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It is clear that New Zealand would be the last place most people on a global scale would look too for the next wave of sequential artists. Other than being the majestic backdrop for Peter Jackson’s Lord of the Rings and the home of the actor, Temuera 
Morrison, the Maori (New Zealand native) who played Jango Fett in Star Wars Episode II, most Americans could not even locate it, or for that fact are even aware that the country exits. Well, I am here to tell you it does and Ant Sang is going to put his country on the map with his eight-part spiritually driven anarchic angst comic series The Dharma Punks.
Set in Auckland, New Zealand in 1994, an ominous plan is devised by a group of punks (who prescribe to the anarchy school of thought) to decimate a multi-national fast food chain by setting off a bomb on its opening day. In the midst of this plot is our protagonist Chopsticks (so named because he is of Chinese descent), the man who is to set off the bomb. Besides being the co-conspirator to a terrorist plot, a deeper side lies in Chopsticks,a devout Buddhist, who is also mourning the loss of a friend, dealing with neo-nazis, and is fighting the realization that he cannot hide from the world because he does not want to be hurt.
The Dharma Punks is not your ordinary self-published comic that takes a different slant, because it can. There is a method to the madness with the erratic, murky and raw black and white artwork and character design that meld perfectly to this dark and ominous story. Ant Sang has made the perfect independent comic book. Sang pulls no punches, and tackles very controversial issues with such eloquence and intelligence. From challenging the simplicity of Christianity take on good vs. evil, to having the characters take drastic means of showing their displeasure to multi-national capitalistism. Sang brings to the foreground marginal arguments, issues, and a peek into the psychology of this undercurrent culture. Of course the joke about Kurt Cobain was a little off kilter: What color were Kurt Cobain’s eyes? BLUE! One BLEW this way, the other BLEW thata way!
In the end The Dharma Punks is a story about life and the choices we make and how these decisions will affect not only us but the world as well. This series, like Alex Simmons' Blackjack, is just another example that non-white characters can lead a successful story and sell. The Dharma Punks is truly one of the most complex and compelling sequential works I have ever had the pleasure to read, and I am sure if this series were nominated, it would pick up the American Comic’s most distinguished honor; The Eisner. I cannot wait to read the last two installments! Also, Be on the lookout for The Dharma Punks movie currently in development by Haynes Films Ltd.
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