a cut and paste style combination of hand drawn, offset and copy machine, lettering, and illustrations.

There are two of the illustrations (in addition to a book promo drawing) and will describe the process which would have been done by hand in the punk era.

The colorful one is probably the least realistic in terms of street art. It’s a magazine cover by a publication that could afford a color cover using offset printing (aka offset lithography) and staff skilled in creating layouts that were “print ready” for the process.

The coloring process would have been more complex; the artist would have used layers like a modern digital application except those would have been tracing paper (or clear film if you were a well off publication) with the entities for each color on its own sheet. In other words, all green shapes in one sheet, red lettering and stuff on another and so on.

That wasn’t hard to do in the 70s because much of the ink work for comic strips and other types of illustrations were done on tracing paper. It was a common skill. 

Somebody, or the artist, would create a pencil sketch, and then another person would come in and put in the ink lines on tracing paper and the additional layers for color, etc. The artist would  often do all these stages, of course, but in big-time strips, there were often people who did the lettering, inking, etc.

The club concert poster was simpler; I simply reproduced a cutout of a photo of a punk rocker (in this case, me) and digitally pasted that into a white sheet and then added the mainly freehand looking lettering.

I took artistic liberty with the top caption which was done in a spray paint font, which I probably would’ve done in a commercial setting if working on a larger commercial poster size layout with an airbrush.

The first Quitturz book has illustrations that are a small historical survey of 70s punk and rock graphics from magazine covers to a fake satirical county fair poster.

In part 2, I’ll show the pieces of a punk poster being made for the graphic novel which I’m actually going to print out and cut and paste together for authenticity (and for fun). I’ll also talk a bit about why punks used the DIY approach.

Al Handa 

Sept. 22, 2026

#punk #graphicnovel #manga #alternative #illustration

Delta Snake Review: Quitturz webcomic prep

Delta Snake Review: Sept. 16, 2026

Topic: Quitturz webcomic prep

The first dozen or so panels, about four weeks worth, will be a chapter one (I call a grouping of panels a chapter, others might have different nomenclature) that will depict scenes from the first book that cover Nym and Hydie’s early gigs with the Quitturz and their evolution into touring lineup as a trio (a book 2 episode). 

The key thread is the friendship between Nym, the main character and Hydie, the drummer who starts off as a bossy older sister type, becomes the manager of the group and is only constant in an up and down decade. Their relationship has a comical side that many musicians might recognize as a familial dynamic in a new group that evolves into a deeper bond as the events of the decade unfold.

Since the webcomic will open with a group of strips, that allows me to open with a deeper exposition and then the story will settle into three four-panel strips a week (which will be more episodic).

These little posters are good for promo and are part of my preparation. In this case, I needed a slightly younger Nym for the 1977 episodes. These images are going to have cover style detail like with traditional comic books. If you look closely at the faces in this and the previous drawings, you’ll see that I’m using “sketch” type pencil and ink lines, which I’ll start to smooth out (but not too much). 

I’m a fan of 18th century book illustrations and like the rougher lines, plus in this new age of AI, I don’t want too much “polish.” In 1977 punk poster art, there was a lot of longhand and cut and paste, so that’s the look I want to refine into a simpler “longhand” that’ll enable me to draw the same faces a couple hundred of times without burning out. 

I’m about one generation of “face studies” away from freezing the facial features and level of detail and starting work on the panels. The main concession to the times is that the panel lines and text (from the book) will often be added by an app but other than the cleaning up that scanning the drawing will do, I’ll always hand draw the characters and backgrounds (which are simpler in panels). 

My exact process is I start with the eyes; I’ll discard the drawing if the eyes aren’t lifelike. You can create the most detailed professional drawing in the world but if the eyes are off, the whole drawing will look stiff with no sense of life. 

In the case of the image with this blog entry, a sketch was done in pencil, then inked and any unnecessary pencil lines erased. In the 70s, when preparing a “print ready” illustration for offset printing, I’d have erased almost all of the pencil and used old school hatching and dot work for shading or did that on a separate sheet (layer) of tracing paper. 

Modern paint programs are really just a digital version of that old school process of making print ready work so describing that process should be an interesting blog entry in the near future. 

I’m enjoying the process of creating Book 2; it’s a pleasure to tell a story without having to fight autocorrect, etc. It’s just pen to paper like the old days.

Al Handa

Sept. 17

#punk #webcomic #sanfransisco #manga #graphicnovel

More Blues coming to Delta Snake Review!

The Delta Snake Review;

Sept. 5, 2026 entry

Cover reveals for two books scheduled for October.

Find the Blues! Vol 1

 Curated collection of Delta Snake blues articles and classic album reviews from 1981-2025. The reviews are from the "True Vine" and "Vinyl Judgement" sections of the e-zine. The 300 or so regular reviews will come in Vol 2, organized by issue in chronological order.

