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HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE
BY JOHN KONRAD

HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE
BY JOHN KONRAD

Adventures Close to Home: Hold My Hair, I Think I’m Gonna
Puke copyright © 2022 John Konrad. All rights reserved. No
portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted,
in any form or by any means, without the express written permission
of John Konrad.
This volume reprints Adventures Close to Home #1-12 by John
Konrad.
vomitparty.com

TABLE OF CONTENTS
7 INTRODUCTION
9 JUNIOR YEAR
March 2020
19 LUNCH
May 2020
22 GIG
August 2020
26 MALL
September 2020
29 FUCK, MARRY, KILL
October 2020
31 PHONECALL
February 2021
39 THERAPY
March 2021
45 NEW VENUE
January 2022
49 BRUISES
June 2022
54 BONUS MATERIAL

INTRODUCTION
I WAS A TEENAGE WANNABE PUNK,
which is really only a few steps above “poser”
in the high school hierarchy. I wasn’t a true
poser—I really did love the music and I was far
too interested in staying invisible to ever be
accused of affectation—but my engagement
with the culture was always aspirational. Even
when I engaged with the punk community by
attending house shows and zine swaps, I felt
like I was on the outside looking in. I would later
realize that this is an unavoidable symptom
of adolescence, but at the time, I was convinced
that something was wrong with me.
To cope with these insecurities, I did what
most teenagers do and listened to a lot of
music. I became enamored with riot grrrl—
nevermind that I was about 30 years too late
and a cisgender boy. My riot grrrl idols, teen
angst, and budding interest in indie comics
coalesced into Adventures Close to Home.
The series was named after the 1979 song
by The Raincoats (or The Slits, depending on
who you ask) and followed two previously-unnamed
characters I would sometimes draw in
the margins of my notebook.
When I started writing Adventures Close
to Home, I made the deliberate decision not
to set it in high school. I was a junior in high
school at the time, and I was tired of it. I didn’t
want to just regurgitate my teenage experiences—I
was a lot more interested in what
comes after graduation, when you’re not quite
an adult and the stink of adolescence still
lingers. This means that I was 17 years old,
writing a story about 21-year-olds. And then a
weird thing happened: I kept writing more episodes,
and slowly I started catching up to the
characters in age. Al and Carl stopped feeling
like stand-ins for an imagined adulthood and
started feeling like peers. They were always
written to be representations of me, but I
couldn’t know how close the resemblance
would be until I grew up myself.
Of course, I’m still growing up—that’s
part of what this comic is all about. I hope that
these characters can continue to grow up
with me, and I hope that you see a little bit of
yourselves in them too.
John Konrad
November 2022
INTroduCTIon | 7

JuNIor Year | 9

JuNIor Year | 11

12 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

JuNIor Year | 13

14 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

16 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

LuNCH | 19

20 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

LuNCH | 21

22 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

Gig | 23

24 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

26 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

Mall | 27

28 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

FuCK, Marry, KILL | 29

30 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

Phonecall | 31

Phonecall | 33

34 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

Phonecall | 35

Phonecall | 37

38 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

THErAPY | 39

40 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

THErAPY | 41

42 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

THErAPY | 43

44 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

BruISES | 49

50 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

BruISES | 51

52 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

BruISES | 53

BONUS MATERIAL
CONCEPT ART
These are the original character explorations for Al and
Carl created for Junior Year sometime in 2019.
54 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

Bonus MaterIAL | 55

PLAYLISTS
Certain episodes of Adventures Close to Home were
originally published with playlists, which appear here.
The inclusion of playlists ties the comic into the riot
grrrl zine traditions that inspired it and provides some
context to the kind of music Al and Carl listen to.
56 | HOLD MY HAIR, I THINK I’M GONNA PUKE

Bonus MaterIAL | 57

The original cover for Adventures Close to Home: Junior
Year.
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Pin-up illustration of Al, originally published in Rock Me
Now: A Musical OC Zine.
Bonus MaterIAL | 59

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JOHN KONRAD (he/him) is a cartoonist
and illustrator based in Tucson, Arizona. He’s
spent a couple of years self-publishing zines,
writing and illustrating comics, and working
freelance. He won the senior superlative for
“Future Picasso” in his high school yearbook
and has been trying to live up to that expectation
ever since.

Post-high school graduation, best friends Al and Carl are drifting around their lifeless hometown
with only music and each other to depend on. With questionable substance habits and not enough
pocket money to pay for therapy, the pair navigate early adulthood, relationships, and the ties that
bind them. Originally published online in an episodic format, Adventures Close to Home is a punk
comedy about learning to grow up when you should’ve grown up years ago.
Collects Adventures Close to Home #1-12 and supplementary material including playlists and
concept art.