It Starts with Anger // A Punk Beginning. An Afropunk Ending

From the award-winning filmmaker and graphic novelist, comes the untold origin story of the multi-million-dollar AFROPUNK festivalbeginning not with big stages or brand sponsorship, but with one mixed-race teenagers search for belonging in the nineties New York City punk scene.

In 1991, fifteen-year-old James Spooner arrives in New Yorks West Village, hopeful that hes finally escaped the extremist racism of his Southern California desert town. Still, a question looms large over his cross-country move: What will New York City make of this tartan plaid-and-leather-clad, mixed race, Black kid with a mohawk? Will he find his people? Thus begins Spooners insiders account of the nineties downtown New York punk and early aughts pre-Giuliani nightlife scenes. In the citys legendary rock clubs, squat basements, and DIY art spaces, he finds his way to creating zines, starting a record label, and promoting parties, while falling further in love with punk rocks distorted guitars and politically progressive lyrics. Happy to have left a world of Nazi skins behind he must still navigate the casual racism and bigotry of a seemingly all-white echo chamber; a world stubbornly resistant to his Black/punk identity.

Intent on carving a space for young, Black, politically radical punk rockers like himself, Spooner undertakes a whirlwind tour of the country, collecting the stories that will become his acclaimed documentary,Afro-Punk, and eventually lead to the wildly successful music festival of the same name.But what begins as a way to chronicle the joys and heartaches of being Black and punk rock soon spirals into a multimillion-dollar corporate endeavor. Spooner is forced to ask himself: In setting out to galvanize an underground movement, has he in fact given rise to the least punk rock thing of alla brand?

Illustrated with a vibrant mix of comics, spot art, and punk ephemera throughout,It Starts with Angeris at once a coming-of-age story about found family, a compelling capitalist cautionary tale, and a raucous celebration of the indelible, rebellious spirit of Black punks.

James Spooneris an accomplished tattoo artist, illustrator, and filmmaker. Director of the seminal documentaryAfro-Punkand co-founder of the AFROPUNK Festival, he is the author and illustrator of the highly acclaimed and award-winning graphic novelThe High Desertand co-editor of the anthologyBlack Punk Now. Spooners work has appeared inVice, The Village Voice, The New Yorker, Vibe, Fader, MTV, NPR, NBC News,andVarietyand he is an ongoing guest curator for museums and libraries across the country.

• Publisher: Pantheon
• Publish Date: August 04, 2026
• Pages: 352
• Language: English
• Type: Hardback
• EAN/UPC: 9780593701386
• Dimensions: 9.0 X 7.0 X 0.9 inches | 2.1 pounds
• BISAC Categories: Biography & Memoir, Music, Comics & Graphic Novels