The Underground Reader Vol. 1

All of the punk articles and essays, True Godfather's of Punk series up to 2025, record reviews and collection of essays on AI, the arts and other subjects.

#punk #grunge #blues #ai #booktok

Article: True Godfathers of Punk: Part 8 - The Ramones

Article: True Godfathers of Punk: Part 8 - The Ramones

Note: These Godfather of Punk blog entries are part of my promotion for “The Quitturz” which is still only .99 on Amazon (and free to KU members).

a.co/d/02ftRWXy

In the movie “Rock and Roll High School” which starred the Ramones, there's a scene where they walk down the hallway with a bunch of students playing their version of "Do You Want To Dance."

As their explosive sound poured out into the hallway, a wide variety of people joined the crowd which included cheerleaders, football players in uniform, teachers, and all sorts of students in different types of clothing and dress. In other words, Punk was for everyone and of all of the first wave, they were probably the loudest and the most fun. Their music was, at its core, the joyful side of rock and roll, which put them in a line straight back to the 50s rockers like Eddie Cochran and Buddy Holly.

In 1977, what made me feel that the Ramones were special was hearing their song “Rockaway Beach” over the radio in the daytime; not on some late night “Intro to Punk program” but in the afternoon, mixed in with the big hits from Fleetwood Mac, Journey and Steve Miller.

It was in a small grocery store being played over the radio and followed some mainstream rock cuts that I don't remember. It was amazing how the customers reacted. Most made a face or started making negative remarks but a few, like me, immediately perked up. Everything had been background music until Rockaway Beach came on, then no one ignored the music.

The thought that went through my mind was that a new sound had arrived; not just the latest new artist or song, but a new “SOUND.” That it played over commercial rock radio during the day meant Punk had left the more obscure territory of rock critic articles and record collectors and into the ears of the mainstream listener, for better or worse.

The Ramones’ “Rocket To Russia” album was a huge sonic leap from their previous two albums in that they were able to get a bigger sound to match the faster, powerful arrangements. The guitar and drums sounded noticeably louder and really jumped out of the small speakers of radios and cheap record players.

The first single from the rocket to Russia album was “Sheena Is A Punk Rocker,” which was a surf-pop influenced cut with a very catchy chorus. The release of the single was a seminal moment, as sources like Wikipedia state, that after that single, many of the first wave bands were offered recording contracts. Although way too many rock histories trace the evolution through record industry trends and events, it still was an important moment for punk music.

The opening cut, “Cretin Hop” is an up tempo rocker with a killer guitar opening and a chorus that sticks in your head long afterwards. That energy continues through “Rockaway Beach” and ends with “Locket Love” until the pace slows with “I Don’t Care,” a pounding dirge reminiscent of the darker stuff from the first album. The album then closes with the single “Sheena Is a Punk Rocker” and the truly bent, “We’re a Happy Family” about a family that's not so happy.

The Sex Pistols put punk on the map, but the band that inspired me to buy an electric guitar again was the Ramones.

You had to have a particular type of attitude to want to emulate many of the punk bands of that era; the Ramones were the easiest to emulate because, from a musicians standpoint, they played the purest rock and roll. They never attained the success of other groups like Blondie or the Police but no one, except the Sex Pistols and the Clash, so epitomized what Punk was about and what it meant to those whose lives were changed by their music.

-Al Handa

2/14/2026

Article: True Godfathers of Punk: Part 7 - The Runaways

 

Article: True Godfathers of Punk: Part 7 - The Runaways

One of the things that music writers have said about Punk was that it created new opportunities for women. That's true if you're talking about the rock and roll industry, which has always been notoriously sexist. Other genres were more integrated in terms of the sexes. You were always more likely to see female singers in the Top 40, Motown, or classical music.

The perceived scarcity of women in rock and roll may have been a matter of perception or due to the fact that only the most successful ones got coverage. Starting in the 60s when counterculture "rock journalism" began, there wasn't a lot of publications with the kind of circulation that could make or break an artist. That changed later on.

One of the things I noticed when playing at the Mabuhay Gardens in San Francisco in '77 was that most of the top bands, which included The Nuns, Avengers, Mutants, UXA and Mary Monday had female lead singers or musicians. The presence of so many female Punk rockers was a revelation. A lot of my previous experience with music was with 60s and 70s rock, which was clearly a Frat Club that generally viewed women as photographers, loyal mates or groupies. Seeing such an integrated scene changed a lot of my (and many others) perceptions about rock and roll.

Another thing about punk rockers, and I know this is an oversimplification, was that once you got past their press release behavior, they were an intelligent group who were considerably less sexist than the previous generations of musicians. 

Keep in mind that I'm saying "less sexist," and not that the Punks were totally in tune with their inner femme.

There was one band that doesn't get mentioned as often as, say Blondie or Patti Smith but whose debut album came out only a couple of months after the first Ramones album. They played with Punk bands at CBGB's and produced two musical stars and one film actress. The band was The Runaways, an all-female band put together in 1975 by rock empresario Kim Fowley. His intent wasn't to form a punk band per se but a group that could achieve mainstream rock and roll success. It just happened that their image encompassed punk, glam rock, and a kinkier view of things.

The group of young women who formed the definitive version of the Runaways was very talented. One of the members, Joan Jett, became a star in the punk and hard rock scene. The guitarist, Lita Ford, has had a successful career in hard rock/metal, and the lead singer, Cherie Curry, enjoyed later success in films.

Their best album (in my opinion) is still their first in 1976 as it contains their best known song, "Cherry Bomb," and had a fresh and punky attitude that fit in well in the early Punk scene. Their later albums, like "Queens of Noise" featured more sophisticated production values and their definitive album is probably the "Live In Japan" set, but to this listener, their debut is the one that'll be cited when writers talk about the earliest Punk albums.

One other achievement; they were an all female rock and roll band that lasted long enough to record four studio albums (and a live set), all of which are available on streaming sites.

Actually, just being an all-female rock band in 1976 was a rarity.

The Runaways didn't achieve the success that Kim Fowley was hoping for but they were a talented and influential band. One can't always measure the success of groups in terms of record sales; a lot of commercially successful groups from the '60s and '70s are basically footnotes in terms of musical history, while others like the Ramones are considered classic almost fifty years later.

The Runaways may not have become huge stars, but they were an important and seminal band who did their part to help break the glass ceiling for women in rock and roll.

- Al Handa

  11/30/2024

Article: True Godfathers Of Punk: Part 6 - The Knack

Article: True Godfathers Of Punk: Part 6 - The Knack 

Note: I'm moving towards writing these blog posts as think pieces rather than record reviews. People can go to music sites and hear all the cuts, so I'll stress providing context. 

I'm going to devote a few parts to artists who may not be considered Godfathers of Punk but, in retrospect, had a large or even profound influence on the "movement." The Knack had one of the biggest hits of the year, "My Sharona," which caused an often contentious debate among Punk fans and critics over their validity (and commercial success) but did a lot to keep Punk an active subject in the media.

I remember the Punk band I was in was told before our first gig that no one knew what was good yet, so as long as the audience had a strong reaction of love or hate and wasn't indifferent, we'd be brought back. The Knack was a band that no one was indifferent about in the Punk Scene.

In the late 70s, the average person didn't have much say in the direction of music except for buying records (and concert tickets). Artists and labels preferred that people bought a whole album on faith after reading a review and hearing a sample or two on the radio. There was virtually no recourse if the buyer found that the album sucked. That made a critic's opinion important. A review was generally the first hopefully knowledgeable opinion a person got about a particular record. 

There was another area where critics had a great deal of influence, which was helping to introduce a new artist or genre. One such genre was Punk. Punk was dismissed at first by many of the Boomer artists who normally would have supported it, at least in the 60s when they were younger. The main reason is probably that their defiance was directed at the music industry and the rock and roll rebels who had started to settle into the role of decadent sages and lovable millionaires. 

So the enthusiasm for Punk initially came from smaller scenes and was publicized by music writers and fabs who sometimes lapsed into snobbery and gatekeeping.

One of the earliest questions that virtually all of the first wave of artists had to deal with was whether or not they were Punk or Punk enough. One of the most famous examples was the Knack out of Southern California which formed in 1978. They were not only criticized for being too pop but for committing the unforgivable sin of having a major hit record in 1979 despite open disapproval from the newly formed Punk elite and critics. 

The Knack's success did help the Punk movement. Like more than a few artists at the time, like the Cars or Blondie, they weren't actually that "pure" but their hits did help create wider acceptance by the rock audience. The Knack's two big hits, "My Sharona" and "Good Girls Don't," had one other effect; helping to prove the viability of  Punk, aka New Wave. That gave talented groups like the Go Go's and others a path to success that wouldn't have existed if Punk had been limited to what became "Hardcore." 

Their first album in 1979 was a best seller thanks to the hit singles and was a nice collection of guitar-based New Wave. My personal favorites were two other cuts, "Your Number Or Your Name" and a cover of Buddy Holly's "Heartbeat." 

The Knack may never be seen as a true Godfather since nostalgia makes Punk now seem more pure than it was back in 1977. But that's only if you think Punk was an ideological movement. It was simply a new generation of musicians who wanted their music heard, and groups like The Knack were instrumental in achieving that. 

Plus, if "My Sharona" truly offended the purists, then maybe they were offensive and outrageous Punks after all. Of course, in 2024, we're all past that. Getting butt hurt over impure music is a young man's game. 

- Al Handa  

  Oct 13, 2024